Before the 1841 census James CROMPTON married Frances (Fanny) HARPER. Fanny, christened 25 September 1815, was the daughter of Thomas and Ann HARPER of Carnaby Parish.

Source: IGI v.4 Batch: C105911  Source:    Type: FC female christening
Frances Harper   Thomas/Ann  FC 25sept1815 Carnaby

Family records suggest that Fanny was born in Auburn, one of the villages of Holderness lost to North Sea erosion.

"More interestingly my Aunt relates how her grandfather John Harper CROMPTON said that his family had lost a farm by erosion in a village called Auburn. This is mentioned on the OS map with two other villages near Bridlington, and are known as the lost villages of Holderness. This seems to have happened in the mid 18th ⁄ early 19th century, as related by old Directories. This seems to be backed up by the fact that John Harper, my great-grandfather, who built up a building company in Hyde [Cheshire], named two streets he built as Auburn Street, one in Hyde, one in nearby Bredbury."  Source: Ian Boote

Whilst the IGI lists Carnaby as Fanny's place of christening, Auburn was in the ecclesiastic parish of Carnaby. The 1851 census gives her place of birth as Auburn House.

The Ann DORSEY christened at Great Driffield, on 19 June 1794, may have been Frances HARPER's mother. Whilst this is tentative connection, the Dorsey surname would account for the middle name of Sarah Dorsey CROMPTON, James and Fanny's seventh child.

Coastal erosion at Auburn village

It has been estimated that when the Romans were in Britain the East Yorkshire coastline of Holderness was about three and a half miles (5.632km) further east than it is now. When the Domesday Book of 1086 gave the first full list of settlements, the coastline was probably about two miles (3.218km) further east than today's position. Now twenty two Holderness villages ¹ each with their church, farm houses, cottages, mills and ponds lie under the sea off the Holderness coast as the boulder clay cliffs crumble and retreat. Auburn was one such village. Its location is now only marked by a farm of that name and the remains of St Nicholas' Chapel. Most of the encroachment took place before 1850. [...] Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries the main Beverley to Bridlington road ran close to the sea through Fraisborough and Auburn [This was turnpiked in the 1760s but the Act was not renewed probably because of erosion.] In 1850 the road still existed but most of it had been washed away by 1912, when part of it and a milestone were uncovered by the shifting sand dunes.' Source: Allison KJ, The Victoria County History (VCH), Volume 2 for the East Riding, 1974, pages 199-201)

'Because of the low-lying and heavy nature of the land, much of the parish was from early times used for pasture and meadow, and the economy of the parish has always been pastoral. ... Meadow land lay mainly along the streams. ... By circa 1716 the whole parish [of Fraisthorpe] had been enclosed, and there [was] ... one holding in Auburn. ... In 1841 there were ... one farmer and one cottager in Auburn. The number of farmers in each township has changed little. ... Always one in Auburn ... of 150 acres or over.' Source: VCH, p.205-6

... On Tuke's map of 1787 and in papers and books there are scores of measurements from fixed points near the coastline to the cliff edge. In recent years [1912] these were re-measured. [The average erosion from Bridlington to Spurn Point is 7 feet (2.13m) per annum, at Hornsea the average is 4 feet (1.22m), Withernsea 9 feet (2.75m) and at Kilnsea 6 feet (1.8m)]'. Source: Sheppard, Thomas, 'The Lost Towns of the Yorkshire Coast', A Brown & Sons, London, 1927, page 196 (Accessed 20 February 2020)

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Right: Map locating the lost village of Auburn Source: Development of the East Riding Coastline (Accessed 20 February 2020)

Source: Hidden Holderness Project

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Above: A 1716 map of Auburn Source: VCH p.200

In 1912 Thomas Sheppard 2 described Auburn and its coast when he wrote: 'For many years the township of Auburn was constantly assailed by the sea, its site being now some distance from the cliff edge, and covered by about 16 feet (4.9m) of water at high-water spring tide. When the last building of the village was reached, and part of it was washed away the sea seemed to stay its work, sand-dunes were formed, and though I have been familiar with "Auburn House" for nearly a quarter of a century, it does not change at all, and the part remaining has been bricked up and inhabited. A few months ago, a slight change in the position of one of the sand-dunes a little north of Auburn House, revealed a fragment of the old coaching road to Beverley, most of which is now washed away. ...

Above: Auburn House circa 1912 Photo by J Hollingworth

Source: Sheppard, Thomas, 'The Lost Towns of the Yorkshire Coast', A Brown & Sons, London, 1927, page 196

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The decline of Auburn village

The Victoria County History reports:

'The decline of Auburn may have begun with the Black Death for its tax quota reduced by 55 per cent in 1354; it was a very beggarly village in 1571. ... By 1674 there were 15 households and in 1764 there were twelve. The population of Fraisthorpe and Auburn together was 87 in 1801 and 103 in 1831 [...] (VCH pp. 199-201)

'By about 1716 there were seven houses and a chapel. In 1731 only three houses remained and the chapel was demolished the same year. By 1823 there was only one occupied farm house, along with a small cottage in the township. ... Old Auburn House, which was already near the edge in 1850, was demolished in 1941 (H[arry] SMITH interview 1969) [- the great grandson of William CROMPTON, born 1808, who farmed at Auburn Farm], but its foundations were still visible on the edge of the cliff immediately south of the beck in 1968. Earthworks in a field adjoining the cliff, south of the beck, mark part of the site of the village, and the site of the chapel is indicated by a small mound about 150 yards south-west of Auburn House [Farm].'

When Frances HARPER was born at Auburn House and christened on 25 September 1815, the village had been abandoned to coastal erosion, except for a farm and a cottage. The tithes were held by the Strickland family. (VCH p.204) St Nicholas chapel had been dismantled in 1731. In 1857, the chapel and the remains of the village shown on the map, were described as:

'Auburn or Aborn was formerly a chapelry in the parish of Fraisthorpe but the village has been reduced by the encroachments of the German Ocean [North Sea] to one farm of about 200 acres of land and a cottage situated 1½ miles NE from Fraisthorpe. The Living of Auburn is a Perpetual Curacy endowed with £600 from Queen Anne's Bounty. On the 25th of September 1731 a faculty was granted to take down the Chapel of Auburn, when it was likely to share the fate of the rest of the village and by a license dated Dec[ember] 20th in the same year, the Curacy of Auburn was annexed to that of Fraisthorpe.' Source: Sheahan JJ, Whellan T,'Dickering Wapentake: Auburn, History and Topography of the City of York, the East Riding of Yorkshire', Volume 2, 1857, page 463

Above: A 1928 map of Auburn Farm and its immediate surrounds Source: TNA: MAF 73/47/146  Click on the map to open an A4 landscape map of the whole farm edged in blue and labelled 76/16

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The church of St Nicholas, Auburn, was taken down around 1590 because it stood very near the sea and was rebuilt inland on Auburn Common. In 1605 it was said to be in need of repair as ' the end of the chapel where the bells rings is under propped'. In 1720 it again needed restoration but repairs were neglected so that in 1731 it was 'scarce fir for public use', this state of affairs being attributed to depopulation. Consequently, under licence from the archbishop, it was demolished the same year. A mound and the foundation walls mark the site. The Norman tub font, with chevron ornamentation, was transferred to Wragby church (Yorks, W.R.) Source: Bulmer's History and Directory of East Yorkshire 1892

Above: An aerial view of Old Auburn remains 2011

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Auburn House

At the time of the 1841 census there were two household living at Auburn. It is presumed that Milner LETHERINGTON, being described as a farmer, owned and lived at Auburn Farm.  Jacob HAGUE was the head of the second household, probably living in Auburn House.  ( Reference: HO107, Piece: 1214; Folio/Book: 13/2; Sub District: Bridlington)

Frances HARPER, though married and living in North Newbald in 1841, may have been one of few inhabitants of Auburn in 1831, when aged 16, According to the 1851 census she was born in Auburn House, one of two buildings standing in 1823. By 1968 there was only one house in the ancient village, Auburn House Farm, which stands about 200 yards from the shore. It is an 18th century building of cobbles, with out buildings of the same material surrounding a fold yard in front of the house.' Source: VCH, p199 'When the Smith's moved to Auburn Farm, Uncle Arthur set up a shop in the cottage [Auburn House], selling sweets and drinks to the public on the beach.' Right: Auburn House after 1936 and before the 1941 war time demolition. Note that parts of the right hand wall have disappeared. Source: Diane Witt family photograph

Fanny's birth home of Auburn House was eventually demolished in 1941 when it was felt that the single building would be a land mark for German submarine periscopes. The coastline at Auburn was a very vulnerable, quiet area, perfect for a German landing. Here the coast consists of smooth, golden, flat, sandy beaches and gently shelving sands backed by low boulder-clay cliffs, with flat tank country behind it all the way to Driffield. Now only Auburn Farm remains.

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Auburn Farm, Fraisthorpe

With a twist of irony the Crompton family returned to Auburn Farm.

In 1931 William SMITH and Emily SMITH nee CROMPTON/CHAPLIN moved to the cliff edge Auburn Farm in the parish of Fraisthorpe (YO15 3QU) near Bridlington to farm the 273 acres (110.5 hectare) until the present day. Emily CROMPTON was the illegitimate daughter of Mary Elizabeth CROMPTON, the seventh child of William CROMPTON, born 1808. Left: Auburn Farm circa 1955 Source: Diane Witt, family photograph

Source: Auburn Farm gate © flickr® Below: Auburn Farm and stock buildings in 2008, showing it to be little changed from the 1928 map

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Above: Auburn Farm house and fold yard in 2008

This page was created by Richard Crompton and maintained by Chris Glass			Version A4 Updated 27 June 2020