Digging in the past: the arable farmer who's an archaeologist .... on the wireless now

It's not the zippiest of titles but it does the biz, because this is the story of one farmer in the Vale of Yorkshire who has uncovered some remarkable archaeological finds in his farm*.

Roman coin, Claudius, 43-54 AD

It comes from BBC Radio 4's On Your Farm which goes out every day at 6.30 am.  under the collective title of Farming Today and "gets to the heart of country life with a look at individual farming endeavours".

Its got the lot, covering heaps of different stories all related to farming,  So I have listened to "The Art of Asparagus", "A Cumbrian Farm", "Meet Syrian bee expert", "Marino Wool for Surfers", "Carbon Counting", and today's "Digging in the past".

 "Arable and archaeology are the two passions in Nick Wilson's life. 

He farms in the Vale of York but the discovery of a Roman burial site in one of his fields turbo-charged his interest in the past. 

That was nearly 10 years ago, since then he has studied for a PhD in archaeology and excavated acres of farmland. 

Reverse of the Claudian coin

As well as the Roman tomb, he's unearthed Bronze-age cooking pots, quern stones for grinding corn, jewellery and a hob-nail boot from Roman times"*.

Produced and presented by Rebecca Rooney".

Location; The Vale of York

Pictures; a Roman coin from the era of the Emperor Claudius, [I think], 1975,from the collection of Andrew Simpson 

*Digging in the past: the arable farmer who's an archaeologist,On Your Farm, BBC Radio 4, https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002xdbd

**On Your Farm, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006s571

Tranquilly ……… with a bit of busy history

We discovered Ripley about a decade ago on one of those adventures which took us to Harrogate, Rippon and beyond.

Lurking behind the trees, 2023

And thinking ahead we booked into the Boar’s Head Hotel facing the market square and what followed was an affinity for the village which keeps taking us back.*

By the lake, 2023

The place has a castle, a medieval church and attracts heaps of visitors.

Some come to explore Ripley’s history or just walk in the castle’s gardens.

Across the lake, 2023

Either way there is much to do, and while there are plenty of people there is also a tranquilly about the place.

And for me also offers up opportunities to dig deep into the history of the village and its pubs.

So that is about it.

Location; Ripley

Pictures; walking around Ripley, 2023, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Ripley, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Ripley

Two pubs in search of a landlord .... and a history ……. more stories from Ripley in Yorkshire

Stories seldom turn out the way you expect.

The Boar's Head, 2023

The plan was simple.  Trace a favourite pub and hotel, which was once a coaching inn, explore its history and if the research goes well uncover the lives of some of the landlords.

The place is the Boar’s Head in Ripley, which occupies a prominent position on the old market square just a few minutes’ walk from the equally old Ripley Castle and the parish church of All Saints.

Ripley, 1854

I have written about the village over the years and last week we were back, and I judged it was time to sort out the story of the pub.*

It seemed a simple enough task.  I had been told the pub had been there a long time, was briefly closed by one of Ingilby family who owned the village and later reopened as a lucrative addition to the family’s income.

Choosing to close and then reopen the pub was small beer to the Ingilby’s who in 1830 rebuilt the village in a uniform style derived from French influence and two decades later built the impressive Town Hall.

Coaches from the Star Inn, 1841

So to the story ….. which is twisty, with unexpected surprises and more than a few unanswered questions and starts with the odd discovery that the Boars Head Inn was not where it is now. 

It was a little to the south at the edge of the village but was important enough to be marked on the map with its name prominently displayed on the 1854 OS map of Ripley.

Meanwhile the pub in the market square was the Star Hotel which appears the more interesting, given that it was also the location for the Excise Office and acted as the coaching station for coaches travelling to and from Leeds, Rippon, York, and Newcastle

Added to which it survived into the 1880s while its rival is missing from the Directories.

Just why the Boar's Head is missing from the list is unclear.  I do know that it was still there in 1855, along with the Star and four rivals in the surrounding villages and hamlets.  

Of these “alternatives” my favourite is the Ass in a Band Box in Nid which is just a mile from Ripley. 

And at present that is about it, leaving me to pursue the landlords of the Star and Boar’s Head, who in 1841 were George Wood and Stephen Broadbelt.  Of these Mr. Broadbelt has revealed more of his life because he combined his time between offering beer and cheer with farming.

Ripley Church, Castle & Cross, undated

In 1851 he described himself as “Inn keeper [at the Boar’s Head] and farmer of 60 acres employing 2 labourers."  

The census return for that year has him in Ripley living with his wife Margaret, two children, a lodger and two servants.

Stephen and Margaret were married in 1834 and there is a wide age gap between the birth of their daughter in 1835 and their son in 1849, which may suggest some of their children died prematurely.

At present the records are silent, but there is more on Mr. Broadbelt and his father.  

We have their tax records going back into the 1790s for Ripley as well a license granted in 1781 for a premise in the neighbouring village of Killinghall. Its unclear if this was for “a common Alehouse”, “Victualling house” or "Tipplinghouse", all of which appear on the document granting the license**

Playing with numbers, Ripley, 1841

Equally fascinating are the entries for the Poll Books for the 1830s through to the 1840s.  

These were essentially electoral registers, but with the added bonus that in a general election year they recorded the way electors voted.

Voting was still not secret, and the Poll Books published the voting preferences of those who voted.

So, in 1841 in the tiny village of Ripley the seven men entitled to cast their vote overwhelmingly went for the two Tory candidates. Just one elector opted for the Whigs, while five voted Tory with one not voting.

Mr. Broadbelt was one of the Tories and was in the company of Edward Burnett, John Robinson, George Tateson, and William Thorpe along with Sir William Ingilby of Ripley Castle, who as we know owned Ripley.

Sir William Amcotts Ingilby, undated

Voting intimidation was common in the 19th century and even if electors were not “leaned on” it would a brave man in a “company” village who voted against the political preference of their landlord.  And in the case of Mr. Broadbelt it is as well to remember he ran the Boar’s Head also owned by the Ingilby’s.

Not that the majority of Ripley had much say anyway.  

In 1841 there were 296 inhabitants, of these 148 were over the age of 21, and 83 were men.  Those qualified to vote represented just 8% of the total number of men and just 4% of the entire adult population.

As for the Star Inn it may have hit lean times when Ripley got its own railway station which may have done for the its coaching business.

But didn't finish it off.  

In 1911 it is still there under the direction of a Thomas Lister Smailes, who ran the 15 roomed hotel with his wife, and described himself as a "Farmer and Hotel keeper", and was the son of George Smailes who was doing the business at the Star thirty years earlier.

Looking out from the Boar's Head, 2023

But all good things must come to an end and in 1919 according to one account Sir William Ingilby closed the Ripley pubs on Sundays, which in turn lead to all three closing permanently.

The Boar's Head formerly the Star Inn, 2023

This state of affairs lasted until 1990  when Sir Thomas Ingilby opened  the present Boar's Head in the former Star Inn.  In the intervening 71 years the building had variously "been  houses, storage for car parts, a skittle alley, a village youth club, and a talking newspaper studio", with the last occupant leaving in 1990.***

Location; Ripley

Pictures; The Boars Head, 2023, Sir William Amcotts  Ingilby, undated looking out from the Boar's Head, 2023, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, Ripley 1854, from the OS map of the West Riding of Yorkshire, 1854, Coaches to and from the Star Inn 1841, Piggott's Royal National and Commercial Directory, 1841, Ripley Church, Castle and Cross, undated , Tuck and Sons, courtesy of Tuck DB, https://tuckdbpostcards.org/

*Ripley, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Ripley

** An Alehouse sold ale, a Victuallinghouse was a commercial establishment at which food and beverages were served, and a Tippling house was where liquors were sold in drams or small quantities, to be drunk on the premises.

***17th-century beer and Virginia creeper: discover The Boar’s Head, Chris Clissitt, May 28th, 2021, YAYUK,  https://www.yayuk.com/style/food-drink/17th-century-beer-and-virginia-creeper-discover-the-boar-s-head

A painting …..the new village …… and the search for a pub …. the Ripley story

 This is Sir William Amcotts Ingilby who sits above the staircase of the Boar’s Head in Ripley.

Sir William Amcotts Ingilby and his hat, undated

To my shame I have I have never bothered to find out his name despite frequent stays at the hotel over the years.

The Boar's Head, 2023

In my defence the descriptor on the frame is difficult to read, and so yesterday I emailed the Boar’s Head asking for his name.

And in matter of hours they replied that “The gentleman in the painting, as you go up the stairs, is Sir William Amcotts Ingilby (1783- 1854).  He was an eccentric member of the family, prone to wearing dreadful hats and well known for wandering around in his dressing gown with little on underneath.

It was Sir William who rebuilt Ripley in the 1800’s, replacing the old thatched and dilapidated cottages with the lovely stone cottages you see today. 

Ripley is known as a model estate village as it was based on a French town Sir William admired in Alsace Lorraine. It is courtesy of Sir William that we have a Hôtel de Ville instead of a town hall and the many overhanging eaves and arched windows, typical of a northern French village”.

This was enough to set me off looking for more to the story, and more there was.

The village was rebuilt in 1830, which according to Piggott’s Commercial directory saw the old houses being “taken down along with the grammar school” and replaced with properties “in a uniform style…. resulting in a neat and pleasing appearance.”*

Just 24 years later the Ingleby family erected “A handsome Town Hall of stone called the ‘Hotel de Ville’ [which] is used both for public meetings and for literary purposes”.**

A boar and a glass, by any other name .... 2023

For some the demolition of the old cottages and the substitution of new ones in a “uniform style” will look to be a vanity project, made possible because the Ingilby’s owned the village and so could do as they pleased

Ripley in 1847

But then I don’t know the state of the old properties which may well have been past their “sell by date” or if the rents went up in recognition that these were new.

As ever there is more research to do, and that I will do, if only to get to the bottom of the mystery of Boar’s Head which I am told was once a coaching stop, on the way to Rippon, York, Newcastle, and Leeds.

And so with that in mind I went digging only to find that the Boars’ Head in 1847 was a little further south along the road out of Ripley and that on the site or very close to it was the Star Inn which is also described as the Excise Office.

Now I know the names of the landlords of both places, and both are listed as farmers, with a Parliamentary vote.  In the case of one I have tracked him back into the 18^th century running another drinking establishment in a nearby village.

Looking out from the Boar's Head, 2023

To add to the confusion the Boar’s Head vanishes from the listings by 1881, begging lots of questions about what happened to it and when it transferred to its present site.

All of which will be for tomorrow.

Location; Ripley

Pictures; the picture of the painting of Sir William Amcotts Ingilby, the Boar's Head Hotel, along with the Boar’s Head and the window, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, 2023, and Ripley in 1854,  Yorkshire OS Six Inch to the Mile, 1847-1854 Old Maps on line https://maps.nls.uk/view-full/102344737#zoom=7&lat=9822&lon=2682&layers=BT

 *Piggott’s And Co’s Royal  National Commercial Directory, 1841

**Kelly’s Directory of Yorkshire, 1881

 

 

Young Helen Taylor….. an embroidered sampler …. and heaps of twists and turns

I am looking at the embroidered sampler made by Helen Taylor in 1834.

The sampler 1834

It is a beautiful piece of work, and she was sufficiently proud of her accomplishment to add her name and age.

As befitted a work which also carries an image of the village church in Dore it is heavy with religious messages.

It belongs to Ron Marsden whose direct ancestor was Helen, and it has been handed down through the female side of his family.

It is a treasured possession taking him back 189 years to that young girl and the small village of Dore which was in Derbyshire but is now a suburb of Sheffield.

And what particularly stands out for Ron is the verse, “This world is a city full of crooked streets

Death is the marketplace were all men meets

If life was a merchandise that sold would buy

The rich would live and the poor must die”.

Like the other verses there is that emphasis on the purity of the world to come but perhaps also a challenge to the existing social order.

And that got me looking for it’s origins.  It appears on at least one other sampler from the North of England just four years earlier,* and appears on an 17th century gravestone.**

But the first two lines are from The Two Noble Kinsmen written in 1634 by William Shakespeare in collaboration with John Fletcher.  It is described as a tragicomedy but reading the plot summary along with the first scene I think we are into heavy nastiness, but we shall see.**

Baptism, 1822

So far, I know very little about Helen.  She was born in 1822 and baptised in the church for which she made the sampler.  

Her parents were Isaac and Sarah and she had four siblings.  Mr. Taylor described himself as a “saw grinder” on the 1841 census and the absence of Sara on the same census suggest she may have died.  And given that the youngest of the children had been born in 1830 it may well be that if Sarah had died it will have been after that date.

As for Helen apart from the record of her baptism and her appearance on the 1841 census there is as yet no more official records of her existence.

The family in 1841

But Ron thinks she may have been married and may have died in child birth, and there isa reference to a Helen/Ellen Taylor dying in Ecclesall Bierlow in 1854.

As yet I can't find exactly where the Taylor's lived in Dore, but I know that the siblings continue to turn up in the historic records.

So the twist and turns continue.

Location, Dore, Derbyshire

Picture; Helen Taylor's sampler, 1834, from the collection of Ron Marsden

*Ann Carbutt, https://scarlet-letter.com/product/ann-carbutt/

**James Handley's Grave Stone, James Handley's, http://www.redmilearchive.freeuk.com/handley.html

***The Two Noble Kinsmen, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Two_Noble_Kinsmen

Telephones Boxes I have known ............. part 3 Howarth, Yorkshire

The continuing series on telephone boxes I have known and by extension ones that have caught the attention of others.*

This one is in Howarth close to the home of the Bronte’s, and we were there one Sunday a few years ago.

The weather was kind, the tourists out in full flow and on the steps was a man reciting chapters from the Bible.

All of which just leaves me to say the series will run until we have exhausted the pictures.

Already there have been promises of pictures from Peckham, Windsor and Covenant Gardens and with a bit of luck there will also be some  stories.

After all for many of us they weren't just a place to make a telephone call but were where you arranged to meet up with friends and even places to take shelter when the rain came down like stair rods.

And in those long far away days they were also the safe place to make that intimate conversation with the new love of your life following up on the night in the cinema and perhaps taking the romance to to the next step.

But enough of this, back to the Bronte's, not that I can add much about the day we went to Howarth.

The vicarage and the graveyard is well worth going to see, the gift shops, pubs and restaurants were welcoming enough and the views across the Yorkshire landscape were stunning.

So not much else to say.

Pictures; in Howarth with a telephone kiosk and a man with a bible, 2013, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Telephone Kiosks, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Telephone%20Kiosks

Home thoughts from Yorkshire .............. a tale of one family over 700 years and a fine pub

In the churchyard

It is not often that I come across that powerful continuity of history which reminds you that some families have pretty much ruled the roost for centuries.

Of course it’s all there in the history books but to see and touch it is another thing.

And yes I come from a long line of agricultural labourers, factory “hands” cooks, bottle washers and itinerant tradesmen so while this isn’t a rant it might end up as a gentle reflection on where the power and money has sat for generations.

We were in Ripley in Yorkshire.  It is a place we have visited plenty of times, staying at the pub and hotel which was once a coaching inn and using it as a jumping off spot for walks and adventures.*

Looking into the castle

This time we were there with our Jill and Geoff who were up from London and fancied an escape from the city into the countryside.

So after a fine meal in the hotel we set off past the village cross and war memorial called in briefly at the art gallery and by degree made our way to the village church.

And there as you would expect were generations of the Ingilby family who according to their history site owned land in the village of Ingelby in Lincolnshire in 1090 and settled after a handsome marriage deal at Ripley Castle in 1308-9.

After which it was pretty much a succession of “good marriages” and service to the Crown with the odd bit of a blip.

All of which led me from the  tombchest of Sir Thomas and Katherine Maulevrer dating from 1369 in All Saints Church to a planning application on a widow in the grounds of the castle granting the present Sir Thomas permission to convert one of the buildings for commercial use.

The church stands opposite the castle, and the Boar's Head which is owned by the family just a few hundred yards away.

According to the Ingilby history site Sir William Ingibly closed all three pubs in the village in 1918 after a dispute with the publicans.  He did not want them to serve alcohol on Sundays and when they refused all were shut.

The Boar's Head

And the same Sir William banned the villagers from using their front doors after an incident where a young girl had run out of her house and started the horse he was riding on.

At which point I could slide into a diatribe but I won’t.

We were visitors yesterday and I have no idea of the relationship between the family and the village, so I shall leave it at that.

Except to say it would be 71 years before the village had a pub again which was the Boar's Head opened in 1989.

Pictures; Ripley, All Saints churchyard, looking in to the grounds of the castle and the Boars Head, July 2015, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*The Boars Head, Ripley, http://www.boarsheadripley.co.uk/

**Ingilby History, http://ingilbyhistory.ripleycastle.co.uk/700years.html

Home thoughts from Yorkshire .............. turning a corner and finding a Cathedral

Now I am never quite prepared for Ripon Cathedral which suddenly appears as you wander down Kirkgate from the market square.

The narrow lane twists and drops slightly and it is easy to be way laid by the mix of gift shops, and restaurants and then just after the road divides as you follow the bend there it is.

And as you come to the end of Kirkgate it becomes a huge edifice which dwarfs everything.

Not that  this was the first introduction to the Cathedral that had been a few years ago and via the bottom car park which by degree took you into the car park behind Sainsbury’s through a small garden and out across Minister Road.

There was a stone church here as early as 672 which mean the spot has been a place of worship for over 1,300 years and by chance we arrived on Sunday the new bishop for Richmond was being consecrated which rather added to what had been a pleasant day.

Sadly we had got there too late to visit Ripon’s three museums but the market Square was as impressive as ever with that added bonus that as this was a Sunday the place was empty and the full grandeur was there to see.

And this included four red telephone boxes which may not be as old as the cathedral but are coming to be a rare sight.

Pictures; Ripon, July 2015 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Sulphur ….. a posh holiday resort ….. and more than a few surprises ….. in Harrogate

Now, for any one faced with an indifferent August day with the ever present threat of frequent rain, museums, tea rooms and art galleries become very attractive.

Not that we wouldn’t have made our way to the Royal Pump Room Museum in Harrogate.

Over the years the Turkish Baths have been a place we regularly return to bringing some of our kids as well as the Italian side of the family.

And by extension, once you have done the hot and cold rooms, taken in more than a bit of steam, and enjoyed various rub downs and massages, it makes sense to visit the history of all this “health stuff”.

All of which took us to the Royal Pump Room Museum, which one guide tells me has the “strongest sulphur wells in Europe, where over 15,000 people used to come every summer”, including more than a few Russian Royals as well as politicians and famous writers of the 19th and 20th century.*

As well as a fascinating series of exhibits on the story of the spa, and the science of “taking the waters”, there is an Egyptology section, displays of everyday things and an array of costumes from the 1940s which compliments the story of food and wartime rationing.

Together they provide an interesting backdrop to the development of Harrogate.

And for those who want to follow up on the history of the town just follow the link.**

Location; Harrogate

Pictures; the Royal Pump Room Museum, Harrogate, 2021, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

* The Royal Pump Room Museum, https://www.visitharrogate.co.uk/business-directory/royal-pump-room-museum

**The Royal Pump Room Museum,Harrogate, https://www.harrogate.gov.uk/royal-pump-room-museum

A day in Knaresborough

The day we did  Knaresborough in Yorkshire.

It was the only really sunny day at this end of the back of August and we grabbed the moment.

Now what attracted it to me was not the connection with Mother Shipton who lived in a cave suggested the future and provided the place with a neat tourist attraction, but the market square, castle and railway viaduct.

The market was all that you might expect of a small market town.  There were some picturesque shops and houses by the town cross, including three red telephone boxes which you don’t see back in the city so much and a place to park at reasonable prices.

Hard by was the castle dating from the 13th century taking in commanding views of the river below and the surrounding countryside.

I am drawn to castles.  This one despite being pretty much ruined was the sort I like.  It was small enough to get a sense of what it would have been like to live there.  So from each corner you take in its different features and get something of how closed in its occupants must have felt.

And then there are the views which back in the middle ages made it such an important place.  Anyone on sentry duty would have been for miles and in particular any traffic along the River Nidd which rises in on the Dales at Great Whernside and flows on down to join the River Ouse which in turn flows through York.

Today the Nidd has high water marks of anything between 1.3 metres and 2.36 along its route to the Ouse and while I have no idea how this compares with 700 hundred years ago I guess the river was an important line of communication up from York and so needed to be watched.

But for me the view is compounded by the railway viaduct.  It is a spectacular piece of engineering and like all such constructions seems to hang effortlessly over the valley.

It was finished in 1851 when farmers Higginbotham and Bailey were farming the land which is now the Rec.

So something of a nice connection and something for everyone. Now the castle has been there for hundreds of years the viaduct for just over 160 years and I rather hope the telephone boxes last for a few more decades.

Pictures; Knaresborough, 2015, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

What Mr Topping did in Ilkley ....... and a debate

Now you step into the world of Royal Mail pillar boxes at your peril.

To me, they are red, have a long history and are where you post a letter.

But woe betide anyone who incorrectly labels these big red boxes with the wrong name, or worst still the wrong date.

I know I have had plenty of incensed mail from  "incandescent of Ipswich" to know that making any comment is fraught with the possibilities of erudite and irate comments.

Even more so when they are those double aperture versions.

We still have one in Chorlton, there is another in St Ann’s Square and I remember them from home.

And today Peter has dropped his picture of one into the ring.

It is in Ilkley and because Peter painted the Chorlton one he mused on “Ilkley Twinned with Chorlton?”

It is a nice idea but the twinning would have to be done with shedloads of places, such are the locations for these pillar boxes.

And here is the controversy because I always remember them as having one opening for UK posting and another for the World.

But I also remember them being for first and second class letters, and recently came over a reference to the apertures being for “stamped and franked mail”

All of which is the point to give up.

Replies on picture postcards, directed to the “Double aperture Pillar Box Friendly Society”.

Location Ilkley

Picture, double aperture pillar box, 2018, from the collection of Peter Topping