South Cave, Selby and Swinefleet

I have been busy over the last week giving talks and attending them. Last week I gave a talk at South Cave to the local history group of the U3A. It was held in the Town Hall where some two hundred years ago Robert Sharp was the schoolmaster. His fascinating diary of life in the  town and area was republished and I remember going to the launch of the new publication where we were all served Yorkshire curd cheesecakes.

On Monday evening I attended a talk at the Boothferry history group in Goole about suffragettes and on Tuesday morning gave a talk in Selby to the family history group there about local ferries and bridges. Tuesday evening I went to Swinefleet and listened to David Galloway, the knowledgeable local historian of Airmyn talk about his home village.

That just left me with an article to write for Howdenshire Living magazine about the history of Asselby and then the rest of the week was my own.

I intended to devote some time to gardening and planting up my new raised bed but the weather has been awful - cold, wet, frosty and quite unsuitable to gardening. But I have the plants ready and a new tyre on my grass cutter. And we did find time to clean out the chickens and spray their house and nest boxes with Poultry Shield which is a protection against red mite.

So I am hoping for a sunny bank holiday weekend.

The chickens helping smooth the raised bed. Molly  is not impressed with it.

South Cave main street with the Town Hall on the right

Skelton beacon lit to celebrate the Queen's birthday

Tonight, 21st April 2016 we went to Skelton near Howden and stood on the riverbank where the  beacon was lit to celebrate the Queen's 90th birthday.  Most of the village were there, about 60 adults and children and it was a lovely fine evening. We sang the National Anthem, led by villager and professional singer Steven Goulden, listened to a message from Prince Charles read by Christine Wilburn, watched George Simister, the oldest resident, light the beacon and then, again led by Steven, sang Happy Birthday to Her Majesty.

As it was by then dark and chilly we all  adjourned to the Scholfield Memorial Hall and drank welcome cups of tea and ate scones and jam.  The small hall was beautifully decorated with bunting and ribbons. A 'reet good do' as we say in Yorkshire and congratulations to the parish council.

George lighting the beacon

Steven and members of the Skelton and Kilpin parish council leading the singing of  Happy Birthday.

After tea and scones we went back to the beacon and pictured the lovely sunset

Thomas Eland and Mary Hall of Metham and Hive, Yorkshire

I have recently been contacted by descendants of the Hall family of Hive, near Eastrington and the Eland family of Metham near Blacktoft in East Yorkshire.

Since both families appear peripherally in my family tree I thought I would have a further look at them as my original work probably pre-dated the internet.

Thomas Eland [ born 1805 at Metham, possibly at the Hall] married Mary Hall [ born at Hive] in Eastrington church on 13th April 1831.

Mary was one of the seven children of Thomas Hall and the former Hannah Bisset who had married at Fishlake in 1809. Mary's parents and her six siblings [Thomas, Abraham, Robert, Henry, Susannah and Hannah who were all baptised at Eastrington and lived at Hive]  emigrated to Quebec, Canada in1830.

Thomas' uncle, Samuel Hall, had already emigrated to Canada ten years earlier. Samuel was then 57  and also emigrating with their parents were children Ann, Elizabeth and John. Jane was already there.  Eldest son William stayed in Yorkshire and several local families including Scruton, Carlton, Westoby and Sweeting families are descended from him.

But back to Mary, who never saw her parents and brothers and sisters again, although they wrote many letters to each other.

Her husband Thomas Eland was seemingly from a well off farming family. His father, also Thomas,
was born at Thornton House and baptised at nearby Blacktoft on 28 Jul 1768. He was the son of Abraham.

Thomas Eland senior died in 1817 and left his estate to his eldest son Thomas. But he left an annuity to his widow and bequests to his children, including one of £2000 to his second son Abraham. He also left legacies of £600 and £500 to his daughters. They were to inherit when they were 21.

Thomas mortgaged the estate and then when his siblings attained the age of 21 he could not pay them.  Nor could he pay the mortgagees. The whole case ended up in the chancery courts.

Eventually Thomas was forced  to sell the Metham estate and  moved to Withernwick with his wife Mary and eldest two children Abraham and Ann who were twins.  The rest of their family was born at Withernwick.

After Thomas died Mary moved back to her home village of Hive where she had a house built.

I am related to both families, the Halls through the Precious family of Sandholme [ my grandfather's mother was a Precious] and the Elands [ my grandmother was a Coultous and her mother was Nancy Williamson, descended from Thomas Eland.

I often look professionally at other people's families so it is nice to look at my own sometimes.

Bees and postcards

I keep thinking that spring is coming but after a lovely day yesterday when I cut the grass today is wet again. But the in-house beekeepers managed to look at our bees while the sun shone and are very pleased with what they found. The colony is strong and the bees are laying brood [which is good] and are bringing in pollen and nectar [also good]. We are not sure what flowers they are on as apparently they do not like daffodils but the snowdrops which are just finishing are attractive, as are hellebores and mahonia and the tree blossoms are just appearing.

Here is a picture I took - my new camera allows me to stand well back and zoom in on the action! I was not near enough therefore to see the queen but she was there, marked with a blue dot to show she was last year's  model [ new queens this year will have a white dot applied].

Is Her Majesty there?

On Friday we went to the postcard fair at York racecourse and I bought several cards of the area - including two showing the church at Howden after the fire in 1929, one of Harswell church and one very unusual one of the scene inside the  Howden hangar where airship ZR2  [also known as R38] was being visited by ladies and gentlemen in smart clothes. It was taken by local photographer Dora Davis.

As I write the weather is 'fairing up' so maybe a bit of gardening later.