Blacktoft jetty

 

Blacktoft -  jetties and inns. 

After a query about a Blacktoft family who were piermasters I thought I would put together a summary of that bit of Blacktoft history. It has turned out a bit longer than I thought! Probably because where there are jetties there are often pubs so I have found out a bit about them too. Thanks to Robert Thompson of Blacktoft who has shared his musings on both topics.

Blacktoft as a riverside settlement has always been a place of mooring for vessels. There were originally three large staithes there (triangular stuctures which jutted out into the river) where boats could load and unload. One of these was Skyn staithe which was where the Hope and Anchor [now no longer a pub] is today although the pub was not built until the 1820s.

Blacktoft had also by the 1820s a public landing near the Bay Horse Inn which stood on the double bend in the village. This was where paddle steamers on their way to and from Hull and Goole called and where until the railway came where  coal for local villages was landed.There was a ferry from there too to Horseshoe Landing on the opposite side of the river Ouse. 

The first mention of an alehouse in Blacktoft was in 1627, when the Rev. Thomas Fisher was accused of “frequenting a Robinson’s house and a Thompson’s house, being alehouses in the parish of Blacktoft, and did play unlawful games”

A later ale house keeper probably of the Bay Horse was Richard Boase who is first mentioned as an ale house keeper in Blacktoft in 1754. He had to assure the magistrates,

 “That he was a peaceful, honest man, and a proper person to conduct a public house in Blacktoft, as is the necessity for the convenience of trade on the river and other just causes”

Other landlords came and went but then John Lister came to Blacktoft. He was born in 1766 at Rawcliffe and in 1790 married Frances Briggs in Howden when he was described as a husbandman. By 1798 he was in Blacktoft, owning a small amount of land. He had two daughters  Elizabeth and Mary but in 1806 Frances died. He remarried in 1808 Fanny Young from Crowle and by then he was described as an innkeeper. They had children John, Fanny and Thomas.

John Lister lived in Blacktoft almost 60 years until his death in 1855. During that time he was innkeeper, farmer and coal dealer.

This is the original Bay Horse inn sign, found many years later on the site

The Hope and Anchor

But in the later 1820s a rival inn was built in the village. This was the Hope and Anchor. It was built by 1829 when William Reynolds of Blacktoft, 'of the Hope and Anchor', married  Bessy Jacques, eldest daughter of Thomas Jacques of Bellasize.

Skyn staithe was renovated and became the ferry staithe.  Coal was delivered here until around 1880. And the area nearby became the village "shopping centre"!

William Reynolds left the inn and was living, a farmer, with his family at Gowthorpe where his wife died in February 1846.

The new landlord was William Shillito, originally from Selby. He did not stay long and in 1852 an advert appeared as follows.

Jan 1852

Blacktoft to  be let and entered upon on the Sixth of  April next, the Hope and Anchor, Public Housue together with grocer's shop, and any quantity of land not exceeding eighteen Acres, now occupied by Mr. William Shillito. For Particulars of rent, apply to John Schofield, of Faxfleet Hall,  or to Thomas Haldenbv,  Porter -Street, Hull.

Another similar advert appeared four years later

To be let at Blacktoft, and entered on the 6th of April, 1856, That well-known Public House, the Hope and Anchor with the Grocer's Shop, Butcher's Shop, Coal Shed, Stable, and Garden  and about 16 Acres of good land, chiefly Grass, now in the occupation of Mr. Richard Clegg.

But a big change was about to take place. The new landlord was a local man, George Taylor. and he was there when in 1874 the Aire and Calder Navigation company bought land at Blacktoft and built a jetty.

The Howdenshire Gazette reported in October 1874  that

Blacktoft. The Aire and Calder Navigation are progressing quickly with the pier, which is being erected here with the view of giving vessels coming up the river from Hull to Goole some place to moor against should they find it necessary to remain midway during low water. The pier is 180 feet long is being built very strongly, and the depth of water alongside will be sufficient for heavily laden vessels. It will be completed, it is expected, in a few weeks time. It will remove one of the objections which have been raised by shipowners to sending up their vessels to Goole, and the Aire and Calder Navigation  are  certainly entitled to the thanks of all interested in the port of Goole for what they done in this matter.

It took a little longer than a few weeks and a year later we read that,

October 1875

Blacktoft Pier, which has been built at the cost of the Aire and Calder Navigation, for the protection of ships bound to and from Goole, is now finished. The barque Ida, which arrived on Friday with a cargo of logwood from Jamaica, is said have been the first vessel making use of it. The weather interfered with her completing her voyage on Thursday evening, so she laid by the pier until the next morning

In 1881 the pier was lengthened  and was now 470 feet long by 22 feet wide.

The Blee family outside the Hope and Anchor. Thomas Blee was landlord by 1891.

Robert Powell

By 1891 there was a piermaster who lived in a house next to the jetty. This was Robert Powell. Robert Powell actually deserves an article on his own. He was born in Blacktoft,  and aged 18 in 1846 he enlisted in the Royal Artillery. He was a gunner. In 1850 in Montreal he married Leocadie Lefebvre who was from Quebec and they went on to have five children, born both in Canada and England. In 1867 he was discharged but while she and the children remained in Woolwich Robert came home to Blacktoft.

By 1881  he was living as a pensioner with Emily as his wife. She was 15 years younger than him and said she was born at Bielby near Pocklington on most censuses.  He was described as piermaster in 1891 and 1901 living in Jetty House. He died in 1905 and is buried at Blacktoft. Emily moved to York and died in 1927.

Leocadie meanwhile was living in London when she died in 1898. Her death certificate describes her as  the wife of Robert Powell, Piermaster of Blacktoft

The Howard family

Janet, a lady whose family have been connected to Blacktoft for many years recently sent me some information about her Howard family.

Her great grandfather was Joseph Howard. He was born c1839 in Gainsborough where his father Thomas was a boatmaster. Joseph settled in Hull, working as a riverman. In 1865 he married Mary Elizabeth Watkinson, giving his occupation and that of his father as mariner.

They had seven children including  Maria born 1866, Myra born 1867, William born in 1869, George born 1870, Herbert Tom born 1872 and Joseph born 1879.

At some point in the 1890s Joseph and Mary moved to Blacktoft where according to his sons' marriage certificates he was postmaster.

In 1897 son George, who described himself as a dentist, married Clara Collins at Blacktoft. Clara was born in Hever, Kent where her father was a small farmer but in the 1891 census she was working in a dentist's household in Burton on Trent. However they met is speculation - but thereafter the Collins family and the Howards were intertwined and connected to Blacktoft. 

A few months later in May 1898 William Howard married Edith Collins, Clara's sister at Blacktoft. 

And in 1906 Horace Bannister Collins, brother of Clara and Edith  married Myra Howard at Blacktoft. He was 36 and she was 39. Myra described her father as a gentleman and Horace too described himself as gentleman.

Horace Bannister Collins in the doorway of his shop next to the Hope and Anchor

In 1901 William is listed as grocer, shopkeeper and coal dealer whilst Edith his wife is listed as grocer. But after the death of Robert Powell William became piermaster and moved into Jetty House in 1907. William and Edith had four/five children, Beatrice Myra born 1899,  Eveline Edith born 1905,  Joseph William born 1906, [died aged 3 months] Marie born 1907 and Joseph born 1909.

Edith and William with left to right,  Eveline,  baby Joseph on Edith’s knee, Beatrice, Marie on William’s knee.

The family lived there until 1922 when William was killed in a tragic accident.  William was in a pony and trap driven by Philip Blee, the licensee of the  Hope and Anchor. They were returning home from North Cave and were near Newport. With them on the rear seat of the trap were Mr Blee’s married sister and her niece.  On the journey a lorry with a load of four tons of oranges and lemons, driven by nineteen year  old Vincent Bird of Barnsley collided with the trap, which  overturned, and Mr Howard was killed.

The trap had pulled to the side of the road to let the lorry pass but the overhang on the lorry had caught the trap. Mr Blee was knocked unconscious and sadly the lorry wheel ran over Mr Howard. There was a court case but the young driver was cleared of manslaughter.

The Howard family moved out of Jetty House but stayed in the village.  

Jetty House

Beatrice became a nurse and was living in Devon in 1939.

Eveline married Herbert Robinson, a merchant seaman from Goole in 1930. He was  awarded the MBE in 1944.  

The newspaper report tells us

Mr Robinson, who is a native of Goole, has followed the sea since leaving school, and during the last war was in ships carrying ammunition to France. After service with various Goole shipping companies he joined the Goole Steam Shipping Co. (Associated Humber Lines) in May, 1926. as second officer on the s.s. Saltmarshe, and was promoted to the rank of chief officer in 1937. 

He holds a foreign-going master's certificate. Mr Robinson was chief ,officer on the s.s. Rye (commanded by Capt. A. Hiley, who has also been awarded the M.BE.).when she sank an E-boat in a Channel convoy action ,and he has also been in many other incidents since the beginning of the war.  

He was later promoted captain and died in 1960

Eveline/ Evelyn was the headmistress of Blacktoft school and they lived in the schoolhouse there. Mrs Robinson is remembered as being quite strict.

Marie married Albert Bradley from Gilberdyke. He was a churchwarden and hay cutter and as a relief teacher Marie taught at both Laxton and Gilberdyke schools. They are Janet's parents.

Later Marie had  the first two semi detached houses built in Staddlethorpe Lane. Sunny Dene where Eric and Annie Reed lived and Meachlands where Janet's family lived until she sold it in 1957 to Eric Reed when Brian Reed with his wife Elva and children moved there.

Joseph went to Drax school and became a customs officer.

Two pictures showing how busy the jetty was

Later events

In 1939 the jetty master was Frank Schegel who had previously been berthing master on Goole docks. In 1940 his son, also Frank, married Enid Dickson of Staddlethorpe.

Frank snr left Blacktoft and the new pier master was Captain Dick Collier. There is a lovely account on Goole on the Web  written by Derek Collier of moving in. [There are many other memories of the village on the site]

On a wonderful and very sunny Saturday in July 1941, Captain Dick Collier and his wife, three daughters and two sons (Mary, Pauline, Dorothy, Dick and Derek) arrived to move into the pier house. The gardens at each side of the concrete path from the pier entrance down to the house were ablaze with large double red poppies with a rose arch half the length of the path. The house had mains water and a water toilet (only one in the village), also a bath room with hot water from the coal burning cooking range. No gas; no electric; at night we had paraffin lamps. The family of five children five years to thirteen years old started school on the Monday. Two classrooms, teachers, Mrs Taylor for under nines and Mrs Robinson for nine to fourteens.

There were many experiences, one being when a bomber crewed by Polish airmen crashed into the Trent one midnight. Sandy [Rowland] Winn a farmer of Faxfleet telephoned Capt. Collier and asked him to listen carefully as he put the phone out of his bedroom window, there were distant shouts of "help, please, please help". Capt. Collier agreed to meet Sandy at the drain on the Blacktoft to Faxfleet road where Sandy kept a very small boat with a very dubious inboard engine. They arrived along with Norman, son of farmer/milk man Parker and set off for the Trent training wall. They found about four airmen lying on the stones with the tide rising and lapping their legs. All got into the boat but, the engine failed. As they started to drift, a ship's masthead lights came into sight (from Hull). Capt. Collier signalled with his torch "persons stranded in Ouse", Fortunately the pilot was a wonderful personal friend (Tommy Mapplebeck from Goole). He manoeuvred the ship with tremendous difficulty until the boat was alongside and heaved it up on one of the ships life boat riggings. All ended well.

In 1950 Frank Raywood took up the post of jetty master, until his retirement in the 1980s.

A new jetty was built in 1956 which is still in use. There are lots of  old newspaper accounts of ships colliding with each other and with the jetty- too many to write here.

But I will conclude this rather long blog post with another memory from the Goole site.

I wish I had a £1 for every time we berthed at Blacktoft Jetty in the 1950s, usually because of fog. I remember the pub at the time was like sitting in a back kitchen - they had beer barrels on trestles. The skipper kept deck watches on but if we were off watch we went for a beer. I remember one night aboard the SS Alt, in a real peasouper of fog, hearing wild geese flying overhead, they must have collided with electric cables as suddenly it rained geese falling on deck. We collected them and Xmas came early - roast goose next day was on the menu. 

When I began this post I did not realise how much happened at Blacktoft - now I do!!

Laxton VE day

 This week we are celebrating VE day - Victory in Europe. The day was 8th May 1945, 80 years ago and there are a dwindling number of those who remember it.

I live near Laxton and thought I would look  briefly at those four  names who are on the war memorial board in the church there and find out a little about them if I could.

Lily Anson

She was born in 1913 and  was a member of a large family many of whose descendants live locally today.

Her father Joseph died in 1923 and a newspaper report comments

1923 By the death of Mr Joseph Anson Saltmarshe has lost a very highly respected and  widely known resident. Mr Anson who was 58 years of age spent the past 30 years at Saltmarshe 13 of which he was  in the employ of Mr PC Thompson. He leaves a widow, three sons and eight daughters. The funeral took place at St Peter's Laxton the Vicar the Rev W Sherwin officiating. Practically the whole village turned out to pay their tribute.

In 1939  Lily was working as a domestic servant in Howden. 

Lily was a corporal in the WAAF [ Womens Auxiliary Airforce] and died on 18th September  1945 aged 32. She was a cook and was admitted to Little Bromwich isolation hospital where she died of diptheria

She is buried at Laxton and the memorial stone is a war grave

Frances William Barker

Frances William Barker was the son of Edward and Gertrude Barker. His father was a woodman on the Saltmarshe estate.

He was born in  1924 and in 1939 was living in Woodside Cottage Laxton with his parents and brother Alan.

He was only 17, an apprentice, when he was lost aboard the SS Bullmouth, a merchant ship on a convoy.

On October 29, 1942, SS Bullmouth was sailing to the Tyne in ballast when she was torpedoed and damaged by U-409 and became a straggler. The position was about 100 miles NW of Madeira. She was then struck by a further two torpedoes from U-659 and sank. The chief officer and five crew members managed to reach the island of Bugio near Madeira but the master (John Wilfred Brougham), forty-four crew members and five unknown DEMS gunners were lost.  Forty three men are commemorated on Tower Hill, Panel 21 and two on the Canadian Merchant Seamen Halifax Memorial.

Sidney James Hobson

Sidney was born in 1918, the son of James and Ann Hobson.

In 1921 he was living at  High Metham with his parents and widowed uncle and cousins

In 1939 he was  living  on Front Street in Laxton with his parents and was a farmworker

In 1942 he married Lillian Hablett

He was a gunner in the Royal Artillery with a Heavy Anti Aircraft battery in Algeria.  He was killed on 7th January 1943

He is commemorated on the Medjez-el-bab memorial in Tunisia

Sidney is on the photo below, back right aged about 14.

Laxton school 1932
back from left: James Brown, Percy Laking, Harry ?lindley, Ernest Sweeting, Sidney Hobson
Middle::  Jean Thompson, Mildred Walker, Margaret Sweeting,  Mary Hardwick, ? Lindley, Joan Hardwick, Vera Barker, Phyllis Brignall.
Front :Ernest Brown, Jack Forth,  Robert Taylor, Ernest Sweeting, Maurice Thompson, Claude Brignall, Arthur Oakley,  Harry Brown.

Ernest Gordon Nicholson

Son of Ernest G. and Alice May Nicholson, of Laxton, Yorkshire.

In 1921 Ernest was 6 months old, born in Manchester and living with his parents in Hull where his father was an out of work fish dock worker.

In 1939 he was living with his mother Alice in Laxton

He was in the Royal Air Force Volunteer reserve an airctraftman 2nd class and was taken prisoner on 8 March 1942 when Java fell

In 1944 the Hull Mail reported   that a Tokyo message  re-broadcast by the German radio gives news of Ac.2 Ernest Nicholson. A.F., whose mother lives at Laxton, near Howden. 

  " Dear father, This is the first letter I have been able to write since becoming a prisoner of war which might possibly reach you. It will at least let you know I am still alive and able to inform you that we are being well treated. We are all anxiously waiting for the day of freedom to dawn. Give my fondest love to mother. Tell her not to worry. Soon we shall meet again. I am sure 

Unfortunately this was not to be as Ernest died of malaria on 8th May 1944 while on board  the Japanese vessel Ss Tencho Maru and was buried at sea

His name appears on the Singapore war memorial.

Looking again at where these Saltmarshe and Laxton men - and woman- served and died you cannot help but wonder at the contrast between their early lives in the Yorkshire countryside and where they lost their lives

I have not been able to find any reports or pictures about how Laxton  and Saltmarshe celebrated VE day  in 1945 but wonder how many of the children in the 1932 picture served in the forces and came home safely. Any comments and/ or pictures would be very welcome.

This however is a description of what happened in Howden

May 8th  the BBC announced, would be celebrated as Victory in Europe Day. Howden had made its celebration plans the previous Friday when ‘the Bellman’ – a local version of the Town Crier – had gone round calling people to a meeting at which a celebrations committee was formed. 

VE Day began with a swift transformation of Howden’s streets as flags and bunting appeared from all corners. Many shops remained closed. At shops which opened flags and other celebratory paraphernalia were quickly sold out. A large union jack flew from the church tower, and in the afternoon the bells pealed for an hour. Hotels were granted an evening extension; the British Legion held a victory whist drive; on the Marsh crowds gathered around a huge bonfire. The following afternoon sports preceded a children’s tea in the Assembly Hall. Then a dance at the Shire Hall drew a large crowd and with the music relayed to the Market Place there was more dancing there until well after midnight.

Saltmarshe and Hook

 It's Easter Saturday  and  I'm going out to lunch to celebrate a friend's birthday. Tomorrow we are having the traditional roast lamb and will no doubt be eating chocolate!

In the garden it is that difficult time when the snowdrops - we have a lot-  are dying back but if we want a display next year we cannot cut them. The same with the daffodils. But in the meantime it is interesting to see what flowers are emerging - red campion, honesty, cowslips, forget me nots and this year a lot of violets. I have planted rainbow chard, broad beans, snowball turnips and cabbage so far in the raised bed but although the chickens are confined there are a lot of pigeons about. So all is netted.

I have been to two concerts recently - the first was in Cowick church where the Snaith choral society performed Mendelsson's  Hymn of Praise and Amy was the accompanist. It was very enjoyable although I understand musically challenging. [ I am not a musician!]

 
Snaith Choral Society, pictured in the Goole Times. Amy behind the keyboard!

Then I went to the first concert of the Howdenshire Music season in the Minster. It was a great opener- a full house to hear pianist Lewis Kingsley Peart perform  a very varied programme.

I have been looking at the histories of two different families. The first was very local and lived at Saltmarshe. Thomas Barker was  a shoemaker [or cordwainer] and was also the landlord of the Punchbowl  in the village in the early nineteenth century

I cannot find records so far of any earlier inn in the village and after Thomas left the village in the late 1820s [not sure whether he moved or died but cannot find a death record] the name disappeared and thereafter the village inn was The Plough.

Thomas married firstly in 1794 Sarah Parkin at Whitgift. Their son  Richard was born the following year and baptised at Laxton. A daughter Mary was baptised at Laxton but both mother and daughter died within a few days and were buried at Whitgift in 1797.

Thomas remarried in 1801 to Hannah Jewitt and their daughter Mary Jewitt Barker was baptised in 1803.  Hannah born c1862 died in 1821 and was buried at Laxton.

Thomas married for a third time to Ann Easby in 1827 at Howden. He was described as a shoemaker. Their daughter Jane was baptised at Laxton in 1829. Thomas was then described as a publican.

Thomas is listed as running the Punchbowl in records in the mid 1820s when a publican had to have an alehouse licence and someone to stand surety for him.  In 1826 this was John Fitch, draper of Howden. The Fitch family were prominent in Howden's history throughout the 19th and 20th centuries and ran a drapers' shop in Market Place. In 1823 Thomas' son Richard had married John's sister Hannah.

Richard was then living at Knaresborough, a wine merchant. He lived most of his married life at Bourne in Lincolnshire where he ran a wine and spirit business but was buried at Knaresborough in 1875. Hannah had died the previous year and is buried in Bourne.

 
Saltmarshe villagers outside The Plough in  the early twentieth century

The second family I have been looking at is the Calvert family of Hook. The Howdenshire Archaeological Society in connection with the 800 year celebrations of Hook church is looking at the stories of those buried in the churchyard.

I was asked if I knew anything about a Judith Watson whose stone tells us that she was buried in 1793 aged 60. I looked up what I could find about her and - like much family history- this led me on quite a trail. Judith married John Watson at Snaith in 1778. She was a widow, he a farmer.

Her first husband was William Calvert who died in 1777 and whom she had married at Hook in 1760. Her maiden name was England/Ingland. I thought the Calvert name seemed familiar and indeed it was. William and Judith were the parents of a son William born in 1767.

In the book Methodism in Marshland George West says that William Calvert was the leader of the Hook Methodists and lived on a small farm called 'Monica'. I believe too that he was the builder of what we now know as Heron's Mill on Hook Road.

I found this sale notice in the newspapers

Dec 1826

CAPITAL Brick CORN WIND-MILL and TWO DWELLING-HOUSES, at Hook, adjoining the New Town of Goole

 To be SOLD by AUCTION, at the House of Mr. Wm. Wells, at Booth Ferry, in the County of York, on TUESDAY the 19th Day of December instant, at Three in the Afternoon, 

Lot 1.all that very valuable Freehold and newly- erected Brick CORN WIND-MILL (being five stories high and having two Pair of French Stones, one Pair of Grey Stones, and a Corn Screen, and turning and striking its own Cloths), with all the Gears, Machinery, Utensils, and Appurtenances belonging thereto, situate and being in the Township of Hook, on the Borders of the new and improving Town of Goole, in the said County of York. 

And also, all that suitable and newly-erected MESSUAGE or DWELLING-HOUSE, Outbuildings, and Garden, and a very fine Orchard (newly planted and in a very flourishing state) adjoining and belonging to-the said Mill containing about Three Roods, in the occupation of Mr. William Calvert, the Owner. 

N. B. The above Premises, arc on the Southern Bank of tbe River Ouse, when Steam Packets daily pass to and from Selby, Thorne. Hull etc., and will be found a very eligible situation. 

Lot 2 . All that other valuable Freehold MESSUAGE or DWELLING-HOUSE, Barn. Stables. and Outbuidings, situate and being in the Town of Hook aforesaid, adjoining the Methodist Chapel, also having an excellent Garden and Orchard liebind the same, containing about three roods, now occupied by Mrs. Hannah Marshall. 

Mr. Calvert and Mrs. Marshall will show their respective Lots ; and further Particulars may be bad on  application at Redness, or (any Saturday at the Half , Moon Inn) Howden, at the Offices of THOS. H. CAPES, Solicitor. Redness, Dec. 4. 1826

In 1796 William Calvert had married Ann Marshall at Whitgift. They had family, including  a son Marshall born 1799  and William born 1805

Marshall died in 1823 and is buried at Hook. 

William married Mary Cooke at Selby in 1838.  They lived and farmed at Langrick near Drax. Their son, another William became a Methodist minister.

William and Ann, who had been living near their son, died in the their 80s within three weeks of each other and were buried at Hook in 1849.

 Herons' mill in the distance in the late nineteenth century

I know that an Alfred Calvert founded the Ouse Shipbuilding yard at Hook during the First World War but having checked there is no connection between the two families.

On a sad note I would also like here to mention the death of a good friend Ken Deacon of Howden who died recently. I first met Ken and his wife Anne when I was running a local history class in the town. 

Ken had been in the RAF and had moved to Howden to be near his wife's family. After a few years working at Brough for British Aerospace Ken retired. He became fascinated by the local airship connections in particular the R100 built at Howden

 Ken Deacon, an enthusiastic purveyor of Howden's history

Thereafter he researched, wrote books, gave talks, put on exhibitions and this culminated in the installation of the R100 airship trail though Market Place in Howden. Ken  was very knowledgable, enthusiastic and did a lot for Howden. RIP Ken. His funeral is in the Minster on 28th April at 11am

Sandhall and the Scholfields

 I seem to have missed February with my blog posts - well it is the shortest month!! As I sit here at the computer I can see a pair of blue tits trying out a nest box for size and the newly planted daffodils are flowering - but it is still quite cold so I am not so keen on going outside gardening.

It has been a busy few weeks. Recently I gave a talk at the Boothferry Family and Local History group in Goole about the history of Hook. The village has a long and interesting history and the church is celebrating 800 years this year, having been founded in 1225 when John de Huc was granted permission to have a chantry chapel. Other topics I covered were the Sotheron family, the Ouse Shipbuilding company, the Cleveland oil depot and the Milner family. It was difficult to squash it all in!!

But a couple of weeks before that I gave a talk in the aptly named Scholfield Memorial hall in Skelton about the Scholfield family of Sandhall. I enjoyed researching the family and also giving the talk to a  mix of long established residents and newcomers.

Sandhall in 1893

Here is a quick summary of the family and the part they played in our local history. The Scholfields came to Sandhall as tenants, probably from West Yorkshire.

I have a copy of the inventory of a John Scholfield who died in 1742. Although described as a husbandman he was living in a seeming gentleman's residence- He left possessions worth £900 [almost £170,000 today]- including 52 pewter plates and dishes, clocks, mirrors and tables as well as other furniture.

His son John was born in 1709 and in 1735  had married Deborah Wilberfoss at Skipwith. He bought much property in Skelton and died in 1770. There is a prominent gravestone on the floor of Howden Minster commemorating him and his family.

It was a third John who actually bought Sandhall in 1775. He paid around £13000. He built  himself a new house which still has the datestone 1777 over the front door and his initials JS. It is possible that some of the original house was incorporated. 

John had married Ellen Whitaker from Howden in 1771, a year after his father's death. They had three sons and a daughter. Their eldest son William inherited Sandhall. Their second son John became a banker and  alongside Messrs Clarkson and Clough went bankrupt, damaging a lot of local people who had money in their bank.

John died in 1808. William had married Ann Spofforth in 1797 and they eventually had 10 children. William played a large part in the local life of Howden.

1834 Last week, Wm. Scholfield, Esq., of Sand-hall, near Howden, according to annual custom, distributed amongst  his numerous labourers and the poor of Skelton, a large quantity of beef; some receiving from to 3 stone each, and others proportion to their respective families.

In 1851 he built a school/ chapel in Skelton which is still in use as a village hall and where I gave my talk.

When he died in 1854 there were many tributes paid to him in newspapers

August 25 1854 We  have to record one of the most distinguished marks of sincere regret and respect, which has ever been paid to the memory of any individual in this neighbourhood. The town of Howden has to deplore the loss of one of its worthiest and best of men. The name of the late Wm Scholfield of Sand Hall, has only to be mentioned, and the expression immediately follows, “There were few men like him,” but death, the common lot of all, has laid him low. In his own immediate circle the loss of a cheerful companion, a sincere friend, and honest upright and conscientious man, will be deeply lamented. Among the poor a sympathising reliever of their wants and sorrows will be deplored, and amongst his own tenantry and the inhabitants of the neighbourhood in which he resided, the affable, kind, and courteous demeanour of the departed gentleman, will not easily be forgotten. He has gone to his grave at a good age, having completed his 80th year

The funeral 

On Monday morning, August 14, the day appointed for the interment, the whole of the shops were closed, and everything seemed to wear the aspect of sorrow and of woe – even nature herself appeared to mourn the sad loss. The hearse was met on the road to Sandhall by the Rev. W. Hutchinson and the Rev. W. Sylvester, curates of Howden, and Mr. Gaggs and Mr. England, the surgeon and solicitor for the family-the tenantry following three abreast. Upon the arrival of the mournful procession at the Elm Tree, it was joined by the children of the Skelton School, wearing a black rosette on the left shoulder; then followed by a large number of clergymen, gentlemen, farmers, and tradesmen. The two clubs, of which the late Mr Scholfield was a life member, were represented by their officials, clad in long black cloaks, carrying their insignia. Such a spontaneous demonstration of respect and grief is not easily described; it required to be witnessed to be duly appreciated. 

The number of persons attending the funeral. is estimated at about 1,500. Well may the gentry of this and all other neighbourhoods take example from him, whose loss we deplore, since he was one of whom no one could speak but with respect and admiration. His death will be long and sincerely regretted.

After his death his surviving children had the magnificent west window in Howden Minster installed in memory of their parents.

Sandhall then passed into the hands of Robert Scholfield. He never married. But  he was well thought of too , like his father and in 1861 local people subscribed to a life sized portrait of him which is still in the hands of his family.  It cost £200 guineas then. - about £22000

After his death in 1868 another magnificent [although smaller!] window was placed in the west end of Howden Minster next to the one commemorating his parents.

Sandhall then passed to Robert Stanley Scholfield 1840-1913 who made many improvements to both the house at Sandhall and to his property at Skelton. He married Ada Elizabeth Paget of Welton in 1875 and they had six children.

The eldest Edward Paget Scholfield married Margaret Eleanor Heber Percy. 

Evelyn married Mordaunt Gore Booth,  

Helen Margaret married Bernard Henry Home Thomson youngest son of William Thomson late archbishop of York,  

Alwyn Faber was a well respected Classics scholar and the Cambridge university librarian

Ralph Beckett after a career in the City spent much of his life lecturing as a Christian Scientist travelling around the country and the US. Both his parents were Christian Scientists as were some of the Sandhall staff

Wilfred Stanley lived for a time in Canada and was a fruit farmer.

Edward Paget and Margaret Eleanor had two daughters, Mary and Helen.

Mary, who served at Bletchey Park during the war married her cousin Colum Gore Booth in 1947. They had three children but sadly Colum died in 1959.

After a second marriage to Michael Barker who died in 1982 Mary, now Mrs Barker, died in 2009 and the Sandhall estate was sold

Gribthorpe and weather

 A Happy New Year to everyone. I do not know where December went but now we are in January 2025 and  the weather is decidedly wintry. This weekend we had heavy snow but this morning it has all gone and we just have rain. Our pond level is very high and the birds are eating nuts and fat balls with great enthusiasm. Meanwhile our old cat, Poppy, is very reluctant to venture out and spends many an hour asleep on a bed.

But, as my mother, Joan Watson of Eastrington often quoted, every day it is 'a cockstride lighter' and the snowdrops and daffodils are well on their way.

I have watched some Christmas television - I enjoyed the latest Wallace and Gromit with all the witty humour -  but have also been researching on the computer.

I am engrossed at the moment in looking at the Eland family who had connections with Barnhill and Laxton but who spent many years farming at Gribthope.

For anyone who does not know where Gribthorpe it is not far from Bubwith. In 1892 it was described as

 'a small township situated about three miles east of Bubwith. It contains 875 acres of land, and present population is 29, The soil is strong clay; subsoil, clay. Wheat, oats, barley, and beans are the chief crops; a considerable quantity of land is in grass; and turnips and potatoes are sparsely grown. Lord Leconfield is lord of the manor and owner of the whole township, except 25 acres which belong to C. Blackburn, Esq., of Brighouse.'

It is still a small settlement situated on a dead end road

The Elands lived at Gribthorpe from around 1750 until the 1860s and were farm tenants of the Leconfield family's Wressle estate.

This was largely owned until a sale in 1957, by the descendants of the Percy family.  It is a slightly confusing story as to what these descendants were called!

The male Percy line died out and the vast Percy inheritance passed through the female line to the 6th Duke of Somerset of Petworth House who had married heiress Elizabeth Percy.

Their son Algernon, the 7th duke, died in 1750 with no legitimate male heirs.

So it was agreed that after his death the Percy lands should be split. Half should go to his daughter Elizabeth's husband, Hugh Smithson, who was given the title of Duke of Northumberland - this inheritance included Airmyn.

The other half should go to descendants of Algernon's sister who had married Sir William Wyndham, who was given the title of Earl of Egremont. This half included the Wressle estate.

Their grandson, the third Earl inherited in 1763. He was a noted patron of the arts, fathered around 40 illegimate children but left no legitimate heir. His eldest son inherited most of the property in 1837 but could not inherit the title and was known simply as Colonel George Wyndham.

Then in 1859, Queen Victoria bestowed a brand new title of Baron Leconfield on Colonel George, so the family continued to be known as Lords Leconfield. 

Researching  the Elands is therefore a bit of a challenge as most of the estate records are still held  in the Petworth House archives in Sussex.

Other families who lived at Gribthorpe after the Elands were the Hills who lived at  Gribthorpe Manor  and the Jenkinsons.

John Thomas Hill and his wife Ellen outside Gribthorpe manor c 1898

Edward Jenkinson of The Beeches died in 1915. The newspaper report reads as follows

 By the death of Mr Edward Jenkinson, farmer, of Gribthorpe, which took place somewhat suddenly  on Saturday morning at his residence, an esteemed and well-known Howdenshire agriculturist has been removed. Deceased, who was 72 years of age, and for half a century a regular attender at Howden market, was out on the land near his home and attending business upto Wednesday week. During the sixty years he had lived the farm he had never had a doctor, had spent but one day indoors through illness. and had never taken but one bottle of medicine. It was found necessary, however,  to summon medical aid  on Thursday morning, but  he never rallied, and passed peacefully away as stated. For many years he represented Gribthorpe on the Howden Board of Guardians, until advancing years prevented his leaving home early to attend the meeting. He resigned the some six years ago. He was a devout Wesleyan, and regular attender at the Spaldineton Wesleyan Chapel. He  leaves a widow, three sons, and two married daughters. 

Some changes have happened in Gribthope over the last few years!! - barn conversions etc and the threat of a  giant solar farm nearby but I am sure the Elands would still have recognised their village.

Here is an advert from 1990.