Holiday cottages at Saltmarshe near Howden

Last night I was the speaker at the Laxton WI and had a very enjoyable time. The meeting was thrown open to any interested villagers and around 50 attended. I had gathered together around 150 old pictures of Laxton, Saltmarshe, Sandhall and Skelton and put them together into a Powerpoint presentation.

There was a mixture of scenery and familiar faces but of course the most popular were the old school pictures. The noise rose to a crescendo as those who were infants in 1955 saw themselves in short trousers or corduroy pinafores.

Afterwards we all ate butterfly buns and fruit loaf and cheese [the latter a traditional Yorkshire pairing]  and drank cups of tea.

I was talking to my neighbour who has two holiday cottages and provides bed and breakfast on the family farm. In fact she was a few minutes late as she was settling in some guests.

I met some  of her American guests last year who combined a UK holiday with researching their family history. It is only a short walk along the riverbank to where I live and I was able to find them some information on their family from my resources as well as suggesting what they should look for in the archives at Beverley and York.

I have added a link to Appletree Cottages and can recommend them to anyone wanting a peaceful break with stunning views of the River Ouse.

Here is a picture of the village shop in Front Street, Laxton which I showed last night.

Laxton history

I have been looking at the history of Laxton [Yorkshire] in preparation for giving a talk to the local WI in February. On the internet it is often confused with Laxton in Nottinghamshire where strip farming survives.

Our Laxton is agricultural but the fields are large and arable and very flat. Until the death of the last Philip Saltmarshe of nearby Saltmarshe much of the village was owned by the Saltmarshe estate and still within living memory villagers had to tip their hat to the 'squire'.

The village has a church, a village hall [the Victory Hall], a pub and a garage but no longer has a shop and post office and sadly too there is no longer the village blacksmith.

Herbert Martin was the last smith and I can remember him shoeing a horse in the road. He also made gates, weather vanes and other ornamental ironwork as well as repairing farm machinery.

His blacksmith's shop, outside which there was often a gathering  of men, putting the world to rights, now stands empty.