Winter weather

I am busy with several history projects at the moment. With my Goole WEA class we are looking at the early history of Hook as well as trying to find out more about Ousefleet Hall, which was locally often known as Empson Hall.

I am also researching the history of Saltmarshe - the family and the village. The family claimed ancestry back to the Norman conquest although sadly when Philip Saltmarshe died in November 1970 he was the last of the male line. I am talking about Saltmarshe at both the Boothferry group meeting on January 28th and the Marshland History group on January 29th. I had agreed some time ago to speak at both groups but had not realised the meetings were on consecutive nights.

But life is not all history projects and the present spell of wintry weather has produced some interesting travelling conditions as well as some stunning winter landscapes. We are finding too that the house is cold even though the Rayburn and oil boiler are both going. I think it is the wind which whistles around the walls of what is partly an uninsulated old house which makes the difference.

Above are some pictures from last week of the sheep in Saltmarshe Park. It was a grey day with snow flurries when we took the pictures. I like the skeletal shapes of the trees in the background.

Goole Times - Back in Time

Readers of the Goole Times may have noticed that I have begun contributing to the newspaper's very interesting 'Back in Time' pages. These weekly pages feature articles and photographs from readers who have memories and information about the history of Goole and the wider area.

I have recently written an article in the newspaper about the great number of young goslings which were imported through Goole, arriving in crates on the decks of such ships as the SS Wharfe.

I have also contributed some of my old photographs to the 'Back in Time' pages. Many of these pictures did originally appear in the Goole Times but they have no identification on the back with regard to year or occasion.

I am putting small versions of the published pictures here on my blog. If you are interested in purchasing copies as either prints or digital images do visit my website - Howdenshire History - and fill in the contact form.

Goole Traders fancy dress

Children from Boothferry Road school with Goole's Christmas tree

Geese grazing on Victoria Street in Goole, now the site of the telephone exchange

Last night in the Steam Packet 4th March 1967 before it was demolished. Landlord Ken Rose

SS Wharfe of Goole

More Yorkshire dialect

After writing about Yorkshire dialect I had a good response from local people who are also interested in the words we use.

Pauline Stainton of Goole wrote,


"Having been raised in a new mining community that was populated with an influx from Nottinghamshire, Durham & Welsh coalfields, I’m never sure where my own personal vocabulary comes from, but I had heard the word  ‘taffled’  from our old neighbour at Rawcliffe Bridge. Although, she’d lived up here most of her life, Mrs R was born in Somerset & she’d never lost her Zummerzett twang. She used some strange expressions too  and I didn’t always understand her and I’d walk into our house totally flummoxed.

My old dictionary [Wright’s Dictionary of Obsolete & Provincial English – published in Covent Garden, London in 1869] tells me that 'Sile' comes the Northern Counties including siling- dish as a milk-strainer.  Up here, 'teem' was to empty something, presumably like teeming water from a bucket. 

I’d not heard of a 'cockstride' until I saw your blog but would you believe it the dictionary gave almost the same explanation  - 'Country folks say at Twelfth-day, "The days are now a cockstride longer".

The while / until conundrum took some thinking about.  My old dictionary confirms that in the late 19th century, Yorkshire folk were saying ‘while’ when they meant ‘until’. I will admit I probably still use it wrongly in speech – most of us do locally – but I hope I use it correctly when I’m writing."

Thank you Pauline both for writing this and also for allowing me to put this on the blog.

Meanwhile my friend Bill Wroot who grew up in Reedness was interested in the word galleyboke[s] in the previous post. He said that old farmers, when talking about a crop would often say  that it was 'galleyboke high'.

And I found myself using another dialect word today. I still have a cough from an earlier cold and I said that it was not a bad cough - only a 'little peff', meaning a slight cough.

Any more offerings??    

East Yorkshire dialect

I have always enjoyed listening to those people I know who still use out local dialect quite naturally. And having been brought up in the area around Howden I too still use some dialect expressions myself - although unless someone tells you that you are doing so how do you know?

One expression commonly used in our family is  'all taffled up' when describing maybe a ball of string or recently the heap of cable and Christmas lights we had pulled out of a cardboard box. It is a version of tangled up and is apparently peculiar to Yorkshire. I am not sure even if  it is only used in East Yorkshire.

Another discussion I had recently, after looking at the weather,  was about words meaning raining. I said 'it's teeming down' which I do not think is East Yorkshire dialect but then someone else used the phrase 'siling down' which I think is.

A sile is  derived from the Scandinavian word for a sieve and a local farmer's wife once told me that it was used of a particular type of sieve in a dairy where the milk ran straight through - hence it's raining heavily.

I could probably think of many more but here are just  a few phrases and words which I know, some of which are from my childhood but many of which I have heard used in the last few months - can you add any more?

it's slape - slippery

that fire is up to the galleybokes [one of my father's from Driffield, describing a fire piled with coal almost up to the gallows balk, which was what a hook hung on and from which a pot hung]

it's wick - meaning alive, often with fleas although a visitor once asked me if a particular cable was wick [live - ie had power through it]

goodies - sweets, although people from West Yorkshire often refer instead to 'spice'

drinkins - the drink taken out to farm workers in mid morning, sometimes also called 'lowance'

flitting - moving house

bairns - children

I will finish with what is supposedly a true story about Yorkshire road and rail signs. I will leave readers to check how true it is!

Several road signs had to be changed after Yorkshire people were  very confused by those at bridges and rail crossings which read 'Do not cross while lights are flashing'. Locally the word 'while' means until - e.g. 'wait there while I come back'.

Meanwhile I will take Molly out for a walk across the claggy field, returning all clarty having walked through countless slop holes but grateful that at least it is now a cockstride lighter.

Christmas Past

It seems appropriate as we approach Christmas to have a look back at how the season was celebrated locally in times past. We are at present having wet weather but it is not too cold.

However in December 1878 the York Herald reported that it was well below freezing and the rivers were frozen. It is interesting in these days of a long Christmas break to read that on Christmas Day the businesses were closed - which suggests that they were probably open on all other days. The report begins with what was happening in York and then moves to Goole and Howden.


From the York Herald, Saturday 28th December 1878

"Those who have sighed for a 'good old-fashioned' Christmas have at length had their wishes realised to the full, for the weather is of a more severe character than any that has been experienced for many years.

In York Christmas Day was observed in the orthodox fashion, the various places of business being closed, and services held in the different churches and chapels.

The hallowed day was ushered in by a gladdening peal on the Minster bells, and as soon as the day was fairly born the waits awoke the stillness by their carols and hymns. The Ouse and Foss being frozen, hundreds indulged in the exhilarating and healthy exercise of skating, of which for several seasons they have been deprived.

The inmates of the York Union Workhouse, numbering about 60 more than last year, were supplied with a substantial Christmas dinner, consisting of roast beef, potatoes, and plum pudding. To supply such a large number of appetites 67 stones of beef, 10 bushels of mashed potatoes, and 55 plum puddings, were called into requisition. The plum puddings were made up of 210lbs of currants, 70lbs of brown sugar, 40lbs of ground lump sugar, 120lbs of moist sugar, 13lbs of sultana raisins, 33lbs of lemon peel, and 60lbs of suet.

At tea, currant cakes, baked out of 20 stones of flour, were served up with as much of the "cup that cheers but not inebriates" as the inmates desired. Various parts of the house were decorated with evergreens and mottoes, and everything was done to render those to whom the institution afforded shelter from the cruel blast of poverty, contented and happy.

Goole
 
For the first time for several years, Christmas Day has come with the river blocked with ice, and with consequently a large number of men unemployed. The companies, in whose hands the steam trade of the port rests, have made strenuous efforts to keep the channel open, but the great block of ice in Goole Reach has baffled their efforts, and their steamers have had to return to Goole after a struggle of an exciting nature, in which the ice was the victor.

The river now presents a very picturesque appearance. Blocks of ice, stranded on the shoal sands, rise to a height of 10 or 12 feet out of the water, dotting the river for miles, while portions of the channel are covered with great sheets of ice closely heaped together, over some of which men and youths have crossed.

The Aire, the Dutch river (or Don), and the Derwent, are all blocked. On Christmas Day the thermometer was 22 deg., or ten below freezing, but until noon the weather was fine and bright. After that hour it clouded over and became very foggy. The parish church, which was very prettily decorated by the ladies of the parish, was well attended, the Christmas sermon being preached by the Rev. Dr. Bell, vicar of Goole.

At Snaith, Rawcliffe, Hook, Airmyn, and the other parishes round, the churches were suitably decorated. To meet the needs arising out of the distress, coals were distributed on Christmas eve, and on Wednesday, at the Market Hall, there was a soup boiling, tickets being given by the committee to those persons suffering from the present stagnation of trade or by the frost.

At the workhouse the usual treat was provided for the inmates by the Guardians, and a number of ladies and gentlemen attended to assist. The guardians present were Mr Huntington, Mr Bromley, and Mr Gleadow, and, notwithstanding the extra number of inmates, the house being full, there was enough and to spare. The visitors included Mrs and the Misses Wells, of Boothferry House, the Rev. T. Dickin, &c. At the close the usual speeches were made, and a very pleasant afternoon was passed.

Howden

The usual services were held at Howden Church, which was tastefully decorated, and a service was also held in connection with the Wesleyan body. The inmates of the workhouse had their accustomed treat in the shape of a dinner of roast beef and plum pudding, with other little luxuries for the inmates after dinner. The ice was the centre of attraction in tbe afternoon, and skating was indulged in by a great number of people both down the Selby-road and at the Kilpin Brick-yards."

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A later newspaper report comes from the Hull Mail in 1936:

"HOW GOOLE SPENT CHRISTMAS"

"Goole spent a cheerful Christmas, reflecting the recent improvement in trade of the port, and family parties, football and dancing were the chief attractions.

The aged, the sick, and the poor were not forgotten, and there were the usual festivities at the hospitals and institutions. The Mayor and Mayoress (Alderman and Mrs S. G. Bevan), with a number of other guests, attended the Christmas dinner at the Poor Law Institution, where an original note had been struck in the decorative scheme, the dining hall being bedecked to represent a cruise on an ocean liner.

The Christmas fare included beer provided by Mr Fred Taylor. In the evening a concert organised by Alderman and Mrs Ernest Johnson was given by Mr Geo. Waud (tenor), Mr E. Walker (baritone), Miss D. Bullock (elocutionist), B. Fish (ventriloquist), Mr Harold Dodson (piano accordion), Mr G. W. Jennings (piano), the Cliftonians Mandolin Band, and the pupils of the Bradley School of Dancing.

At the Bartholomew Hospital, each patient received a present and was allowed two visitors to tea. The Mayor and Mayoress toured the wards, and Father Christmas (Dr. K. Barrett) handed gifts from the Christmas tree to the patients and visitors. In the evening Mr H. Dodson entertained with his piano accordion, and on Boxing Day a cinematograph show was given by Mr H. Kay.

Nearly 300 poor children of the town were present at the annual Christmas Day breakfast organised by Carlisle Terrace Church Christian Endeavour Society. The Mayor and Mayoress also attended this effort, and Mr Sam Lister, acting as Father Christmas, distributed toys and sweets to the boys and girls."

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I hope all readers of this blog have a merry Christmas and enjoy their Christmas dinner. I hope too that the rivers are not frozen and the weather clement!

Goole coal hoists

I am hoping to clear up a minor mystery here. I have recently read  two books which include pictures of Goole where the coal hoists are described as 'pepper pot hoists'.

I think the newer book took the description from the first one. I know that the Goole water towers are often affectionately known as 'salt and pepper' because of their shape.

But other than in these books I have never come across the hoists being described as pepper pots - although looking at the hoists it is perfectly possible to see where the idea came from. So is this something I have just never picked up on or is it something written in the books which is unknown to Goole people?

The hydraulically operated coal hoists were invented by William Hamond Bartholomew to lift the floating pans or compartments (called Tom Puddings locally) full of coal and tip them into the hold of a ship. They were in use - five of them eventually - from 1863 and were unique to Goole. One hoist has been preserved and can still be seen today.

Here is a picture of a hoist in action in Goole docks. Was it ever called a pepper pot?

Charles Crump and his memories of Reedness

Some years ago whilst reading the old files of the Goole Times for 1937 I came across some articles entitled 'Marshland of 70 years ago'.  They were written by an anonymous author who recalled his childhood in Reedness when he was aged 6 in 1867.

His recollections were very detailed and the Marshland Local History Group have recently incorporated them into a beautifully produced book entitled Memories of Reedness . The book also includes the memories of present day Reedness residents - and former residents - including my friend Bill Wroot whose memories are included on my Howdenshirehistory.co.uk website.

Bill Wroot and his wife Gudrun at the launch of Memories of Reedness

The group has used censuses and maps to trace the history of Reedness people and houses in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

There are enough clues in the memories from 1937 to trace the author. He was, I believe,  Charles Crump who was born in Upper Peover in Cheshire. His parents were Samuel Crump born in Warwick and his wife Ann [ Hannah, Anna], formerly Reynolds of Packington in Warwickshire.

They married in 1843 and spent several years in Over Peover in Cheshire where their children were all born. Samuel was the  village schoolmaster and his wife Anna was schoolmistress. In February 1866 they moved with their two youngest sons, James and Charles to Reedness.

Charles and James grew up in Reedness. Charles followed in his parents' footsteps and was a pupil teacher on the opening day of Goole Alexandra St schools on 17th January 1876. From 1880 when his father became ill he took over the school at Reedness until his father died in 1883.

He later was headmaster at Little Harrowden, Northamptonshire where he lived with his family.

He died, I believe in 1942.

If anyone has family connections with the Crump family I would be pleased to hear from them and confirm that the memories were indeed written by Charles Crump.

Howden history book launch

We spent yesterday in the Shire Hall at Howden , meeting people and selling copies of my new book about the history of Howden ('Howden, a Pictorial History').

Friday is when Howden has a small market and so we set up our display of old photos and artefacts amongst stalls selling clothing and handmade crafts. There is also a regular coffee morning in the hall and so while signing books we were able to have coffee and toasted teacakes.

I am very pleased with the book. Broadleys of Goole who have printed it have done an excellent job of reproducing the old photos which are all clear and sharp. There is also quite a lot of text which I hope is informative and interesting.

I have been researching the local history of Howden for some 40 years and people have loaned me many beautiful pictures to copy as well as sharing their memories. It was lovely to meet so many of them yesterday.

My book is now available to buy in Chappelows' newsagents in Howden and Goole  or through my website Howdenshire History at a cost of £10.50.

I am hoping for a peaceful weekend, nursing my cold and sitting over a log fire.

Launch of Howden, a Pictorial History in Howden Shire Hall

SS Mersey of Goole

I am writing this on the morning of 11th November, Remembrance Day and thought it would be right to include here a memorial to some of the many servicemen and women, including those who served in the Merchant Navy.

Captain William Rockett, lost on the sinking of the SS Mersey

Shown above is Captain William Rockett who was lost when the SS Mersey sank on 20th April 1940. It was believed that she had hit a mine.

The report in the Hull Mail of 22nd April 1940 follows:

'Goole Steamer Mined with Loss of 14

THREE OF SIX SURVIVORS IN HOSPITAL

GOOLE'S biggest shipping disaster since the outbreak of war occurred on Saturday, when the 1,037-ton collier Mersey sank off the south-east coast following an explosion, and 14 of her crew of 20 were lost. It is believed that she struck a mine.

The ship was only a few miles from the shore at the time of the explosion, and it sank within a few minutes. A man walking on the cliffs at the time said: "I was looking out to sea, and there was suddenly terrific explosion. A column of water shot into the air. The ship I had been looking at a few minutes before had disappeared."

With the exception of two, who came from Hull and Bridlington, all the crew belonged to Goole. The missing men included the master, Captain W. Rockett, of 81, Adeline-street, Goole. The other members of the crew were:

Second Officer, J. A. Vickers, 717, Anlaby-road, Hull

Steward, T. W. Garner, Lime Tree-avenue, Goole

T. Nicholls, A.B., Edinburgh-street, Goole

C. E. Riggall, A.B., Gordon-street, Goole

F. Vaux, A.B., Cottingham-street Goole

T. Wilson, A.B., Estcourt-street, Goole

J. P. Leddy, A.B., Promenade, Bridlington

F. Overington, A.B., Burlington-crescent, Goole

T. Nicholls, A.B., Edinburgh-street, Goole

E. Barker, Deck boy, Chiltern-road, Goole

F. Huntington, fireman, Percy-street, Goole

H. Walton, fireman, Western-road, Goole

H. Ducheman, fireman, Gordon-street, Goole

E. W. Cox, fireman, Prospect terrace, Goole

S. E. Clark, fireman, Bell-lane, Rawcliffe

R. W. Taun, fireman, Cross Gordon-street, Goole

The survivors are:

Chief Officer, J. A. Carr, Rutland-road, Goole

Chief Engineer, W. L. Pollock, Eton-road, Goole

Second Engineer, J. A. Drury, Brough-street, Goole

F. Vaux, A.B., Cottingham-street, Goole

T. Wilson, A.B., Estcourt-street, Goole

Vickers died of his wounds after being landed. Three survivors, Drury, Vaux and Ash, were injured and are in hospital at the port where they were landed. The other three, Carr, Pollock, and Wilson, were unhurt, and returned to Goole in the early hours of Sunday.

MINED AND TORPEDOED IN LAST WAR 

Seen by a "Mail" representative, the men would make no statement beyond saying that they had had shocking experience. 

The SS Mersey, owned by the Goole Steam Shipping (L.M.S.R.) Co., served throughout the last war as a cable ship. The last ship to be lost by the company was the SS Calder, which foundered on a voyage from Hamburg to Goole on April 19 1931, nine years ago almost to the day. 

Captain Rockett, who was 47 years of age, entered the service of the company as a chief officer in 1924, and had occasional temporary commands until 1929, when he became a permanent master. He was one of the company's youngest captains, and had been in command of the Mersey for about 12 months. 

During the last war he was both mined and torpedoed. 

Two years ago his 19 year old son, Jack Rockett, was killed by falling from the mast of a ship in port at Cartagena, Spain, while adjusting the wireless aerial. 

NEARLY ALL MARRIED 

Captain Rockett was a Younger Brother of Trinity House, and a member of the Goole (Aire and Calder) Lodge of Freemasons. He leaves a wife, two sons, and two daughters. 

Garner, the steward, was a married man with four children, and most of the other missing men were married with families. Riggall was injured when the Goole trader Lowland was mined in the early days of the war, and this trip on the Mersey was his first since coming out of hospital. 

Able Seaman Joseph P. Leddy, of tbe Promenade, Bridlington, was making his first trip for 12 years. A married man with one child, he had lived at Bridlington for about eight years. He was 37 years of age and the son of the late Mr P. M. Leddy, who was senior clerk to the Customs at Goole during the early part of the last war. For some time before joining the merchant service Leddy had been unemployed. His mother, Mrs Leddy, lives at Priory-crescent, Bridlington. '

William Pollock was sadly lost in another incident in 1941

SS Mersey of Goole

Howden book launch - Friday November 23rd

It is a lovely sunny November weekend and I have been out with Molly having a bonfire of hedge clippings and old cardboard boxes. Molly has enjoyed snuffling in the undergrowth in the wood and I have been collecting fallen twigs to bring in to dry. They make good firelighters for both the Rayburn and the front room fire.

I have now fixed a date to launch my book about Howden. I have booked a table in the Shire Hall for Friday 23rd November from 9 am  (there is a market in Howden on Fridays) and am going sit behind it,  sign my books and hopefully meet lots of old friends and make new ones!! There will be an exhibition of old local photos and objects as well as refreshments available.

I am selling my books that day at £10 a copy - the normal price will be £10.50. I hope readers will enjoy it - I have enjoyed writing it. Many people have shared information and photographs with me and although like any author I am always a bit nervous about possible mistakes I am looking forward to sharing what I have written with a wider audience.

It seems appropriate to launch it actually inside the building which is shown on the front cover - see my previous blog post for the front cover picture.

Back cover of my Howden history book