Howden tomatoes and grapes

While researching material for my book on Howden I often become distracted and spend much longer than necessary following up ideas.

One such distraction this week has been market gardening around the town. There was a lot of soft fruit grown which was transported by rail to the fruit markets of Hull, Leeds and sometimes London. Apparently Howden was a good plum growing area.

But most interestingly I have been reading and talking about the grape growing industry. There were grapes grown in hot houses in all the large houses such as Howden Hall, Sandhall and Knedlington Manor but in the later nineteenth century commercial vineries were established.

Mr Henry Holmes Moore is credited with beginning this - his vineries were down Hailgate. But soon afterwards Mr George Henry Shaw built grape greenhouses at the end of St John St. I have seen a lovely picture of a wedding reception held in the greenhouses where the tables are laid out under the vines which are bearing huge bunches of grapes.

An area of new housing in Howden has been named The Vinery but as yet I have not found that grape growing took place on the site [do get in touch if you know differently]. It lies off Kensington Gardens where I know that tomatoes were grown.

Howden Tomatoes were famed throughout Yorkshire and travellers from the West Riding to Bridlington and the coast would often stop and buy them on their way home. I recently sampled a Clibran's Victory tomato - grown from an original Howden tomato seed. Its taste was delicious and I could understand why they were so popular.

WEA local history classes

It seems some time since I wrote a post and quite a lot seems to have been going on.

On Sunday we spent some time in The Lowther hotel in Goole as it was the heritage weekend and members of the public were welcome to visit the murals in the upstairs rooms. There were quite a few visitors and several were local Goole people who had heard of the murals but had not previously seen them.

We are still not sure who painted them but they represent the docks at Goole sometime in the 1830s and are beautifully detailed.

My WEA local history classes begin next week.

Monday afternoon [ September 17th ] 1.30pm in Howden upstairs at the East Riding customer service building  where we will study the history of Howden, the  local villages and Goole.

Tuesday afternoon [ September 18th] 1.30 pm at Eastrington village hall where we shall study the village of Eastrington, the local villages and Snowden Dunhill

Thursday morning [ September 20th] 10am at Ilkeston Avenue Community centre in Goole where we shall study the history of Goole and the Marshland.

All these classes are very friendly and you are welcome to contact me for more details or come along to the first class to see what it is like. No previous enrolment is necessary.

My book on the history of Howden is coming on well and I still hope to have it out for Xmas - but I find it hard not to write too much!!

Molly and the washer and the Howden beadle

This has been a busy week for family history with visits to both the archives at Beverley and the Borthwick Institute at York.

Whilst at Beverley I looked at the Howden vestry minute book  [PE 121/63] which is full of fascinating information about the highways and the poor.

I was interested to read that Howden had a beadle in 1780. Samuel South was chosen in place of Matthew Iveson. He had to provide his own utensils - wheelbarrow, spade, cowl rake, besoms etc and use them to clean the causeys [causeways - which could refer to either streets or footpaths] including St Hellin's Square, Northolmby Causey, Langton's Causey and Pinfold Causey.

A beadle was a parish official with several duties, as mentioned in Oliver Twist, although in Howden one of his major roles seems to have been street cleaning.

Today our quite new Hotpoint washer made a strange whirring noise and came to a halt in the middle of washing a load of clothes. It refused to pump out and we could not open the door. The chances of summoning an engineer to arrive on a Bank Holiday seemed low.

So we read the troubleshooting guide which came with the washer and found there was a filter we could examine at the front of the machine. It said 'a  little water may leak out'. In fact a lot of water poured out all over the floor. Then eventually, after a little more research on the internet, we found that we should check something called the impeller which should rotate freely. It did not.

We could see something caught in it and using a pair of pliers we extracted a small piece of cane. It had been chewed off the log basket near the washer by Molly. How it had got into the washer is a mystery. But the washer returned to life and is now recovered.

We love Molly dearly but since she also recently managed to cut off the power we are waiting, possibly vainly, for her to realise she is no longer a puppy!!

Charles Briggs of Howden

I am researching details for a book I am writing about Howden. It is some years since I wrote a history of Howden with Ken Powls. The book was very popular but is now out of print. So I am now writing a pictorial history  (probably in several short volumes as I have done for Goole) which will include both pictures and text.

Whilst writing about the Ashes Playing Field which, along with the Manor House was given to the people of Howden by Charles Briggs in 1927 I came across an article about Charles Briggs' will which I thought was interesting. It appeared in the Hull Daily Mail in 1950:



"£2,000 FOR 'SUFFERING MIDDLE CLASS': £12,000 LEGACY FOR POOR REVOKED

Charles Briggs, of Howden, who left £75,933 (£75,612 net), said in his will, published today, "In a previous will now revoked I had provided a legacy of £12,000 to establish and endow six rest houses for the poor of Howden. Since then the various trade unions have caused a general unrest among the working class and, in consequence, I have thought it necessary to provide for more deserving persons than the misguided working class.

"I consider that by taxation to meet the unemployment, old-age pensions and assistance from Government in these ways I have already contributed sufficient to a trade union-ridden class, whose extravagant demands for higher wages, shorter hours and restricted output, and unwillingness to work overtime, has resulted in withdrawal of my sympathy from them to the suffering and neglected middle class, who are so deservedly looked after by the said Royal United Kingdom Beneficent Association."

 Mr Briggs. a benefactor to Howden, died at Bournemouth in February, aged 86. Probate of his will has been granted to Gerald R. H. Wright, of Homeland, Greyfriars-crescent. Beverley and Charles A. C. Wilkinson, of Wakefield. He left £400 to Charles A. C. Wilkinson, and the residue upon trust for his wife for life and then:

 Two thousand pounds to the Royal UK Beneficent Association, to found the "Charles Briggs Annuity," to show my sympathy for the suffering middle class as present - day legislation only tends to ease the lot of the worker, and entirely overlooks the condition of the class that is eligible for assistance from this excellent association.

 £8,000 to York Diocesan Board Finance upon trust to pay the income to the curate for the time being of the parish of Howden. or to any existing stipend fund of the said parish.
 £275 upon trust to pay the income between  the bellringers of Howden Parish Church as a Christmas honorarium,
 £165 to the parochial church council on condition various family graves are maintained, and £165 towards the general maintenance of the churchyard.

 He desired that a tablet commemorating all his and his wife's benefactions to the church and town of Howden be erected on the wall of St. Peter's Church, Howden.

 He left £100 to Richard Tiplady, whether or not still employed as groundsman at the Ashes Playing Field, Howden, "to mark my appreciation of the interest he has always shown in my playing field scheme."

Other bequests included: £500 to Hull Guild of Poor Brave Things; £300 each to Dr Barnardo's Homes, and the NSPCC; £250 to the Yorkshire Home for Incurables, Harrogate; £150 to Leeds Children's Holiday Camp Fund; £3,000 if a spinster, £500, if not, each Janet, Evelyne, Ethel and Hilda, daughters of the late Henry Green, solicitor, of Howden; £50 to Mrs Jane Loving, of  Bridport, Dorset; £5.000, if a spinster or widow, otherwise £1,000, to his wife's niece. Neta: £1,000 to Gerald Wright, and £1,000 upon trust for Mrs Edith Wright and then to her son, Gerald Wright: £1,500 upon trust for Laura Wright for life and then for her sons, William and Ruby, and £550 each to them.
 Other legacies, and one fourth the remainder to Ashes Playing Field, Howden, upon trust for the maintenance of the 16 acres of recreation field, which he had given to Howden, and three fourths to the vicar and churchwardens of Howden, to one part for the church fabric fund, providing a memorial tablet  which has been or will be erected to the memory of Rev William Hutchinson. MA (vicar there from 1862- 1902), and two parts for the assistant curate fund."

Goole library

Yesterday I visited the newly re-opened Goole library. I was particularly interested to see how the move of the local studies library downstairs had worked out.

I have been using the local studies library upstairs for some 40 years [writing that it seems an awfully long time!]. I remember writing articles in the Goole Times about local history when I was a student and finding an untold wealth of information in the library.

The librarian then was Miss Isa? Thompson who was very helpful and keen to make the library somewhere that Goole could be proud of.

Anyway I think that this move downstairs may work out well. Not everyone who visited the library knew how many resources were available upstairs and now many of the books seem  more attractively displayed.

There is still a wealth of material behind the scenes which I hope will come out - Howden parish books and the original Saltmarshe book manuscript to name a couple - as well as many lovely old photographs. It is a difficult balance between protecting material and making it accessible.

And we have yet to see how easy it is to work there when the library is very busy.

Goole library - built originally as a furniture store!

On my way home I did some shopping and after unloading it left the rear door of my car open. Sometime later I noticed and shut the door. Much, much later, around midnight I went out to the car and opened the driver's door.

 I was shocked to be attacked by a mad creature hurling itself out of the car in the moonlight. It was Poppy, our cat who had obviously climbed into the car when the door was open and had gone to sleep. When I got over the shock I was pleased that I had inadvertently rescued her from her prison.

Churchyard visits

Today has been a day of churchyard visits. I had been asked to take pictures of gravestones at both Snaith and Howden and travelled from one to the other. In many ways they are similar towns - both market towns with many impressive houses built in the eighteenth century and both with interesting religious connections.

Snaith is historically linked with the Abbey at Selby and was the centre of a parish which reached as far as Whitgift and included Hook, Goole and Airmyn.

Howden is linked to the bishopric of Durham and Howdenshire reaches from North Cave to Barmby on the Marsh. Both towns are surrounded by rich agricultural land.

This is shown by the size of their respective churches which still dominate their towns.

It might be thought to be slightly depressing, peering at gravestones on a dull summer day. But there was a sense of peace and calm and we were not the only visitors. While standing in a light drizzle at Howden I looked down and saw I was being watched by a small hedgehog happily snuffling in the long grass for slugs. It seemed quite unbothered by my presence.

The priory church of St Lawrence at Snaith

The Knights Templar in Yorkshire

On Tuesday members of my WEA local history group went on their travels again. This time we went further afield and visited Foulbridge near Snainton in North Yorkshire.

This was the site of a Knights Templar preceptory and we were particularly interested as Faxfleet, much nearer home, was also a preceptory but nothing remains of it above ground.

Here at Foulbridge is a medieval Templar hall, once hidden within two separate farmhouses but now revealed and restored by the Nutt family who kindly allowed us to visit their home.

The trees from which the hall at Foulbridge were built were felled in 1288, and it is thought that the hall was built between 1288 and 1290.

There are eight timber posts supporting  the roof and by looking at the markings on these posts it is possible to see that there were probably aisles on either side. 

We had a very enjoyable visit and a welcome cup of tea afterwards at Brompton.

Here we are at Foulbridge with Mr and Mrs Nutt

The following day I went to Driffield show, the sun shone and despite the ground underfoot being a bit spongy in places we had a good time.

Yesterday my missing brown hen re-appeared with one small chick in tow. We have put them in a coop,  made by my grandfather probably  60 years ago.  Molly has been ordered to look but not touch.

Men and tractors

I write a regular article in the monthly magazine Howden Matters. This usually consists of an old picture and a long caption describing the scene or people shown. Sometimes I get feedback, particularly where I have been unsure of names and by far the most popular recently has been a picture entitled simply "Men and Tractors".

I thought I would reproduce the photo here as I now have been given more information about it including the names of the men [do let me know if you think I have got it wrong!] and where the picture was taken. If you double click on the picture you should get a larger image which you can download and print.

The event was an open ploughing match held by the Goole Young Farmers in a field on Rawcliffe Road lent by Mr N G Silvester. The event was won by R A Backhouse. Date not yet known.

 Left to right:  Roger Thompson, Geoff Tune from Hensall, John Sykes, Bob   Backhouse, Geoff Tindall, Norman  Webster, Alma Wilson, Willie  Saville,  Roland Backhouse,  Robert Chantry,  Claude Brignall, Ken Tattershall , unknown,  William Bayston.               

Wressle visit

Members and friends of my WEA local history classes visited Wressle this week. We met at the brick church, built in 1799  to replace the chapel within the castle which had been destroyed by fire in 1796.

We then went on to visit Wressle Castle which is very visible from the Howden/ Selby rail line. What remains of the Percy family's magnificent castle however is now only a fraction of the original. It is on private property and our visit was specially arranged with the owners.

What remains is the south range which contained the hall and lord's tower. The rest was demolished in the mid-seventeenth century on the orders of parliament in case the Royalists occupied it. This was despite the fact that the Percy family were then supporters of Parliament.

The south range survived and was occupied as a farm house until it was destroyed by a fire. We walked around the outside first and I had a good audience of both people and cattle as I talked about the castle.

We then looked inside the castle which is open to the elements - no floors or windows are left and the stonework is badly cracked. But it was still possible to imagine what it had been like when there were over 200 servants and Henry VII visited.

We then enjoyed tea and scones at the farmhouse and were lucky enough to avoid this week's rain.

Wressle Castle around 1905

Not much to say about the rain except that I wish it would stop. Yesterday was a deluge and my garden pond which takes the water from the house roof is over its banks and overflowing into the woodland. Molly has enjoyed jumping in and swimming in it, coming out covered with duckweed.

Aughton church

On Friday I went in the evening to Aughton church. Every year there is a service there  to remember Robert Aske, the leader of the Pilgrimage of Grace. He was born in the village and was put to death at York on 12th July 1537.

This year's event was special as Carole Readman had written a moving cantata which told the story of this Yorkshire uprising. She conducted the Weighton Waytes who sang magnificently and whose Tudor costumes were equally magnificent. The church was full of local people who are still proud of the man who worshipped in the very church where we sat and who died for his religion.

In the interval we ate [everything was free and contributed by local supporters] from groaning tables of food ranging from potted salmon and asparagus to honey cakes and jelly.

As we came out it was dusk and a little eerie -  one could imagine what it was like all those years ago when national politics and the long arm of Henry VIII affected the family who lived in this remote part of East Yorkshire.