Meetings at last

To my surprise it is well over a month since I last wrote anything so a catch up is overdue. It has not been a great harvest of fruit this year due I think to the strange weather we had in spring. Brambles came and went very quickly and although we have some apples there are not many. The same is true of the damsons - the only one enjoying the few fallen ones is Molly the dog. 

I have given two local history talks recently - one in Howden and one in Goole. Although Covid is still with us I think that as long as we are careful it is good to begin to have some social meetings. The first talk was for the Howden Civic Society and I showed pictures of the changing face of Howden. Some of those present were new to the town and I hope enjoyed seeing how much has changed well within living memory. 

Here is one picture I showed which is of South Howden station in the 1950s. The track bed is now more or less the route of Shelford Avenue, named for William Shelford,  the Hull and Barnsley railway engineer

The second talk was to the Boothferry Family and Local History group which meets in the Courtyard in Goole. Here I  showed pictures of the shops of Goole. Many of the audience were born and bred in the town and they kept me right - most of the time! It is amazing how many shops there were - not only on the main streets but on the corners of the cross streets too.  And it was also interesting to see how businesses moved around the town  as shopping habits changed. For example I showed a picture of Keith Anderson's shop in Aire Street and another of his jeweller's shop at the top end of Pasture Road.

But a friend later reminded me that between those two he had a shop in Carlisle Street. Here it is where the Philips sign is on the right, opposite the Conservative club.

 And here is an advert from 1958 to prove it.

I have recently too been buying and copying pictures - mainly of Gilberdyke, Newport and Goole. I shall be showing some of the Gilberdyke views at the next meeting of the Gilberdyke WI but as ever I am happy to provide digital copies of my old pictures for a small charge.

Those of you on facebook do have a look at my new Howdenshire History facebook page. I intend to post pictures on it from around the area.

Featherbed Lane and Eastrington church

 I know it is only August but somehow it feels autumnal - maybe because the last few days have been wet and chilly. I was encouraged on Friday when I watched Monty Don on Gardeners' World. He was talking about how some plants we see as weeds can play a part in a garden. I am all for that  as I have some teazles  and like to leave some of the ivy to flower for the bees. But I am afraid we have just chopped down the crop of burdocks as Molly the dog gets the seed heads stuck to her coat.

I have recently been asked about the history of Featherbed Lane near North Howden station which runs through to Eastrington.  Many many years ago I used to ride my pony along it from the Eastrington end  and I remember that cross country runs from Howden School often used to include running along part of it.

It follows an ancient watercourse which was first mentioned in 959 AD and which marked the boundary of  lands  granted to  'Cwen' by King Edgar. Later this watercourse, known as Common End Dyke  formed the boundary of the Bishop of Durham's Howdenshire estate. The  area was poorly drained and eventually became part of a common of around 2000 acres called, from the 17th century, Bishopsoil. This adjoined the larger common of Wallingfen.

Featherbed Lane with Common End drain on the left. It looks boggy in this photo!

Bishopsoil  'encircled'  several villages [see map] and villagers had grazing rights on it. They drove their animals along green lanes and onto the Common which was gated. Some of these gates survive in place names - eg Gate Farm at Balkholme, Newland Gate near Eastrington and Thorpe Lidget [Lidgate] near Howden where there was even a gate keeper. There was a gate too on the end of Featherbed Lane near the road to Brind.

This map showing Bishopsoil is taken from the Howdenshire volume of the Victoria County History

In 1767  the act for enclosing Bishopsoil Common was passed  and each village which had had grazing rights was allocated a piece of land by the commissioners Edward and John Cleaver.  The final award was made in 1777.

But no doubt some people suffered from not being able to graze their animals freely on the common anymore as often the piece of village land was soon sold on to an individual who then built a farmhouse on it.   So even today we have farms such as Asselby, Barmby and Saltmarshe Granges. For many years thereafter the occupants of these farms were listed on censuses with the appropriate village which confuses some whose ancestors they are.

The commissioners in their award also designated roads or highways. Some were 40 feet wide and were public highways but others were 30 feet wide and were private highways giving access to land. So the picturesquely named Hare Rudding Lane was  a private highway and ran alongside the Common End Dyke on the very edge of the newly enclosed common.

At some point the lane became commonly known locally as Featherbed Lane, probably because it was so boggy!!

There was in fact a farm along the lane, accessed from the Wood Lane end,  called Owlet Hall. I am not sure if there any remains today.

But during the First World War it was the home of the Walker family.  William was by then a retired builder and although originally from Yorkshire had lived in many places including London, Liverpool and Hull. Their son Stewart Edgar was a trainee architect in Sheffield. He joined up and served as a sapper in the Royal Engineers and was killed  in 1916.

The family attended Eastrington church and the present pulpit was given by William in memory of their son. It was dedicated by the Archbishop of York in July 1919. This was the report in the Hull Daily Mail

 CHURCH WINDOW DEDICATION.—The Archbishop of York,  on the occasion of his visitation to the parish of Eastrington, dedicated a new stained glass east window in the parish church, which has been erected by public subscription to the memory of 17 men from the parish who lost their lives m the war. His Grace also dedicated a new stone pulpit, which has been given by Mr Wm. Walker, of Owlet Hall in memory of his son, who was killed in France.

Eastrington church interior showing the 'new' pulpit on the right

I do not know how long the family lived at Owlet Hall but the farm was put up for sale in 1925 and described as follows

Yorkshire Post 1925

 

Messrs Clegg and Moore. are instructed offer for Sale by Auction at the Bowmans Hotel Howden on Saturday May 9th 1925. that Freehold farm, known as Owlett Hall Farm, situate with house, buildings, and land containing 129 Acres in the occupation of the trustees of the late Mr. F. S. Gregory. 

The house contains: Good living Kitchen, Dairy, 4 Bedrooms. Wash House, etc 

Buildings Include : Barn. 4 stall Cow House, 2  stall Stable, 2 Loose Boxes, also Brick Foundation and Wall Shed with 2 Loose Boxes in Field. 

The Land consists of several well-tended rich grass Closes all adjoining each other, with frontages to the Howden and Market Weighton Road, and to Featherbed Lane. The Property also includes Rights into and over Featherbed Lane. 

Featherbed Lane is now a popular walk and is part of the Howden 20 route.

Pond cleaning and old pictures

 I am writing this on what is, I think, the hottest day of the year so far. I have been watering my tomatoes in the greenhouse and am hopeful that they will begin to ripen soon. Both dog and cat are lying flat out on the drive having found patches of shade. 

It has been a busy week beginning with my new cooker arriving on Monday morning at 6.45 am, a birthday meal for a friend on Wednesday, a lovely clarinet and piano concert in Howden Minster and on Friday watching a young man cleaning out the excess reeds and other plants out of my pond. He had to be very careful as the pond was originally used as the rubbish tip for the estate joiner and included lots of glass. This was long before we had dustbin men!! He began the job a fortnight ago and then we left the debris out on the side to allow any creatures to return to the water.  It was a very smelly job on a hot day and I was pleased to stand and watch. He worked hard.

On the local history front I have been asked to give talks to both Howden Civic Society [September 1st in the Masonic Hall]  and to the Boothferry Family and Local history group [ in the Courtyard on September 18th]. I am a member of both groups and plan to show some old photos - but who knows  what will be happening by then with Covid and will people want to come and sit near others and will we still be wearing masks? I can only prepare and hope.

I continue to  collect old pictures, some of which I hope to be showing in September. Here are a few. I collect pictures from a wide area of what is now all called the East Riding of Yorkshire but was once very definitely East Riding and West Riding. Some of my collection includes family photographs and I always try to get the names - so many beautiful photos  are lost to descendants as no-one knows who they are. 

Aerial view of Bridge Street, Goole

Howden South station shed aka the bat house

Crossley Burney car on display at Howden on loan from Beaulieu motor museum 

 Eastrington chapel and Queen Street

 Herons' lorry in 1926 centenary parade

Aeroplane at Carlton

Tutty family around Howden

 Recently on facebook I read a message about the Tutty family of Howden. I was interested as there seemed to be several  family connections with local villages - Tutty Row in Howdendyke, Spaldington and Eastrington.

 
Howdendyke - Tutty Row is on the left of the picture.

So I have had a look at them and found a vast family who worked on the land in this area for over 200 years - and the name Joseph passed down through the generations.

The first Joseph [1] I have found was born in 1768 although I cannot find where. The name is often mis -spelled in the records. He married Elizabeth Sargeson at Holme on Spalding Moor in 1794.  Their son John was baptised in 1795 and they were then living at Skelton where Joseph was working as a labourer.

There was another son Joseph born around 1795-8 who declares on census entries that he was born at Eastrington but I cannot find a record.

Sadly Elizabeth died of consumption in 1799.

In February 1801 Joseph married Frances Nutbrown. Their son George was baptised at Eastrington in December.  Son Henry was baptised at Eastrington in 1803. Mary, Jane, Robert and William followed, all baptised at Howden. Joseph and Frances were living in Flatgate in 1841 and Joseph was a labourer.

Joseph was buried at Howden in 1844, aged 76.

Joseph [2] [ described as 'of Howden'] married Hannah Cowlam/ Cowlin/ Cowling  at Bubwith in 1818. Their daughter Jane was born the same year but sadly died aged one. The family were then living at Hive near Eastrington.

George was born in 1822,  Joseph in  1828,  John in 1830,   Elizabeth in 1832 and  Charles in 1835.   Although they were baptised at Howden the family lived in the area known as Spaldington Outsides.

This is the area between the Royal Oak and Welham Bridge - where  Snowden Dunhill once lived. 

George remained as a farm labourer at Spaldington Outsides.  His father Joseph lived with them until his death in 1883. His age at death was 88 giving a birth date on 1795. He and his wife Mary had at least  6 children including Joseph [4] born 1858.

Joseph [3] married Mary Nothard in 1848 at Bubwith. He moved around from Hull, where his son Joseph was born in 1855 to Laxton and settled like his brother at Kilpin Pike where he too worked in the chemical works. He and Mary had at least 9 children. One son, Charles, became a shipwright. He married Mary Hunt and in 1911 she is shown as a grocery shop keeper. Charles is elsewhere. The Tutty family owned Tutty Row.

John also moved to Kilpin Pike where he was a labourer in the fertiliser works. He and his wife Hannah had three daughters and lived in a row named in the 1881 census as Prospect Villas. His wife  died in 1910 and he in 1913.

Charles briefly moved to Hull but returned to Spaldington farming 65 acres between Sykes and  Ivy house farms. He died in 1908.

His death was reported as follows

Dec 1908

 

DEATH OF A SPALDINGTON FARMER.) Quite a gloom was cast over the village and district on Sunday afternoon when it became known that Charles Tutty, farmer, had died in his chair. Mr Tutty was his usual good health on the Saturday, when he attended Howden Market but  on his return home complained of pain in the chest. On Sunday the was seized with violent pain and his daughter, Miss Kate Tutty, tried to administer brandy,  but he expired in his chair. 

Henry Green, Coroner for Howdenshire, held an inquest. Mr William Tutty, son. deposed that his father had  enjoyed good health, and, to his knowledge, had never had a doctor. After hearing evidence from  the son and daughter,  he returned the verdict of "Syncope." 

He was laid to rest on Wednesday in the presence of large and sympathetic gathering of relatives, farmers, and others from a wide district, where he was well-known and highly respected. Family mourners wore Mr William Tutty (son), Sarah Tutty (daughter), Miss Kate Tutty daughter. Mr and Mrs J. Harrison (Willitoft, son in law and daughter). Mr and Mrs W. Atkinson Jarret Hill. Cave, son-in-law and daughter), Mr Joseph Tutty (brother, Howdendyke), Mr Joseph and Mrs Tutty (nephew and niece Spaldington- Mr, G Coggrave (niece, Howden), Miss ?Walsh (niece, Howdendvke), Miss Morritt Howden), and Mr Archie Tutty Spaldington.

He leaves two sons (one in America), and four daughters

 William Tutty of Spaldington died in 1943

Joseph 4, George's son, born in 1858 married Hannah Ferguson in 1881 at Bubwith. In 1901 they were living next to The Plough Inn in Spaldington. Their son Archie married Effie Wiles and their daughter Vida [later Walker] was born in 1927. It was said that Joseph and Archie were known throughout the area as very good sheep shearers.

I found the Tutty family interesting to research even if there were a great number called Joseph!. There are several family gravestones in local churchyards  of Howden and Eastrington. If anyone has anything further about the family to add I can include it.

Clarks Buildings, Old Goole

Another month has passed and we are still in partial lockdown - but  life still seems to be returning to a normal - we can shop, albeit with a mask on, we can go for a meal with a limited number of friends and invite a select few into the house and I managed a haircut.  Most of my friends have now had 2 jabs so we feel safer. And I was not planning a foreign holiday - so steady progress.

The season seems late and this week I have been hearing a cuckoo. According to the old rhyme it should have changed its tune by now and be preparing to fly away home.  We are harvesting spring onions and looking forward to rasps and new potatoes although pigeons ate my first sowing of pot turnips. I am going to concentrate on growing things in pots. That way I can control the weeds.

One of the topics I have been looking at recently has been Clarks Buildings in Old Goole. I was contacted by a lady whose grandfather James Smith was born there in 1888. His parents were Joseph Smith and his wife Sarah Jane, nee Goulden.

This was interesting as a good friend is a member of this family and when we looked carefully we found that Sarah Jane was one of the eleven children of James Goulden and his wife Sarah Drury. She was the younger sister of John Henry Goulden, my friend's great grandfather. The Goulden family is a large one and still well represented in the Goole area.

 

 Clarks' Buildings are on the right.
The Dutch River and the old shipyard is straight ahead.
 Clarks' Cottages were on the opposite side of the road.

All the houses were built by the Clark family, the last of whom, Hannah,  lived in Prospect House [ see map]. They also built Bleak House. The extensive Clark  property was eventually put up for sale in 1891 having been bogged down in a Chancery court case.

 

1891 map showing Clarks Buildings. 
Also Grove House, Grove Cottages and Clemenst Cottages and The Gables.

When the shipyard moved to the Old Goole side of the Dutch River these houses remained in front of them but were probably demolished in the 1930s.  The furthest three, on the bend,  lasted longest and I remember visiting a school friend there whose father Edward Sammon worked at the shipyard.

Here is another view of Clarks Buildings looking from the other direction

Any memories of this area of Old Goole and the families would be welcome

Newport East Yorkshire

I am writing this post on Thursday morning and it is not raining.  This is so unusual that I feel the need to mention it!!! It has apparently been the wettest May on record and the grass in the garden is almost too long for the mower.  I hope the weather forecast is right and we are now in for some sunshine.  The gooseberries are filling out well and the garlic is flourishing - which cannot be said for one of my blackcurrant bushes which was eaten off at the stocking tops by a deer [ we saw it!]

The bees are busy  and we hope for a good crop of honey in the not too distant future. I am not the expert in the household but  know for certain that one of my garden plants that they seem very keen on is the large cotoneaster on the front of the house. I gave up working near it as there were so many bees on there the other day.

Last week I went to a concert in Howden Minster organised by the Howdenshire Music Project. We sat socially distanced and wore masks but it was live music and I was able to hear too the new Feurich piano. I shall certainly be attending the next one as my daughter Amy is playing!

https://www.howdenminsterconcerts.co.uk/lunchtime-concerts

I am asked all sorts of queries about the local history of the area. A recent correspondent wondered whether he could write about Goole as part of Howdenshire. Definitely not I replied - as a pupil of the old GGS I spent many hours looking at the letters WRCC - West Riding County Council - which were branded into the back of every chair.

Another query was about road rollers!!! This was because I have some pictures of five steam rollers  on top of the newly built Newport bridge over the canal in 1930. This bridge replaced the original 18th century one as the Howden to Hull road was then becoming increasingly busy.  It was tested before it was handed over to ERCC by 115 tons of  road rollers being parked on top.

In the background of this picture is a building which was used a butcher's slaughterhouse. It was said to be conveniently situated as the blood could run straight into the canal!! It is now the site of Turks Head Gardens housing development.

Newport is as its name suggests a new village, built where the Market Weighton canal cut through the  5000 acre marshy waste called Wallingfen. 

When the canal was dug it was found that there were beds of clay suitable for making bricks and tiles on its western side and soon there were several brickworks in operation. Now there are none. But in its heyday a vast amount  were transported on the canal. In 1823  it was said that there were between 1,700,000 tiles and 2,000,000 of bricks made there annually. 

I have many Newport pictures - here are a couple. These date from about 1960.

The Patten family of Goole

This is a fairly brief piece in response to a facebook post. I prefer to write as blog posts as facebook posts tend to get submerged quite quickly  on the busy All about Goole page and also I know several Goole local historians at least do not 'do' facebook  and so cannot  read the interesting threads which come up.

A couple of weeks ago a post appeared asking where Abysinnia Terrace was in Goole. It came with a picture, to which I have added a little colour.

Abyssinia Terrace was behind Boothferry Road and stood where the Wesley Square development is today. In the background of the picture is the rear of quite a large building which fronted Boothferry Road adjacent to the old Goole Times building..  The query several people have asked is what was it? Members Chris and Dave have, with the aid of maps, identified it as a property called Westholme.

It stood back a little from the building which was once the Wesleyan manse [hence Wesley Square] and in later years had shops on the front of it such as Clarksons and then the Lyceum cafe. At some point, as yet unknown, it was demolished and the YEB showrooms stood on the site.

The picture below shows it standing back next to the Goole Times building.

I have found a little bit about the house in earlier years. It was the home of Mrs Mary Ann Patten and was for a time run as a school by her daughters.

Goole Times Jan 1889

Mrs Patten, who died in 1895 at Westholme, was born Mary Ann Duckels and was the widow of Henry Dalton Patten. Mary Ann came from a long established Goole family and her father Thomas owned the North Street brewery. She was his only child and when he died she became the owner of the brewery. She married her father's brewer, Henry Dalton Patten in 1852 and they had a family of 5 daughters.

But sadly Henry drowned in the docks in 1864 leaving Mary Ann to bring up  Mary, Minnie, Emily, Kate,  and Edith.  She sold the brewery around 1877 and by 1881 the family were living in Boothferry Road and taking young lady boarders.  The daughters who were not teaching in Goole worked as governesses.

Minnie died in late 1895 in a London hospital but the school advertised  in 1896.  Presumably at some point the remaining daughters sold the property.

The Patten sisters later lived at 9 Clifton Gardens and when the last, Emily, died in 1941 aged 82 she left  over £5000 and an interesting will.

 After certain family bequests, she left £300 to the vicar of Goole for providing coal. etc.. for the aged poor, her residence to Sheffield Diocesan Trust for the use of the priest in-charge of St. Paul's Church. Goole; £250 each Arthur J. Weddall and Harold Weddall; £100 to May Robinson: £100 each to Rosamond M. Joseph and Lucy A. Marris: £50 each to Harry Raffles and Mabel Farrow; £20 to Robert A. Heptonstall: annuities of £26 10s each to Annie and Sarah Chantry, or an annuity of £53 to the survivor, and the remainder equally between the Church Missionary Society, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. the British and Foreign Bible Society, the Missionary Fund of the Girls' Friendly Society, the Royal United Kingdom Beneficent Association, the Church Army, Lord Roberts' Memorial Workshop's. Dr Barnardo's, and Goole Bartholomew Hospital. 

Does anyone know any more of the Miss Pattens? Or more of Westholme?

The Delanoy family of Barmby and attempted murder at Saltmarshe

Since my last post we have had Easter, some lovely sunshine and also snow. I put my tomato plants out into the greenhouse and think they are surviving but shocked!! The snowdrop  flowers have now all died back but I try not to cut them until they have put the goodness back into the bulbs. I have a variety of daffodils and while some have finished flowering others are still in bud so the garden is still looking ok. I am looking forward to getting out a bit more and sitting in friends' gardens but it is still a bit cold.

I am keeping busy on the local history front and have been working on two family trees which I have enjoyed. But I am also adding pages to my website which I hope will go live soon as the existing one is very out of date.

One page is about the history of Barmby and I have just added a paragraph into it about the Delanoy family. The Delanoy family of Barmby were descendants of a Dutch family who came to England in the seventeenth century with Sir Cornelius Vermuyden who drained the Isle of Axholme

An Isaac Delanoy - sometimes written as De la Noy- married in 1649 at Sandtoft where there was a church for Protestants working on the drainage.

A branch of the Delanoy family had 'migrated' towards the Carlton/Drax area and then across the river to Barmby by the mid eighteenth century. They were farmers and there are several family graves in the Barmby churchyard.

One John Delanoy died in 1827. His son William was born in 1816 at Barmby. In 1850 he married Mary Marshall and their son William was born the following year. The family had settled in Doncaster where William became landlord of the Wood Street Hotel. He gave this up and became a currier and harness maker in Baxtergate. His son, also William, followed him in business initially and also became a prominent freemason. in Doncaster. In 1880 he wrote the story of St George's Lodge of which he was a member.

But by 1891 he  had moved to Egypt where he worked for the government and took a leading role in Egyptian freemasonry. In 1901 we read that

The King has granted unto Mr. William Delanoy authority to wear the Insignia the Fourth Class of the Imperial Order of the Medjidieh, conferred upon him by the Khedive of Egypt in recognition of valuable services rendered  to his Highness  by Mr Delanoy in his capacity of Director of Stores and Industries in the Prisons Department of the Egyptian Ministry of the Interior.

He died in Egypt in 1931. A long way from Barmby.

I am also working on a page about Saltmarshe. Although I have produced a small booklet about the village which visitors to the honey stall outside our house can buy there is nothing about the village on the website.

It always amazes me how such a small village had so many families who emigrated in the first half of the nineteenth century to Canada and the USA. I suppose that there were so many more opportunities there for young people than there were as farm workers in East Yorkshire. And of course with the internet their descendants can connect with  the 'home country'. 

And I can write too about the fight of the ferrymen. One Saltmarshe ferryman man was charged with  attempted murder after he hit his rival's boat with an oar as they both tried to entice passengers into their boats. He was acquitted after the judge said if he had meant to murder the occupants of the other boat he could have done so quite easily!!

Finally I have included here a colourised old picture of Howden. Some views of Howden are appearing on e bay at the moment and I have a program too that will do this to my black and white old postcards.  But I am not quite sure what I think. It certainly brings the pictures to life but of course we can never be sure what colour clothes, shop fronts etc were a hundred years ago. The computer sometimes has some odd ideas 

I think it's a matter of taste.

William Wood, Howden gunsmith

 It's a new month and we are still in lockdown - but there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel [ just hoping it's not a train coming!!!]. I  have had my first jab, the daffodils are about to flower, the bees have been flying and there are plans for a Howden Show this year - so fingers crossed.

Local history queries still come into the website - some people want transcriptions of old documents carrying out,  others are after old photos or just background information. One lady wanted a picture of local man Billie Glew who was shot down in 1918 only days before the end of the war. He was only 18.

But I was recently asked if I knew anything about a Howden gunsmith called William Wood. The gentleman asking had a gun made by him but wondered about where he lived and when he was working. So, as it is still not really gardening weather I had a look  at who he was and it was an interesting story.

William Wood, gunmaker of Howden

The earliest I can find the Wood family in Howden is the 1830s.  John Wood was a whitesmith, originally from Pontefract and he and his family lived in the Market Place where the Shire hall is now.

The Woods lived in  the right had end of the very old building,  next to Mr Woodall, auctioneer on this early picture which dates from around 1870. Next door to them was a shoemaker, Mr Pease who also kept a temperance hotel.

In 1851 John and his wife Hannah were living there with their adult children Ann and William while another son John was an apprentice with a wine merchant.

William Wood was born in Howden in 1832 and was apprenticed to his father as a whitesmith.

William married local girl Mary Ann Hawke in 1860 and the young couple moved into the Market Place premises. William for the first time was described as a gunsmith – and bell hanger.  His parents had moved out to a house in Hailgate.

There is a newspaper report of a near disaster which took place in March 1861. It reads as follows

23rd March 1861

On Wednesday last, a fire broke the dwelling-house of Mr. Wm. Wood, gunsmith and bell-hanger, in the Market-place, which used great consternation, in consequence of its being that large quantity of gunpowder was stored in the premises. It was discovered between ten and eleven o'clock in the forenoon by neighbour, who observed smoke issuing from a back chamber window, and entering the house, the sleeping-room of the house was found be in flames.  An outcry of fire and the ringing of the fire-bell, speedily brought a considerable number of neighbours,  who supplied  buckets, which were  filled from the Market-place pump, and from another pump in the yard. The buckets were then passed from hand to hand, and the water very judiciously applied. The fire was completely extinguished the arrival of the engine. The house forms a portion of a very ancient timber building, occupying a considerable part of one side of the Market Place. If the fire had spread beyond the bed-room, it is probable that it would have been beyond the power of one engine to subdue it, and the destruction to property would no doubt have been serious, independent of the awful effects of the gunpowder, which could scarcely have been removed if the fire had spread rapidly. Fortunately, the floor above the bedroom was of plaster, which, under Providence, was the means of preserving us from great calamity. The cause of the fire is not known. It is supposed have been smouldering for some time in the straw mattress, which may have been ignited by a match accidentally placed beneath it, or from a lighted match carelessly thrown away by the servant-girl.

William and Mary Ann had three children, Annie, Charles and Edith. But sadly Mary Ann died aged 33 in 1867.

The family then moved out of the Market Place property which they had rented from Mrs Mary Dunn.  In 1870 Mrs Dunn sold it to the Howden Market Hall company. The then occupiers James Pheasant, a tailor and Thomas Hill, a butcher had to move out. 

In June 1871  the ancient building was demolished to make way for the new market hall, which we now know as the Shire hall.

Meanwhile the Wood families, had moved to Bridgegate,  to the Angel Inn, where presumably Mrs Wood could help widower William look after the children. The Angel stood on the present site of the bathroom shop.

But William’s mother died in June 1870 and in April 1871 John Wood was described as a licensed victualler running the Angel Inn. And living there too was William Wood, aged 39, a gunsmith and the children Annie, Charles and Edith.

This is the Howden made gun. It is a pinfire shotgun

 The gun is inscribed Wm Wood Howden

But this is the last time William describes himself as a gunsmith. In 1881 he and his family are living next to the Wellington, possibly where there is now a flower shop. William is then described as an ironmonger. His father, who was living with him, died in 1885.

William himself  then retired and  in 1891 was living with  his son Charles, a horse dealer and family in Hailgate, describing himself as retired ironmonger. 

But in 1891 Charles, who was only 27 years old died. I do not know why – was he kicked by a horse one wonders.

His widow, Ada, married again and had two children, Cyril and Ethel with her second husband, William White.

William in 1901 was living in Campbell Terrace on Northolmby St,  retired ironmonger with Gertrude, his grand daughter age 15.

He died in 1906.

I have searched for other Howden gunmakers and have not found any other references to one. Or to any other guns by William Wood so it is  great that this one has survived.

Nature notes and Skelton

After writing this blog I had a request to include another home guard picture of Skelton men I have. This is said to have been taken at Kilpin Hall farm where the platoon met. I do not know the names but  recognise faces from the other picture included below. Can anyone help?

My blog title is jottings about history and the countryside so I will include a few nature notes! Many years ago my mother, Joan Watson used to write a weekly column in the Goole Times entitled nature notes and each year - it became a running joke - she used to mention  that every day it was getting 'cock stride lighter' . And it is - despite the many reasons there are to be gloomy it is pleasant to walk Molly around teatime and  be able to see the signs of life in the countryside.  Yesterday at dusk I watched a barn owl hunting.

The snowdrops are carpeting the garden, the blue tits are exploring the nest boxes and I have a bunch of our own daffodils on the windowsill. But it's still very cold and snowy,  the water level in the pond is high so winter is still with us. We are feeding the birds and I managed to catch this visitor to the peanuts yesterday. Soon be hearing him hammering on the trees I hope.

 

We are still in lockdown however and I am keeping busy with local history. All sorts of queries arrive via e mail to my Howdenshirehistory site and I try to reply and help where I can.  A lady in Florida is tracing her Hutchcroft ancestors, originally from Kilpin; I have sent a friend information on salmon fishing in the Ouse at Saltmarshe and I have been given a folder  of old photos and documents relating to the pole yard at Staddlethorpe.

But this week after a house history query I have set myself the task of finding out more about Skelton.  I have limited myself to houses and their occupants along the road between Kilpin Pike and the Skelton railway bridge [ ie not Howdendyke or Sandhall as yet] but there is still a surprising amount of history to go at!!!

At one end there is the Skelton shipyard where until the early 1900s sailing ships upto 240 tons were built and launched across the road near the former Jolly Sailor pub. Some were described as being of English oak and copper-bottomed. 

Many occupants of the village were mariners and there was a sad event in  November 1860 when the coasting vessel Charity was lost off the Norfolk coast. The Hull newspaper describes how

She was bound for Rouen with a cargo of'coal. The captain and owner; Mr Jewitt of' Skelton near Howden was on board with his wife and niece about 16 years of age. The crew consisted of five men,  four of whom were saved. 

Two of them; WilIiam Till and George Cottarus, of Howden Dyke, reached home on Thursday. They described the situation of the vessel, after she struck on the sand as terrifying  with the sea breaking over them so furiously.

 

Mrs Jewitt was the first washed  overboard; her loss appeared to unnerve the captain, who was clinging to the mast, and he speedily followed. The niece, who was being held by two of the young men in the rigging died in their arm. Boats from the shore three times aproached but were unable to get near enough to render assistance. For eight hours the four survivors clung to the  rigging and were nearly exhausted, when Captain Thomas Tye, of the smack Tyrrell, who had already had one attempt to reach the wreck, encouraged his men to try again, saying "God Almighty would be with them." His words proved true, and their faith enabled them to save from their impending fate four human beings.

There is a  family gravestone in Howden churchyard which reads as follows:

To the memory of Mary Ann the wife of Thomas Jewitt of Skelton who departed this life on the 14th day of October 1840 aged 22 years.

In memory of Thomas Leighton Jewitt aged 53 years Ann Jewitt aged 40 years and their niece Alice Hunt aged 13 years who were all drowned at sea on the Longsands November 17 1860.

I have also found details  of an 'elopement' in 1867 which must have rocked the village.  The report appeared in newspapers all over Britain. A  24 year 'navvy' working on the new railway bridge was lodging with a Skelton couple, the Jacksons. 

One day Mr Jackson went home from the harvest field to find both had disappeared taking with them  £140 in money (which had been kept in a bag under the bed), a ham, a tapestry carpet, a featherbed , sheets and blankets and other articles.  Eventually they were tracked down and the young man spent 6 weeks in prison.

I am now looking at the history of the farms, the chapel and the school. If anyone has memories or pictures I intend producing a small booklet similar to the one I have written about neighbouring Saltmarshe as well as putting a page on my website.

Below are two pictures of Skelton people.

These are members of the Kilpin home guard. The group included men from Skelton and possibly Howdendyke. The names I have, which may need correcting,  are 

Back (left to right): George Parkin, Herbert Smith, unknown, Ernest Leighton

Middle: Edward Leighton, Jack Bayston, George Beighton, Les Backhouse, unknown, Walter Collins, unknown, Fred Swales, George Henger, Gerald Mell, Harry Johnson, Anson Habblett (the short man), unknown

Front: T. Thompson?, McGough?, Captain E. Scholfield, Charlie Simms, Wilf Blyth

This second picture was taken on Coronation Day in the village hall, now known as the Scholfield Memorial Hall.  I do not know their names - but they look happy!!