January 2010

Your letters

Howden uncovered

I was amazed to see in the November issue the picture of High Bridge, Howden. It seemed very familiar to me then I suddenly realised why. About twelve years ago, we bought a nice old ornate picture frame from a local antique shop. It contained a rather dirty copy of the well-known picture ‘The Letter’. We hung it up in the living room, intending to clean it properly one day.

Imagine our surprise when upon removing the glass, the picture fell out and wafted to the floor. It was just a page from an old magazine. However, hidden underneath this page was an original old card border with an oval hole in the centre, framing a perfect watercolour almost identical to the one on page 50. It is just a tiny fraction smaller, and varies in some minor details. We could just make out the signature ‘F. Hutchinson 1902’.

No one we asked could tell us exactly where it was a painting of, if indeed it was a real place at all. So it hung there, a mystery, for more than ten years. And then there it was, full page in the Dalesman. And now not only do we know that it is of Howden, but because of June Wright’s most informative article, we know all about the artist who painted it as well. Thank you.

Graham Langton, York

Dempster lister’s bread

Reading the ‘The Best Teacakes’ (November) brought back memories of living in Heckmondwike where I think Dempster Lister lived and owned a shop. He was a friend of my father and my abiding memory is of going to the shop when I was ten, pushing my sister in the pram and queuing for our bread ration; this was during World War Two. Having collected enough bread for a family of six, I went rushing home, carrying the large bag and leaving the baby in the pram outside the shop. She never missed me and enjoyed the attention of the other shoppers who entertained her!

I am now living in Edinburgh where I have lived for sixty years, but I still miss Yorkshire and love the Dalesman which I get regularly. I hope it never stops being published.

Elizabeth R Wimbush, Edinburgh

Identifying marks

The initials LCOL (November, Can You Help?) mean Lieutenant Colonel, and the Mr Woolman mentioned would have been the chairman or president of a society in the year 1933-4. The society will be identified by the silver and gold format on the medal. For example, I was president of the Rotary Club of St Helens in the year 1986-7 and I received a past president’s medal of the Rotary Wheel in blue and gold with my name on it, and the additional information inscribed on a bar attached to the ribbon. I hope that, if I am not correct, you succeed in finding the answer.

Mr G K Perks, Prescot, Merseyside

Rare dialect book

Regarding Mrs Rosemary Walker’s letter (November) requesting information about the book The Dialect of Dentdale.

It was published only once in 1967 by Uppsala University, with 351 pages plus folding map. The book is of course very scarce. I recently received a copy of catalogue 162 North of England from R F G Hollett & Son, 6 Finkle Street, Sedbergh, Cumbria LA10 5BZ, Tel 015396 20298. The book Mrs Walker enquires about was for sale in the catalogue. Hollett & Son is a top-class book shop from which I often buy, as a collector of books of the north of England. I hope this may be of help and interest.

Michael J Wren, Ely, Cambridgeshire

The turned up song - Dalesman replies...

Many thanks to all those readers who responded to Janet Dolby’s request in December’s issue for the words of ‘Turned Up!’ It was a popular music hall song by Herbert Rule and Harry Castling published by B Feldman & Co, London in 1924. It was later recorded by Joe Brown & the Bruvvers in the late 1950s:

In our little village there has been a tragedy,
Deary, deary me, such a terrible tragedy;
Mary Ellen Bottomley today should have been wed,
It’s a good job that she didn’t now, so everybody said.

CHORUS
Mary Ellen at the church turned up,
Her Mother turned up and her Dad turned up,
Her sister Gert and her rich uncle Bert,
And the parson in his long white shirt turned up,
But no bridegroom with the ring turned up
But a telegraph boy with his nose turned up
Brought a telegram that said, he didn’t want to wed,
And they’d find him in the river with his toes turned up.

The people waiting in the street, they fairly blocked the road,
They waited in the road for the money the bridegroom owed;
‘My heart is broken’, cried the bride, so Jim the butcher’s son,
He rushed into his shop and brought her out another one.

A week went by, then someone learned the bridegroom wasn’t drowned,
He went around and found John asleep in his bed so sound;
His real wife, she was waiting at the church that day, it’s true,
Said, if there’d been a wedding there’d have been a fun’ral too.

The original sheet music can be downloaded from http://nla.gov.au/nla.mus-an10544570.

The Dalesman

Flying high

I was most interested to read Those Magnificent Flying Machines by Phil Penfold (October). I was born at Conisbrough, South Yorkshire, and before the war my family were driven to Doncaster Airfield for a trip in an aeroplane. We flew in a twin original biplane, a De Havilland Rapide. It cost five shillings and lasted for five minutes.

My father said that, aged ten, he walked five and a half miles to Doncaster to see Bill Cody’s flying circus. It was a windy day so they did not fly, so he walked home again. He was too tired to walk the next day, but he did see those magnificent flying machines in 1909.

P Wainwright, Goathland

Congratulations, Bill

As a Wharfedale lass living in the exile of Devon, please may I pass on my heartiest congratulations to our dear Bill Mitchell (November).

When my husband and I got married it was easier for me to relocate to the West Country but he knows that when my time on this earthly life is up he will have to return me to God’s Own Country. We have a number of Bill’s books, enjoy watching and listening to him through video/DVD and are rightly proud of him.

Stephen and Elizabeth Bamfield, by email

Marske peeled back

On reading Can You Help? (November) I thought that I could give Mike Tack some structure for him to build his information regarding Marske. It is situated on the Darlington to Saltburn branch-line, the next station to the terminus at Saltburn. The station can be seen near to the bridge at the south side of the town. This line has been there for many years and is still used.

The aerodrome is not what we would expect today. It had a grass runway and it would be very difficult for anyone to find now. It was north of the railway, between the line and the sea. I cannot remember what army personnel were there but there were many RAF personnel stationed at Marske, Redcar and Saltburn.

Prior to World War Two I remember being taken to this area as a child to attend a brass band competition. I hope this will help and maybe stimulate others to remember too.

Brian Lincoln, Loughborough, Leics.

The days of the Jowett

I have just seen a copy of the October issue. The article regarding Jowett cars was of great interest to me, as I worked in the service department from 1949 to 1956.

Below is a photo of me standing beside my friend’s Jowett Jupiter in Devon in 1994. Sadly he has now passed away. It was the last Jupiter ever made by hand, in 1954.

Derek S Paley, Bournemouth

Can you help?

I wonder if anyone can provide information on a bygone public house in Leeds. For the last few years I have taken my holidays in Vancouver and made friends over there. One friend runs a bar and restaurant called ‘The Whip’ which has a Tetley pub sign outside, showing a coach driver encouraging his horses with a whip. No one knows the origin of the sign but an enquiry with Carlsberg Tetley have provided a little bit more of the story. ‘The Whip’ was a beer-only house admitting men only until the 1980s and was on the corner of Briggate and Duncan Street in Leeds. It had the reputation of being a bit rough… and was briefly renamed ‘The Fiddlers Elbow’. Regulars insisted that the sign was sold at auction in the early 1990s.

Both my friends and I would love to find out more and solve the mystery of the sign appearing thousands of miles from its original home.

Stephen Ellmen, Sheffield

Happy Memories

Two articles in September’s issue brought back memories of holidays in Wensleydale about twenty years or so ago.
The first was the ‘Artist remembered’ recollection of Ernest Charles Simpson and his wife Violet, whom I used to visit at their home in Coverdale. I came to know them when I asked Ernest to paint views of Coverhead and Waldendale for me, after buying an earlier view of West Durley above Gayle. Whenever I visited, Vi had baked a selection of the most delicious home-made biscuits, and she and I used to enjoy teasing Ernest about his latest ‘eco campaign’. He held very strong opinions about any changes to the rural landscape, especially to accommodate modern traffic, and Vi and I mischievously used to support, for example, the trimming back of hedges to widen local roads. He could always be guaranteed to have another ‘cause’ he was supporting, and to respond instantly to gentle teasing about it, but he also had a fund of stories about his early painting days with Owen Bowen. He was a very talented artist, whose paintings I treasure, both for their beauty and the memories behind them, and I consider myself privileged to have known both him and his lovely wife; they were a friendly and welcoming couple.

The other article which intrigued me was about ‘Yorkshire’s lost monasteries’. This was a reminder of how often we encounter the past without recognising it, and recalled for me a day spent walking in the Askrigg area. By chance, I had come into conversation with the lady from Coleby Hall and had commented on the story of the early monastic foundation of Fors, which had disappeared. She told me of two remaining signs which could still be seen. Following her instructions, I followed the footpath behind the cottages opposite Skellgill Lane and discovered a very narrow, ancient footbridge across the stream, which I had been told was built by the monks of Fors. Crossing the track of the old railway line, the footpath turns east, back towards Askrigg, close behind a cottage. In the wall of the cottage is one tiny single lancet window – the last remnant of Fors Abbey. Whether true or not, this added a spice of historic romance to my walk that day.

Finally, can anyone provide me with details of a book, probably of the 1960s or 1970s, which told the story of Fors Abbey in verse? I think the title contained a reference to ‘Poor Peter’. I would love to track down a copy of this, but can’t remember the details.

Dorothy B Hailstone, email dhail[at]dhail[dot]karoo[dot]co[dot]uk
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Can You Help

For many years historians and writers have claimed that the flagstone outside Colne Town Hall is 9’ x 10’ (2.7m x 3m) and is the largest, in terms of surface area, in Lancashire. Some say it is the largest in Britain, or the world. But it is actually less than 9’ x 10’ and is certainly not the largest in Lancashire. Does any Dalesman reader know of any large flagstones in Yorkshire or neighbouring counties? These could be paving stones, landings, bridges, roofs of crypts, outhouses or coal-holes. Measured and unmeasured sightings are welcome.

Kevin Illingworth, Hebden Bridge

A different view

When my wife read the letter about a man’s poor opinion of the view from the flats at Filey (November), she said, “Was that you?” She knows well that looking across flat sand and a mud brown sea to a horizontal skyline is not my idea of a good view either. Give me hills, the bigger the better, green valleys and stately trees, throw in a few dry stone walls and the odd limestone crag and I’m in paradise.

Keith Sandy, Skelmanthorpe

Changes at Hoyland

I was very interested to read recently of the proposal to restore Hoyland Lowe Stand to its former glory. My childhood of 1924-1933 was spent in its shadow, so to speak. The stand reared itself on the edge of a large field owned by Mr Birks, whose farm was near the bottom of Upper Hoyland Road. In one corner of the field were four detached houses, in one of which I lived. Mr Birks kindly rented out part of the field behind the houses to their occupants, at the rate of five shillings per year for each house, a wonderful investment for the use as a playground for the five children in the houses. My neighbouring friend, a boy about a year older than me, voted us the guardians of the field.

Moving down Upper Hoyland Road past Mr Birks’ farm was the house of the Ruddleston family, and I gather that a family of that name still live there. Lower down was Mr Lodge’s farm and lower still, the brickworks with its pond. We were, of course, forbidden to climb into the lower stand, or play by the brickworks pond. Perhaps sometimes we forgot this.
I went back to Hoyland a few years ago to find that Upper Hoyland Road now houses anybody who is anybody – splendid houses compared to the original four.

Margaret Carney, Bury

Owt fer nowt

My dad was the fourteenth of sixteen children and one day was hired out to a farmer to do snaggin’ turnips, whatever that might be. By 8pm they were all in, after completing the job. They came to the farmer for their wages and all they got were further directions which were “this way fer’t whe-aht”. He often told the story, which still makes me smile.

June Baxter, Harrogate

Dialect Detective

The book titled The Dialect of Dentdale by Bertel Hedevind was published in 1967 and is part of the series entitled Studia Anglistica Upsalaliensia (number 5). They are published by Upsala University (Sweden) under the title of Acta Universtatis Upsaliensis. The full title is The dialect of Dent in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It has no ISBN number. It can be consulted at the library of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society in Leeds. The YAS has a vast collection of journals from universities and societies, based in the British Isles and overseas, that can be consulted by the general public. Many foreign publications are in English. For further information please contact the library on 01132457910 or yas.library@googlemail.com 

Janet C Senior, Assistant Librarian

We welcome readers' letters, which should be sent to:
Dalesman, The Water Mill, Broughton Hall, Skipton, North Yorkshire BD23 3AG
Or email: paul@dalesman.co.uk

The editor reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity.