Thursday 21st February 2013

Four members of the ERG spent the day at the Archives of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society in Leeds - Chris and Jane Lunnon, David Turner & Tony Stearn. 

Chris unrolled three very large maps (late 18th to mid-19thC) on the large table in the Lecture Room and closely examined them for clues to old boundaries and trackways around  the parish. Despite the fact that Embsay itself was not actually on any of the maps, as they were all maps of neighbouring parishes, Chris did find some interesting pieces of information around the parish boundaries, which answered a few questions, and raised a few others.

We also looked at the field notes written up by J. Dobson when he surveyed boundary stones across the Yorkshire Dales in the early 1980s, the family papers of the Cooper family - three of whom lived in Embsay in the early to mid-19thC - and some documents of the Court of the Skipton Honour - these latter were mainly lists of jurors and constables from the 18thC but in our experience such dry lists can often prove very useful, as they provide evidence of social status and networks. 

We now wait for the photocopies of the documents we decided we'd like to transcribe in detail.
As usual we had lunch in the kitchen, and the staff very kindly let us have some of their chocolate cake!

As always the staff at Clarendon House were very patient and helpful. Our special thanks to Kirsty.

Jane Lunnon