Saturday 23 November 2014

Members of UWHG, including several of the ERG, joined members of St Mary's Church for a day school in Embsay on graveyard photography. We had an excellent day led by Nicole & Gareth Beale from the Centre for Digital Heritage, University of York. They demonstrated a technique called RTI photography which has enormous potential for the photographing not only of gravestones but also a wide range of artefacts such as bone, flints, coins, masons' and carpenters' marks, and carved graffiti.

With fairly basic photographic equipment and open source software Nicole and Gareth were able to produce extraordinarily clear images of a lichen-covered gravestone, the inscription of which is so obscured and shallow it's impossible to read it with the naked eye. Little gasps of appreciation went round as the photographs taken during the afternoon were processed and displayed on the projector screen inside the church.  

Our thanks go to Nicole and Gareth for providing us with the inspiration and exciting prospect of using this cheap and simple technique in the field - we came away bubbling with ideas we want to try out.

Jane Lunnon

PS. Thanks to Sue and Jennifer for the delicious chocolate cake that we enjoyed at the tea break !!

Friday 17th October 2014

This evening Chris gave his talk on Embsay-with-Eastby boundaries to local residents at Embsay village hall. There was quite a good attendance and certainly a lot of interest shown by everyone.

Several questions were asked at the end and we think it went down very well. 

Saturday 11^th October 2014

In the summer of 2015 ERG will be offering a guided walk as part of the UWHG’s summer programme. So today we set off on a gentle stroll along our proposed route in order to start thinking about what we were going to point out along the way.

Unfortunately David was unavoidably detained and couldn’t join us for the walk, but our newest ERG member, Caroline, was able to join us. It was a beautiful day as we set off from the car park in Embsay. We aimed at between 2 and 3 hours, and managed to keep within that time, with lots of stops to consider points of historic interest along the way. 

Chris & Caroline discuss the historic landscape; Tony contemplates the clapper bridge at his feet; while Ruth & Sue have a good old gossip behind                          (c) Jane Lunnon

The main question will be what to leave out of course, as there is so much we could include.

Interested onlookers at Mawking hole  (c) Jane Lunnon  

Having seen virtually no one along most of the walk through Eastby, along Bark Lane and over the fields toward Halton East, we were rather overwhelmed to suddenly leave the peace and quiet and be thrown into the lively crowds at Calm Slate Farm’s ice cream parlour where families were out enjoying the Indian Summer. But the queue for those delicious ice creams was worth it. We managed to find a table with benches where we could have a natter, before returning to Embsay.    

At our house, we enjoyed a cup of tea and David turned up, which was good because we were then able to have an impromptu meeting to discuss preparations for our presentation at the UWHG Members’ Night in December.

Caroline then very kindly gave us a quick look at the little complex of buildings which make up the Embsay Children’s Centre so that we could try to understand the relationship of the former chapel (built in 1911) to the buildings shown on the 1847 Tithe Map, and mentioned in other records. Since this is where the British School used to be it was also of great interest as we are currently transcribing the school log books.

All in all, a packed day, very productive, and I think everyone enjoyed it.

Jane Lunnon

Wednesday 13th August 2014 

With the threat of yet another proposed housing development hanging over the parish, we set out today with the urgent task of surveying and recording the boundaries around the Kirk Lane area between Embsay and Eastby. 

View northwards along Kirk Lane from Embsay Church   (c) Jane Lunnon

This greenfield site is not only a wildlife haven with its long stretches of hedgerows, and an essential component in the rural character of the parish, it also contains local heritage which will be obliterated by the proposed estate of new houses.

View eastwards along Kirk Lane in Eastby   (c) Jane Lunnon

 It was therefore our intention to record for posterity any feature of historic interest around the threatened site. 

Jennifer penetrates the jungle in her search for archaeology    (c) Jane Lunnon

This isn't a good time of year of surveying - our view of many features was obscured by lush summer vegetation - even a road sign warning of the notorious sharp and dangerous bend at Kirk Lane corner was completely hidden from view - no wonder local residents so often hear the squeal of brakes here!

Oh look! There's a road sign in here!   (c) Jane Lunnon

We had to take extreme care, often jumping quickly into the undergrowth to avoid being run down by traffic - few drivers seem to take any notice of the speed limit here. 

The old footpath from Eastby to Embsay  (c) Jane Lunnon 

It was a relief to finally reach the footpath which cuts across the fields, taking walkers through ancient field boundaries, with pleasant views down what remains of the old strip fields. This footpath is enjoyed by a large number of local residents, not only for its pleasant surroundings, but also as the only safe pedestrian route between the two villages.  

We enjoyed a good hearty lunch at the Elm Tree Inn in Embsay - always such generous portions there! - and resumed the survey in the afternoon. 

We feel it was a very worthwhile exercise - making us appreciate even more than before how precious our local heritage is. 

Jane Lunnon

4^th July 2014

Since the last blog entry the vegetation has grown rapidly, obscuring the walls and making it difficult to survey the field boundaries in detail.

Consequently our landscape history is taking a temporary back seat over the last few months, while we have been spending our time on documentary research. The relevant data from Embsay and Skipton parish registers, as well as census returns has now been entered into our genealogical database which now contains records for over 12,700 individuals. But that is just the start of it, of course. There’s a lot more data to compile from a vast range of other resources.

Embsay-with-Eastby War Memorial  (c) Jane Lunnon

Research into the men from Embsay-with-Eastby who served during the First World War is well under way, with Jane and Kirsten collecting information from their service records, and other sources. So new data is being entered into the database every week.

Jane is trawling the archives of the local newspaper, Craven Herald and Pioneer, for information on the history of the parish with a particular focus at the moment on the First World War period. This is a long, slow, often tedious job – microfilm is justly notorious for being a strain on the eyes, especially when the text is so small ! She is also researching various aspects of the home front as it affected the parish and hopes to eventually produce some articles, papers and perhaps even a booklet.

Chris is working on his report on our boundary stones project and will be delivering another talk on the subject this autumn at Embsay Village Hall.

John is steadfastly working on the difficult task of transcribing some of the older documents – dating from the 16th to the 18^th centuries. He can certainly dispel the myth that handwriting in “the olden days” was much neater than most people’s handwriting today…

David, having completed the huge task of going through the parish registers and census returns, is now turning his attention to research for a series of talks on a range of topics relating to the history of the parish, and has started to look through the archives of national newspapers for articles relevant to the parish history.

Meanwhile, Sue, Tony and Jennifer are still working on the translation of Embsay and Eastby related entries in the Latin Compotus of Bolton Priory. They are also actively involved in the St Mary’s Church project. If the congregation’s bid for Heritage Lottery funding is successful, we anticipate that the Embsay Research Group will be able to be a useful partner in updating the history of the church.

St Mary's Church, Embsay-wth-Eastby

Research into the history of this mid-Victorian church and research into other aspects of the parish's history has taken us to the North Yorkshire County Record Office in Northallerton a few times over the last few months - although a few hours have also been spent in the Northallerton branch of Betty's Tea Rooms as well!

We are working on the development of a guided walk around the parish for the UWHG summer programme of 2015, and have recently been in talks with the local primary school about how various aspects of local history can be incorporated into their curriculum. This is an exciting development, and we hope it will greatly benefit the children, their parents and Embsay Research Group, raising awareness of local heritage. 

Jane Lunnon

Saturday 29^th March 2014  

Today we finished the surveying of the walls along Water Lane, starting where we left off last week at the short stretch of wall built of particularly large stones, quite unlike any other wall we have seen so far. The top of Water Lane brought us to the back of the village of Eastby, where a fine old gatepost marked the lane’s end.

 

Gate post anoraks admiring a fine example of its kind!   (c)  Jane Lunnon

 From here we turned down the footpath which passes through Bower House Farmyard, and the path alongside Kempley Beck.

A bemused audience     (c) Jane Lunnon 

Here we found a substantial old wall against part of the embankment behind the farm yard, and further along the footpath, we stopped at the ford for our lunch break.

The footbridge here is very new – only a few years old – but the ford itself is probably very old. The path over the ford goes through what is now a small enclosure, and then up towards Eastby. The walls around the ford proved very interesting – with an old pedestrian gateway (now blocked), and adjacent ditch, bank and hedge line, indicating a very old boundary.

We continued along the footpath, walking alongside Kempley Beck, and soon came to the point where Priors Syke runs into the Beck. This traditionally marks the boundary between Eastby and Embsay Townships – although the series of ditches, banks and hedge lines to the east of Priors Syke suggest the possibility that the boundary between the two townships may originally have been further east than it is now.

Getting a closer look at Priors Syke where it joins Kempley Beck   (c) Jane Lunnon

At the footbridge we continued to follow the footpath as it veered right, heading towards Low Lane in Embsay. The wall on the right side of the field proved to be of great interest – an old ford lay at the end of it where it ran into Kempley Beck, and at at its other end it met with an old stone revetted bank – again indicating this field boundary was of great age. 

By the time we reached the old squeeze stile at Low Lane we were getting cold and headed back home for a hot cup of tea and a well deserved slice of cheesecake.

Jane Lunnon

Saturday 22^nd  March 2014

Having missed out on walls surveying last week due to the weather, we decided to brave it today despite ominous weather forecasts.

While Sue and Tony were busy with their involvement in the Embsay Churchyard project, 3 of us – Jane, Chris and David – made a good start on the walls along Water Lane, a farm track-cum-footpath which runs up from Low Lane in to Eastby.

 

Measuring a gateway on Water Lane  (c)  Jane Lunnon

Through our binoculars we caught sight of a fascinating old pole-gate post which got us ridiculously excited. We must find out who owns that field and see if the farmer will be kind enough to let us go and have a closer look. He’ll think we’re mad for being so interested in a gate post!!

At the end of our half-day’s survey we also came across a nice but short section of wall which stood out for its sturdy, bold construction with very large stones, in curious contrast to other walls along the lane.

Spring sunshine - half an hour before the rain came down  (c)  Jane Lunnon

We made good progress, and even had time to have lunch before the spring sunshine faded, the black clouds closed in, and the rain forced us to retreat home for coffee and carrot cake.

Jane Lunnon