Stokesley races, 1727

This is the earliest newspaper notice for horse racing at Stokesley that I have been able to find.  You can see that it was a good financial investment for the subscribers to the Plate, as they were the only people entitled to supply the race patrons with food and drink.  

The racecourse at Stokesley was just south of Seamer Moor and more or less north of Brawith (which lies between Tame Bridge and Skutterskelfe); I think the name of Oneholmes Farm in the 19th century was Race Course Farm.  

The Toll Booth in Stokesley stood on the site of the present Town Hall, which replaced it in 1853.  

Newcastle Courant, 13 May 1727

On Trinity-Monday, the 29th Day of May, will be run for in a Field near Stokesley, in Cleaveland, a Subscription Plate, given by Stokesley Inhabitants, 3l. Value, by Galloways, 14 Handshigh or under, three Heats, each Heat 4 Miles, carrying 9 Stone, including Bridle and Saddle, each Horse, &c. to make the usual Allowance as in Galloway Plates, and paying 5s. Entrance, and to be enter'd the same Day betwixt 8 and 11-o'Clock in the forenoon at the Toll Booth in Stokesley; four or more to run or no Plate. 

On Tuesday, the 30th Day of May, will be run for, in the same Field another Subscription Plate, given also by the Inhabitants of Stokesley, 10l. Value, by any Horse, Mare, or Gelding, carrying 10 Stone, including Bridle and Saddle, three Heats, each Heat 4 Miles, each Horse, &c. paying 15s Entrance, and to be enter'd in Stokesley-Toll-Booth, betwixt the Hours of 8 and 11 in the Forenoon of the 29th of May, four or more to run or no Plate, and none to run that has won above 20 l. Prize at one Time, and both the said Races to be govern'd by Articles that will be produced at the Day of Entrance. 

This is to give Notice, that none but Subscribers will be allowed to set up any Tent, Hutt, or retail any Liquor in the Field, where the said Races are to be run.

For a full description of the Galloway pony, I refer the reader to Wikipedia.  It was a breed that is now extinct, but its influence can be seen across the Pennines in the Fell Pony and it was said to have "good looks, a wide, deep chest and a tendency to pace rather than trot."  In the 18th century Galloways were bred in Swaledale to haul lead ore. 

Younger readers might need to know that  3l. = £3, 10l. = £10, and 5s. and 15s. means five shillings and fifteen shillings respectively. (12 pence made 1 shilling; 20 shillings made £1).

This website gives the results of later race meetings held in 1752 and 1782.  I can't find the results of the 1727 races, I'm afraid.

An early Stokesley Show

As the annual Stokesley Show approaches, here is a little item to show that Shows have been taking place at Stokesley for a very long time.

I've preserved the 18th century spelling (as in 'publick' and 'shew') but I leave the reader to imagine the long 's' in words such as horses and first ...

Newcastle Courant, 4 July 1747 

These are to inform the Publick, 

THAT at STOKESLEY in Cleveland in the County of York, there will always for the future be publick SHEWS of Horses, Sheep, Cows, Heifers, and other Cattle; and also a SALE of Linen Cloth and Leather, on the following Days yearly (to wit) on Saturday next after the first Day of August, on Saturday next after the Twenty-ninth Day of September, and on Saturday next before the first Day of Lent; and that the first of the said Shews will be on the Eighth Day of August next.

Sale of Judy Kitching's Eggcup Collection on 18 September

As Judy Kitching has been the mainstay of Hutton Rudby History Society for a very long time and as her Eggcup Collection is very well-known in the area, I make no apology for advertising it here.  The catalogue can be found on the Lithgows Auctions website and the sale is on 18 September

Queries in the comments section of A History Walk round Hutton Rudby

I've had a query – you can see it in the comments to A History Walk round Hutton Rudby – about Mary Temple of Ebenezer Place and William Robson Temple, who lived in the village until his death in 1911.

I notice that his death was reported in one of the Leeds newspapers on 23 June:-

Leeds Mercury, Friday 23 June 1911

TEMPLE – June 20th, at Hill House, Hutton Rudby, aged 50 years, WILLIAM ROBSON TEMPLE, son of the late William and Ellen Temple, Raskelf, and nephew of the late Geo. Robson, Shires House, Easingwold.  (Will be interred at Rudby Church to-day (Friday).  Friends please accept this (the only) intimation.)

(I can't help but think that friends living in the areas served by the Leeds Mercury might have found it quite tricky to get to Rudby church for Mr Temple's funeral given the short notice – and when was the service going to be held?) 

Anybody with any information about Mary or William Robson Temple, please let me know!

.....................

Somebody left a comment on the same page of the blog some time ago asking about a John Graham who was a farmer at Home Hill Farm in the early 'fifties.  In case whoever it was is searching again:

I did reply to your query in another comment on the same page, but you'd have to have checked back with the comments section to find it.  In case you missed the reply and you're searching for John Graham again, here it is:

I didn't recognise the name Home Hill Farm so I've checked with a friend who has spoken to one of the oldest farmers of the district – he didn't recognise either the name of the farm or the farmer. Where did you think Home Hill Farm was, exactly?

Anybody with any information on John Graham, do contact me.

Hutton Rudby in the Second World War

Not to be missed!  Check out the videos on the Facebook page of the Hutton Rudby and District Local History Society in which Malcolm McPhie interviews Maurice Atkinson about his memories of Hutton Rudby in the Second World War.

It's a priceless collection.  These are the topics that Maurice and Malcolm cover:

• The radio announcement by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
• Arrival of the evacuees 
• The Army take over
• The Home Guard
• Army Cadet Force
• The Air Raid Shelters
• Search Lights
• Village defences
• Spitfires over the village
• Damaged Army tank on Rudby Bank
• Rifle practice in Leven Valley
• Celebrations and bonfire on the Green

Celebrations of the tenantry in Ingleby Greenhow, 23 April 1850

York Herald, 27 April 1850

REJOICINGS AT INGLEBY GREENHOW

It was a day of gaiety and festivity long to be remembered at Ingleby Manor, on Tuesday last, the 23rd inst., in celebration of the marriage of Miss Foulis, of Ingleby Manor, to the Hon. Mr Phillip Sidney, only son of Lord de Lisle, of Penshurst, in Kent, which took place in London on that day.  

At two o'clock in the afternoon, in a commodious rustic tent, beautifully fitted up and festooned with evergreens and bloom [sic], about seventy gentlemen, including the tenant farmers on the estates, sat down to a substantial dinner with fine brown October and punch, served up in first-rate style by Widow Hunt, of the Village Inn.  John Peirson, Esq., of Thornton Fields, presided, supported on the left by John H Handyside, Esq., of Stokesley, on the right, by Thomas Garbutt, Esq., of Yarm; the vice-chair being occupied by Mr Henry Chapman of Hutton Rudby.  

Tea was provided at the Village Inn, for the wives and daughters of the tenantry, which was most tastefully set out, and the room chastely ornamented with wreaths of evergreens flowers, and orange blossom, a huge bride's cake taking command in the centre of the table.  Afterwards a ball took place, which was kept up with great spirit.  

It must not be omitted that a fatted ox was slaughtered, and an ample supply of beef given to every poor family in the villages of Ingleby and Battersby so that the aged and infirm, as well as the young and healthy, might each and all rejoice on this auspicious event.

Widow Hunt of the Village Inn was Mrs Mary Hunt, then aged 52.  In the census of 1851 she stated that she was born in Hutton, and I think this means Hutton Rudby.  She will have been assisted by her daughter Mary, aged 22.  She also had a 15 year old son, John.

John Peirson was a land agent; Thornton Fields farm is off the Redcar Road, near Guisborough.  

John Hepburn Handyside was a surgeon in Stokesley; he married Hannah Coates, daughter of the solicitor James Coates in Stokesley in 1845.

Thomas Garbutt was a Yarm solicitor.

Mr Henry Chapman of Hutton Rudby was a farmer and land agent.  The family farmed in Enterpen for many years.

Hutton Rudby had a couple of other links with this story besides Henry Chapman.  

Firstly, the Foulis family owned land in the Sexhow area and, secondly, Lucius Cary of the Falkland family, owners for a time of the Rudby and Skutterskelfe estates, was buried at the groom's family estate of Penshurst in 1871.  Lucius was the only child of Lucius Cary and Amelia Fitzclarence, daughter of William IV.  Amelia is commemorated by a tablet in Hutton Rudby church, (for details, see The People behind the Plaques.)

Leonard Appleton of Doddle Hill Farm

This sort of detail is always useful to family historians, I know, given the Rev R J Barlow's failure to keep the parish registers properly (see here and here)

Newcastle Guardian & Tyne Mercury, 15 April 1848

Marriages

On the 10th inst. Mr Leonard Appleton, of Hutton Rudby, farmer, to Miss Jane Hardman, of Durham

The Tithe Map and White's Directory 1840 show that Leonard Appleton farmed at Doddle Hill and in the 1841 census he gave his age as 43.  The 1851 census finds him farming 141 acres at Potto Field House.  By then his wife Jane had given birth to a little girl called Ann Elizabeth.  By 1861 Margaret Jane and Mary Ann had been added to the family.