Weekly meetings on Thursdays will not happen during January 2012. They will resume as normal in February.
The History Group meets on Thursday afternoons, 2 - 4pm, in the Ravenstonedale Community and Heritage Centre (formerly High Chapel). We also hold monthly evening meetings at 7.30pm on the 3rd Wednesday of each month from September to April. All are welcome. The group's remit is to research, collate and share the many facets of Ravenstonedale's long history, it's people, buildings, events, industry, etc. in order to build up a picture of its evolution. We have named it Ravenstonedale Parish History Group to indicate the area covered, from Fell End to Bowderdale incorporating the unique four "Angles", Fell End, Town, Newbiggin and Bowderdale. There is already much historic information on our community website and it would be good if the various authors would join with us to co-ordinate the knowledge. That is to be discussed. We have studied the methods of other local history groups and societies and believe that such records have an interest not only for locals but for visitors. Tracing ancestors and former homes brings people from all over the world, many of whom stay in local hotels and spend their money.
Ravenstonedale Parish History Group Programme 2011 – 2012
All meetings start at 7.30pm in the Ravenstonedale High Chapel, Community and Heritage Centre. Admission – Members £1, Non-Members £2
| Ravenstonedale Parish History Group Programme 2011 – 2012 | ||
| 21st September 2011 | Margaret Gowling | John Thompson in Ravenstonedale |
| 19th October 2011 | Adrian Rogan | Andreas de Harcla and the wars of Robert the Bruce |
| 16th November 2011 | Wendy Hunter | A peep into the past of Newbiggin-on-Lune |
| 21st December 2011 | Members & Friends | Christmas Party |
| 18th January 2012 | Alan Clowes | The Quakers |
| 15th February 2012 | Steve and Val Fermer | Carvers – The Chantry, High Chapel and Cotton |
| 21st March 2012 | Richard Wilcock | The Upper Eden Valley in the Great War |
Articles
1. Visit to Weardale Museum
2. John Thompson in Ravenstonedale by Margaret Gowling
3. Andreas de Harcla and the wars of Robert the Bruce by Adrian Rogan
4. A peep into the past of Newbiggin-on-Lune - A talk by Wendy Hunter
5. A talk on the Quakers by Alan Clowes
Ravenstonedale Parish History Group visit to the Weardale Museum in June
Some of the members of RPHG enjoyed a trip to the Weardale Museum on the 28th June 2011. The founder, David Heatherington, and his brother Kenneth, were both available to show us around. David outlined the history of the museum and told us how many of the items were donated at the time it was set up. These include those connected with local Methodism (the Museum is next door to a Methodist Chapel), a collection of metals connected with mining, and items from railway and farming history. He stressed the importance of local interest and the collection of local stories in developing such a resource. Kenneth showed us some of the paper systems they hold, including transcripts of census records and an accession book recording dates donated and some details about all the artifacts. They also have transcripts of newspaper cuttings and copies of letters.Kenneth demonstrated some of the computer-based systems on the three computers available for public use. Files available include searchable census files (excel-based) filtered by name, relation to head of household, marriage status, age etc., parish registers and graveyard indexes referenced and with photo files. Family history maker version eight is available for use and information from excel files, maps and notes on sources can be included in a family record. Kenneth suggested that we have a look at some of the online resources held by the County Durham History and Heritage Forum, particularly their contacts list at www.durhamweb.org.uk/historyforum/members.htm.
In his encouraging message subsequent to our visit to the Museum David says: “I hope that we were able to show you some possible directions for your work. Probably the best thing for you to do is to start with some small projects which involve as many people as possible and which can be completed in a short time. This way you enjoy a quick success that you can build on. My brother Kenneth enjoys genealogy work as a hobby and he spends hours on it but you shouldn't set this as a short term aim. What happened with us was that a friend got interested in some of Ken's work and decided to work on expanding it to a different parish - its best that it grows from members interests. When you go for a lottery grant think beyond what you are capable of at the moment - be ambitious - see what other Record Societies do and the equipment they use or would like to use. Come back and ask us.”
Sue Capel 20/08/11
2. John Thompson in Ravenstonedale by Margaret Gowling
The Ravenstonedale Parish History Group held its first talk of the 2011-2012 season in the High Chapel Meeting Room on Wednesday 21st September at 7.30pm. The chair of the group, Caroline Morris, introduced the speaker, Margaret Gowling, a well-respected local historian who, earlier this year, published a book entitled ‘The story of Brough-under-Stainmore’ which has been very well received. Her talk was about the branch of the Thompson family living in Kirkby Stephen and surrounding villages in the late 17th and early 18th centuries and, in particular, John Thompson and his relationship with the Ravenstonedale Dissenters.
By the mid to late1600s the Thompsons were a wealthy family in Kirkby Stephen owning houses in the Town Head area of the town. They bought land stretching as far as Ash Fell and developed the hosiery industry locally, owning a fulling mill at Stenkrith, probably a dying workshop at Town Head, and tenterfields in the surrounding area. John Thompson was born in 1633 in the reign of Charles 1st, lived through the Civil War and died in 1721 at the very good age of 88 during the period of the Hanoverians. In 1650 two Thompsons, James and his son John, were involved with other Parliamentarians, in an incident over land bids. When his James died in 1663 he left some money with Richard Fothergill of Ravenstonedale to be given out to local people at Christmas. However, James made John’s brother Geoffrey executor of his will and left money to Geoffrey’s children and not to John’s five children. It may be that this John was already involved with the dissenters at this point but, as he also died in 1663, he cannot have been John the hosier who, when he died in 1721, left £20 for the encouragement of the dissenting minister of Ravenstonedale. The protestant dissenters did not want an official state church and belonged to a number of denominations including Presbyterians, Baptists, Quakers, Congregationalists and others. In 1689 the Act of Tolerance gave dissenters freedom of worship and the Ravenstonedale group had their first licensed meeting house in George Parkin's house. The High Chapel building in which the History Group meets dates from 1727, the year it was licensed as a meeting place for dissenters who had been meeting in private houses since 1662.
John Thompson married Eleanor Mason of Ravenstonedale at the age of 72 and moved into the village. He and Eleanor expanded the hosiery industry and, Margaret Gowling suggests, may have developed an integrated business covering the whole process of production and distribution including the development of early banking methods to deal with income, payments and profits. When he died in 1721, John Thompson’s will showed generosity to his family, servants and the wider village community including the provision of money to be spent on local apprenticeships. There is evidence of Thompsons working in the industry further afield including a James and John Thompson running a hosiery mill in Kendal in the 19th century and Bradford Thompsons also in the industry. The talk was very well received and Chris Read thanked Margaret Gowling on behalf of the Ravenstonedale History Group for a very interesting and well researched presentation.
Val Fermer reminded us that the next talk will be at 7.30 in the High Chapel on Wednesday 19th October. The subject will be Andreas de Harcla of Hartley Castle and the wars of Robert the Bruce and the talk will be given by Adrian Rogan, another local author.
3. Andreas de Harcla and the wars of Robert the Bruce by Adrian Rogan
The second talk in Ravenstonedale Parish History Group’s winter season was given by Adrian Rogan who until recently lived in Kirkby Stephen but now manages the Mardale Inn at Bampton. He has written two historical novels on the subject of Andreas de Harcla, published by Hayloft Publishing, North Stainmore, and he is currently writing his third novel on the subject. Adrian was introduced to the audience by Val Fermer and started his talk by describing Andreas de Harcla as “one of the greatest men of his time, second only to Robert the Bruce”. De Harcla, who lived at Hartley (Harcla) Castle near Kirkby Stephen, has a chapel dedicated to his memory at the town’s parish church. He was born in 1285, the fourth of six sons, with two sisters, and lived a “short and brutal life” until he was executed at Carlisle in 1323 for treason.
De Harcla became an increasingly important military leader in the borderlands between England and Scotland during the reign of Edward the second. He used guerrilla “tactics of avoidance” with his small band of supporters similar to those used by Robert the Bruce on the opposing side, although Bruce had a much larger army. These tactics involved taking advantage of the poor and disease ridden population of the time by stealing their cattle and property and finally charging those forced to surrender for their protection from other forces. In the early days Robert the Bruce was his enemy and de Harcla was rewarded for his loyalty to the king, being appointed Sheriff of Cumberland in 1311 and knighted the following year. In 1315 he successfully defended Carlisle Castle against Robert the Bruce but was later taken hostage by the Scots and a ransom for his freedom was eventually paid. De Harcla, however, fell out of favour with the king during the following five years until in 1321 he returned to favour and was summoned to Parliament. His most important achievement for the king came when he led the forces of Cumberland and Westmorland against the Earl of Lancaster at Boroughbridge early in 1322. De Harcla again used the low-key tactics learned from the Scots and was successful in the battle for which he was richly rewarded by King Edward, being made Earl of Carlisle and Chief Warden of the Marshes.
De Harcla was, however, becoming increasingly impatient with the rule of King Edward and was unconvinced about Edward’s ability to win the war against Robert the Bruce. De Harcla’s actions were always based on shifting loyalties dependant on the fortunes of war and he employed tactics outside the law such as bounty hunting and protectionism. Adrian described him as being like “a Robin Hood without any mercy”. In October 1322 de Harcla was asked to support the king against Robert at the Battle of Byland in Yorkshire but his troops did not arrive in time and the king was defeated. De Harcla was convinced that he should enter negotiations with Robert the Bruce himself and to sign a peace treaty recognising Scotland as an independent kingdom, which he did in 1323. He was possibly also influenced by his developing relationship with Christiana, Robert’s daughter, and a determination to finally oust Edward and improve the situation in the north of England. However, Edward issued an order for his arrest for treason and de Harcla was eventually forced to retreat to Carlisle Castle. He was arrested by Sir Anthony Lucy who had turned against de Harcla after the 1322 rebellion. He was stripped of his titles, convicted as a traitor and condemned to be hung, drawn and quartered and the four parts of his body dispersed around the country, his head being hung from London Bridge and remaining there for five years. De Harcla had managed to protect the borderlands over the previous years but Edward the second had been unwilling to pursue the war any further and was forced to agree a truce with Robert the Bruce.
Sue Capel 3/11/2011
4. A peep into the past of Newbiggin-on-Lune - A talk by Wendy Hunter
The third talk in Ravenstonedale Parish History Group’s winter season, held at the High Chapel Community and Heritage Centre, was given by Wendy Hunter. Caroline Morris introduced Wendy as a resident of Newbiggin-on-Lune who had married into one of the oldest families in the parish. Wendy had been a member of the High Chapel congregation for many years and its secretary for twenty years. She spent fifty years on the management committee of the public hall at Newbiggin and is perhaps best known for her involvement in the Women’s Institute both locally and county-wide.
Wendy showed an extensive collection of slides of buildings in Newbiggin-on-Lune to illustrate some of the history of the village over the last two centuries. She began by relating how, in 1918, towards the end of the First World War, her father-in-law Dixon Hunter together with William Pratt had a discussion about what the village lads could do when they came back from the war. Money was raised from the villagers for a stone built hall to be built to contain a large room that could seat 150 people, a kitchen called the supper room, and upstairs a billiard room to keep the men occupied when they came back from the war. They bought a good billiard table and put in a fireplace and comfortable chairs and the billiard room was very well used for many years and is still in use today.
There were several spinning galleries in Newbiggin, notably at Betsy Croft and Tower House, and Wendy described how people sat outside on the knitting galleries to get the light they needed to see their knitting. They knitted long stockings (socks), caps and jerseys to be used by seamen and these were collected by a trader from Hawes who came to the village once a fortnight to buy the latest batch. The knitters were paid one halfpenny for a cap, two pennies for a pair of long stockings and six pence for a jersey. Tower House was also where Elizabeth Gaunt, formally Fothergill, was born. She was the last woman to suffer the terrible fate of being burnt at the stake at Tyburn for her religious beliefs.
Wendy described how, when the railway was built, the Dixon and Hunter family milling business moved from the old mill at Ravenstonedale to Newbiggin to be nearer to the railway station where goods could be delivered. Horses and carts were used by the business to deliver supplies around to the villages. The lead horse knew the route home so well that, at the end of the deliveries, if it was cold or wet, the men were able to get under the tarpaulins on the carts for shelter and the horses found their own way home.
A Mr Buck who owned a shop in the village in the late 1800s decided to make the room above the shop available as a school room for the children of the village. The Reverend Nichols, Mr Buck and a Mr Peacock formed a committee and wrote a notice about the Newbiggin Day School for boys and girls. Notice was sent out to the whole village announcing that they had appointed a master and would open the school on Monday 29th July 1872. The school was run according to “broad liberal and non-sectarian principles”. The railway station, built in 1861, was originally called Newbiggin Station but the name was later changed to Ravenstonedale Station. Competitions were held for the best kept stations in those days and Ravenstonedale won quite frequently with its well kept flower beds. Wendy told us that local people could still remember that the signalman in the signal box at the station also had a second skill as a barber and cut the hair of many of the local men and boys in between train arrivals!
Finally, Wendy showed pictures of children playing on the village green over the years and of the tree planted on the green by the Women’s Institute for ‘Plant a tree in ’73 Year’. She highlighted the importance of the continuation of an active village community and local businesses. She concluded that, although Newbiggin-on-Lune no longer required the services of fourteen tailors as it once did, there were still many local businesses and trades people living and working there. “We still have a bit of industry going on, we’ve still got our farmers, we’ve got an electrician, we’ve got three craftsmen in wood, each working independently, we’ve got a fish farm and a cafe, we have a tree specialist at Weasdale, we have plants and a cafe at Lune Springs, we’ve got a mechanic dealing with farm equipment and many more things that are going on. The village is alive, come and see us sometime.”
A talk on the Quakers by Alan Clowes
The first talk given to the Ravenstonedale Parish History Group in 2012 took place on Wednesday 18th January at 7.30 at the High Chapel Community and Heritage Centre. The speaker, Alan Clowes, is the proprietor of the Cross Keys Hotel at Cautley, near Sedbergh; a temperance hotel serving good food to its customers. Alan is a longstanding Quaker and also runs a charity, the Thandi Friends Project, helping the community in an area east of Cape Town, South Africa. In the introduction to his talk Alan stressed the influence of the puritans and the rising of dissent and freedom of belief in the English population after the death of Charles the First. This allowed various dissident groups more freedom of expression. The groups included the Levellers, described by Alan as “like the communists of the time”, and others such as the Seekers and Quakers.
The Westmorland Seekers, led by Thomas Preston of Preston Patrick, had followers in Swaledale, Wensleydale and in Sedbergh. Gervase Benson, the local leader of the Seekers, lived at Borrett Farm in Sedbergh and partly at High Haygarth (now the Cross Keys Hotel, Cautley). The Seekers were well supported in the area when, in 1652, “came a man who had a strong but strange dialect” down the road from Garsdale towards Sedbergh. This was George Fox, originally from Leicestershire, who had travelled into the Dales, preaching on his way, and when he reached Garsdale he asked for directions to the home of Richard Robinson at Brigflatts. Robinson gave him shelter for the night but was nevertheless a little wary of him and, just in case, locked all his doors and hid his pewter out of sight for the night! The next day Robinson introduced Fox to Gervase Benson who was considered an important local man at the time, having been a Justice of the Peace, a Mayor of Kendal and one of Cromwell’s senior army men. Benson and his wife became supporters of Fox and the Quakers and later, when they lived at High Haygarth, Dorothy Benson regularly disrupted church services. She was eventually sent before magistrates and committed to prison in York where she died in 1658 and then was buried in the garden at High Haygarth. Gervase Benson gave up all his titles on becoming a Quaker and became a husbandman.
Fox met up with seekers and preachers at Benson’s house the day after staying at Brigflatts, on Whit Sunday, 1652, and the following day went to the Hiring Fair at Sedbergh. He spoke to a gathering of people whilst standing in a tree in the churchyard urging them to come out of their churches and join him. He was challenged by one man who asked him why, if he was such a great preacher, he did not preach in the church and Fox answered that it was because the church was only a building. Another preacher who was there that day was Francis Howgill who was so impressed with Fox that he invited him to attend a gathering at Firbank Fell, a remote place quite some distance from Sedbergh. On 2nd June 1652 they held their meeting at Firbank and George Fox spoke from two o’clock that afternoon for a period of several hours, relating how he had seen a vision at Pendle Hill in Lancashire of a multitude arriving to hear him preaching. More and more people arrived at Firbank to hear him and by three o’clock more than a thousand people were there, mostly Seekers.
From Firbank, Fox went on to preach in other areas of Cumbria including Ulverston, where he met and married Margaret Fell, a strong and independent Seeker in her own right. Alan stressed that “women played as important a role as men in the Quaker movement”. Alan went on to talk more generally about the Quaker movement, its development, and how Quakers are today. At its height Quakerism had fifty to sixty thousand followers in the UK alone but now numbers are down to some ten to twenty thousand. In the early days Quakers often had all their wealth taken away from them and were put into prison for their beliefs and later they were not allowed into higher education institutions. In the 1800s they started to set up their own very successful educational facilities and businesses including Cadbury’s, Fry’s, Rowntrees, Reckitt and Colman’s, Huntley and Palmer’s, Clark’s Shoes and many more. It was Quakers who set up Barclay’s and Lloyd’s Banks. As employers they were philanthropic and generous towards their employees providing housing and leisure facilities and generous holidays for the time, but no pubs!
Alan stressed the flexibility of Quakerism and how it had changed over time, stressing that the movement was about the individual in their community and “how we deal with each other”. At one time Quakers had to marry within their own community or they would be “thrown out”. They still do not sing hymns in the meeting and there is no parson or preacher but each individual makes their own connection with God; “We believe that we are as important to God as any minister”. A Quaker meeting sits in silence in a circle mostly in very simple buildings and Alan described the silence as being very powerful and sometimes quite frightening if there is total silence for a whole hour. Quakers have set up Peace Centres throughout the world and many Quakers were conscientious objectors in the First World War and were shot because of their stance. In the Second World War Joseph Rowntree, a prominent Quaker set up an ambulance service so that Quakers might opt to work on the frontline without fighting. There were some questions and points made at the end of the talk on the subject of pacifism and other Quaker beliefs and it was suggested that this discussion could be continued in another meeting at a later date. Chris Metcalfe-Gibson thanked Alan Clowes for his interesting and stimulating talk and wished him good luck with his imminent trip to South Africa on behalf of his charity. He hoped that Alan would also “continue in the great tradition of purveyor of good food” at the temperance Cross Keys Hotel at Cautley.