TUNNEL OF LOVE

Chalk philosophy from an unknown author. Whitby Spa.

FRUMETY

The Snap-dragon fly from Lewis Carol's third chapter of Through The Looking Glass, illustrated by John Tenniel. Its body is made of plum-pudding, its wings of holly-leaves, and its head is a raisin burning in brandy...it lives on frumenty and mince-pie.

'In the matter of the Christmas feasting there is nothing so distinctive of it as in the making of the frumety. He is no Yorkshireman who does not know what furmety or frumety is. It is one of our institutions. As regularly as Christmas comes round preparations are made for the manufacture of this Yorkshire dish.'
Rev. M.C.F. Morris from Yorkshire Folk Talk 1892

A 17th century recipe for frumety

...

The traditional method of making frumety (or frumenty, furmenty, formtiy, however you spell it, all versions are based on the Latin frumentum meaning grain) was a time consuming labour. If a household had no wheat of their own, the tradition was to beg some from neighbouring farms on St Thomas' Day (December 21st).

The wheat should be soaked in water for a day then put in a bag and beaten to get the hullins, the outer coats of the wheat grains, to seperate. Often this was done by thrashing the bag with a flail. Then the whole lot was put into water. The hullins would float to the surface and the pure wheat could be extracted.

After being put in an oven to cree for two or three hours, milk was added and the pan was put over the fire to boil. Sugar was added together with nutmeg and any other spices and flavourings according to people's tastes and fancies.

The dish was originally eaten on Christmas Eve together with cheese, gingerbread and yule cakes. These were cakes of currants, citron and other tasty ingredients. Each person had one to eat with the frumety.

Easier recipes for frumety can be found without too much trouble on the web that generally don't involve setting about a sack of wheat on the kitchen floor with a flail.

Recipe 1
Recipe 2
Recipe 3

WHITBY GINGERBREAD

In the 1800s Whitby gingerbread was famous throughout the country with a reputation equal to that of York Muffins. Made from a stiff dough flavoured with coriander, peel and black treacle, it was consumed traditionally at Christmas. It was also recommended for new mothers, often together with cheese. In later versions of the recipe golden syrup replaced the treacle. A fruited gingerbread was also available which included raisins, sultanas and currants in the mix.


A confectioner advertising gingerbread

Young estimated the amount sold in Whitby in one year to be around 12 tons. It was said that between September and December alone 5 tons were produced. It was dispatched far and wide in tea chests, often to ship's captains in distant lands whose crews longed for a taste of home.

 

Ditchburn's, who had a shop on Church Street, made Whitby gingerbread from 1868 until 1952. Beilby and Edwards' shop on St. Ann's Staith was right next door to Foster and Wright's confectioners. Both emporiums produced the spicy treat, so competition must have been fervent. Sometimes this traditional gingerbread is confused with peppercakes. These however were seasoned with Jamaican pepper.

Whilst the plain type was traditionaly made in a hoop and then decorated on top, the fruited variety was pressed into wooden moulds. These had patterns or pictures cut into them, often by skilled jet workers. Fourteen moulds are on display in Whitby Museum. They date from the 17th to the early 18th centuries and show such things as ladies and gentlemen in their finery, Whitby's coat of arms with its three ammonites and other delicately carved motifs.

Gingerbread moulds in Whitby Museum

Ellizabeth Botham's, craft bakers since 1865, still produce the delicacy today. This is their description of the product.

Original Whitby Gingerbread is a block gingerbread peculiar to the town and has been made here for many hundreds of years. It is quite unlike any other Gingerbread available as it is baked to a firm loaf with a texture between a bread and a biscuit. It is not a cake or a biscuit as many people would imagine.



This high quality product is delicious sliced thinly, buttered and eaten with a farmhouse cheese, such as Wensleydale or Coverdale and is also delightful with preserve.

Without doubt, a perfect speciality to be eaten on a crisp winter's day in front of a glowing fire.

 Link: Botham's Whitby Gingerbread

STANDING STONES RIGG, CLOUGHTON MOOR

This bronze age circle of stones on the edge of Harwood Dale forest looks particularly brooding in the gloom of a November afternoon beneath a sky of gathering rain. Of the original 24 stones, 15 remain. They are set in a low earth bank and the circle has a diameter of around 8 metres.

The three centre stones form part of a burial cist. One of the flat stones that originally formed a wall of the cist can be seen behind these three set edgewise into the earth. Four of the stones which formed the lid were marked with cup and ring designs and now reside in the safety of Scarborough Museum.

In his Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology of North-East Yorkshire (1993) D. A. Spratt records six cup and ring stones from this site now in Scarborough Museum, given by Mr John Tissiman in 1852.
The area around the circle was originally dotted with a number of sepulchral cairns, many of which have now been cleared or incorporated into drystone walls. The first OS map of the area shows around 100 of these to the west and south of the monument, making it part of a much larger assemblage of prehistoric remains.

For more information, folklore and much better photographs see Richard Locker's Liminal Whitby article on The Druid Stones.

SIL HOWE: ABANDONED WHINSTONE MINE

The Cleveland dyke is an intrusion of dark, hard rock which runs in a more or less straight line from the valley of the Tees near Eaglescliffe station for 31 miles as far as Fylingdales Moor near Robin Hood's Bay. The dyke consists of whinstone, an igneous rocks formed by the solidification of molten material. It supposedly gets its name from the sound it makes when hit by a hammer.

The dyke has been dated to 26 million years old, meaning it was formed in the Miocene period geologically speaking. Whinstone has been mined near Beck Hole since the early 1800s. Its usage was mainly as roadstone, although some was also utilised for building work. The dyke is between 30 to 40 feet wide, extremely deep and bounded by about 3 to 6 feet of metamorphosed sedimentary rocks, in this case sandstone transformed by heat into what the miners called 'China rock' because of its white appearance.

Driving along toward Beck Hole from the Goathland turn off of the A169, the huge scar of the whinstone quarries in the dyke can be seen to the right of the road. Hidden away to the left in the heather is a small, ruined building and beside it is a tunnel. This is the entrance to an adit which leads 1770 feet and meets the dyke deep beneath the moors, at which point the mine workings are around 140 feet below the quarry floor. The mine was known as Sil
Howe.

The entrance to the adit, dated 1940

When operating, this tunnel was laid with a 42" gauge track on which the mined stone was transported from the workings to a crushing plant above Goathland station. The track was graded so that normally the trucks would run by themselves downhill. The empty trucks were hauled back into the mine by horses. The mechanical crusher at Goathland was powered by a steam engine for most of its working lifetime.

The crushing plant above Goathland station

Under the window of the ruined mine offices the motto 'LEAD THOU ME ON' can be seen carved into the stone. The date 1899 can also be found nearby. However, the entrance to the tunnel is dated 1940. The mystery of the discrepancy between these two dates can be solved by a quick glance around the site. A round bomb crater, now filled with water, shows that damage was caused here. During wartime lights were set on the moors to draw enemy attention away from the large centres of industry at Teesside. This may well be the reason for the bomb crater.

The miner's motto 'LEAD THOU ME ON'

The ruined mine offices and the bomb crater

 The mine had ceased working by 1951, although interest in it from cavers and industrial archaeology enthusiasts has increased. It seems in the early 1990s it was possible to enter the mine, but now it is stoved in about 5m from the entrance. York Caving Club have recently applied to work on the adit to make it accessible once again, indeed a vertical access shaft has already been created and capped off by a locked lid.

The photograph below shows the mine in 1920. You can just pick out three miners and the railway track coming out of the tunnel. It gives some idea of scale.

The source for most of this article was Peter Wainright's excellent booklet The Mines and Miners of Goathland, Beckhole and Greenend. Peter goes into details of mine ownership, the fates of individual miners and anecdotes and newspaper reports concerning Sil Howe. It can be purchased from Whitby Bookshop.

A SITE FOR SORE EYES: ST. HILDA'S HOLY WELL

At the time of the Domesday Book the village of Hinderwell near Whitby was known as Hildrewell, clearly invoking the name of St. Hilda, Abbess of Whitby Abbey (c. 614 -680). Since then the name has been variously spelled as Ildrewell and in the twelfth century Hilderwell and Hylderwell.

It is said that a well sprung up beside the saint as she prayed for water, but it is more likely that Hinderwell was one of her retreats chosen because of the clear, fresh water springing from the ground there. It may even have been a minor place of pilgrimage as Hope (1893) suggests that the monks would stop here on their journeys from Kirkham to Whitby, which would have meant them taking a rather long way round. The water is said to have healing properties, especially beneficial for eye complaints apparently.

The well can be found in the churchyard of St Hilda's down a slope furnished with stone steps set into the grassy bank. There is also a magnificent yew tree close by and many interesting graves of ship owners and local families, although a good proportion of the stones have been rendered illegible by weathering.


The pump shown in the photograph above was installed before 1900. In 1912 it was dismantled and the well was restored by Hilda Gertrude Montgomery Palmer (1884 - 1946) of Grinkle Park. It is now a sandstone structure approximately a metre and a half in height with the crystal clear water flowing from a chamber behind through a small inlet and into a stone font. A plaque commemorates the restoration.

Key to people in the photograph:
1. Mrs Lizzie Hodgson at the pump
2. Another unrelated Mrs Lizzie Hodgson
3. Mr John Gray carrying two pails on a yoke
4. Mrs Hannah Trattles of Gate House
5. Bob Billam
6. Joe Dawson
7. Annie Lyth
8. Mabel Wheatherill

The key to the people in the photograph of the old pump is from Round and About The North Yorkshire Moors Vol II by Tom Scott Burns and Martin Rigg

WILLIAM BATESON: ACCIDENTAL YORKSHIREMAN

William Henry Bateson and his wife Anna Aiken Bateson came on holiday to Robin Hood's Bay in August 1861. They left their comfortable home in Cambridge, where William was Master of St John's College, for the bracing air and sea spray of the North Yorkshire coastline. Anna was heavily pregnant at the time and went in to labour rather earlier than expected. She gave birth to a baby boy that the couple also called William. He was destined to change the face of science forever.

William Bateson was described as a vague and aimless boy at Rugby school, he nevertheless attained first class honours in the natural science tripos at Cambridge. He recieved his B.A. in 1883. He was very poorly trained in mathematics and physics but an outstanding classicist, however zoology and morphology, the study of the structure and form of living things, would interest him and occupy his mind for the rest of his life.

In May 1900 he read the largely forgotten 1866 work of the Austrian monk Gregor Mendel, who discovered the basic principles of heredity through experiments in his garden . This led Bateson to wholeheartedly espouse Mendel's views and he proved that they held for animals as well as plants.

Although an ardent evolutionist Bateson was an opponent of Darwinism and could not see how gradual change could lead to the abundance and variety of life on Earth. He made no bones about rubbing his peers up the wrong way, and as Richrd Ingrams points out "he always showed the awkward, unbending traits of the true type, indulging in splendidly intemperate rows and still exciting scientists' angst, demonstrating that his Yorkshire genes were in proper working order".

Bateson was the first person to coin the word 'genetics' for the study of  how the individual features and behavior of living things are passed on through their genes. Indeed he founded the Journal of Genetics in 1910 alongside R. C. Punnett.

William Bateson died in 1926. His word genetics has been passed down through the generations.

 

 

SLOW-WORM

This splendid slow-worm (Anguis fragilis ) was found by Harry Baker on the wooden steps leading to the beach at Runswick Bay one afternoon at the end of May. He was pretty lucky as slow-worms only ever bask for short periods in the day. They are mostly nocturnal, hunting for slugs and worms and spend most of their lives either underground or hidden in vegetation.

Although superficially resembling snakes, slow-worms are in fact legless lizards. Unlike snakes they have eyelids and they can shed their tails when imperilled. The broken off portion thrashes around on the ground confusing the predator and allowing the slow-worm to beat a hasty retreat.

Harry's slow-worm seems to have lost its tail at some point in the past. This is very common and often happens in the wild, the new tail growing as a blunt stump. The females have a dark stripe down their backs whereas the males are much more uniform in colour. Although difficult to see from the photos, this is probably a female.

Slow-worms are the most abundant reptiles in Britain, often living in close proximity to man in gardens, railway cuttings and compost heaps, but they are so inconspicuous as to go unnoticed most of the time.

I remember once many years ago seeing a common lizard (Lacerta vivipara) basking in the sun on the steps leading up from the car park at Sandsend. Obviously reptiles like the environment of our cliffs and moors. It is interesting to compare the appearance of the slow-worm with the strikingly different adders Andy Cook photographed on the moors around Goathland.

Adders

THE SARAH AND GRISSELL INCIDENT

The following is taken from an official account made by Whitby's port authority of an incident which occurred on 12th August 1724. It goes some way to show the difficulties Customs Officials had when it came to controlling the smuggling trade in a town where it seemed that everybody was on the side of the smugglers.

The ‘Sarah And Gissell’ had made for the safety of port after the weather had turned against her. The Master, Thomas Robertson of Perth told the Customs officer that his ship was en route from Perth and had come into port wanting provisions. But the ever watchful port authorities soon became suspicious of the ship and it’s Master, according to a sworn statement made by Abram Watkins (a boatman) and William Towers (a tidesman and boatman) the crew of the vessel had lived almost completely of their own provisions the whole time they had been in port, only taking on board a six penny loaf of bread and a small cask of ale. The district Riding Officer further corroborated the port authorities growing testimony by claiming that the ship had previously been anchored off  Robin Hood’s Bay selling spirits to the locals.

This was cause enough for the Collector of Customs who immediately sent his rummage men a board the ship, where it was is discovered that the hold was filled with salt in which were buried a large number of barrels containing Brandy. The Master quickly changed his story claiming he had sailed from St. Martin in France and was on his way to Bergen.

The Customs opined that the salt was there to stop the barrels rolling around.‘The salt on board ye ship is in bulk and appears to be made for stowing ye casks in and as ballast and that, when ye vessel first came into port, she appeared to have been lightened above half a foot forward, and by ye stowage of ye Casks it appears that there has been a great part of a whole tier of casks taken forwards’.

The Master of the ‘Sarah And Grissell’ knowing that he had been caught tried to make good his escape and planned to put to sea on the night of the 15th August, the Customs men realising that the ship was been made ready for sea called for re-enforcements, but ‘despite all ye fair means the officers could use, ye Master ordered his men to cast off ye mooring’.

Hacking around with knives in the gloom the officers cut ropes and ratlines to prevent the sails being set, they tried to unship the rudder, but still she moved down the harbour…towed by a local coble skippered by Christopher Hill, recognisable amidst the struggle by his loud voice shouting that he would murder every Customs Officer.

The Master and his mate ‘assaulted and abused’ Mr Selby, the Customs Surveyor, and tore his clothes when he ‘endeavoured to get ye management of ye helm in order to put ye vessel on shore, and at other times when he endeavoured to obstruct their design’.

As the ship moved down the harbour, from St. Ann’s Staith where it had been moored, the customs officers were pelted with large stones from a great number of people on the shore and from cobles running alongside ‘even in such a manner that some of ye officers were obliged to shelter themselves behind ye masts’.

Christopher Hill, ‘that notorious runner of goods whose voice Mr Selby knew very well threatened him and other Officers in a prodigious manner and swearing he would have ye ship to sea over ye next morning’. He went on to have ‘the impudence to abuse Mr Selby and threaten to fight him without the least provocation’.

But the Customs men succeeded in their delaying tactics, the battle royal went on for three hours and she was still not out of the harbour. Abram Watkins, the Customs boatman, tied a rope to another moored vessel, but one of the smugglers slashed it through. Watkins then managed to furl the topsail, but it was immediately unfurled. By now the tide had turned; Watkins managed to cut some of the ropes from the boats towing the vessel out and hauled others onto the ship, during which time he was being assaulted by the Master. Then he bent a small rope to a Cage and dropped it at the stern and was finally able to run the ship aground at Colliers Hope.

After the battle was over a further search of the vessel revealed 13 more casks of Brandy and a parcel of Playing Cards, all of which were removed to the King’s Warehouse. The salt remained on board; the skipper had refused to sell it so the vessel remained in the harbour, so preventing the seizure of the ship whilst prosecutions were being prepared against it’s skipper Thomas Robertson, Henry Mann the mate and Christopher Hill cobleman.

The result of the ship not being cleared of cargo was that the Customs Collector had to stand to the cost of keeping two men on board the vessel. This might look of little importance until it is realised that at the time the Collector only received his dues if the prosecution was successful. Leading to the fact that it might not have always been advisable or even worthwhile actually prosecuting these crimes in the first place.

WHITBY LORE AND LEGEND: AN INTERVIEW

OUT ON YE! is not a music blog, but the band Rudolf Rocker (named after the aharcho-syndicalist writer and intellectual Johannes Rudolf Rocker) have released a CD steeped in the mystery and mythology of Whitby and the surrounding area.

I interviewed singer and guitarist Mark Goodall one night in the appropriate surroundings of The Black Horse to delve into his relationship with the folklore and history of the district that informs the songwriting. A quick glance at the track listing shows the subject matter we're dealing with here. Some of the songs are unashamedly boisterous knees-ups, but the ones I'm interested in have a haunting, arcane quality to them.

During our conversation, which was recorded for presentation on this blog, the pub gradually filled up with drinkers, so there is a bit of incidental conversation. Also fans of the glam rock outfit The Sweet will notice their hit tune Ballroom Blitz forming a slightly incongruous backdrop to our talk of ancient artifacts. Postmodernism of the highest order.

I must apologise for the occasional rumbling sound picked up by the microphone. I suspect its caused by a slightly unsteady table. In these extracts we discuss four of the thirteen tracks. To my mind these are the amongst most interesting.

SHOWERBATH OF THE PATRIARCHS

I knew nothing of this, but apparently around 1934 a local man had the idea of building a swimming pool and a boating pond in Litllebeck. By 1945 due to disuse it became silted up and was populated only by hundreds of frogs. A film exists in the Yorkshire Film Archives showing boys bathing in the pool.

MAIDEN'S GARLANDS
In Old St Stephen's Church, Fylingdales hang four maiden's garlands. They were made to commemorate the tragic death of a young girl, and would be carried along at the funeral procession.



CRETEBLOCK
The wreck of this concrete ship stands forlorn on Whitby Scar. The subject of these strange vessels was covered more extensively on OUT ON YE!  here.



HAND OF GLORY
The mummified, severed hand kept in a cabinet in Whitby Museum is purportedly the only surviving Hand of Glory. It was found hidden in the wall of a thatched cottage in Castleton.




To listen to the tracks Showerbath of the Patriarchs, Hand of Glory and Hole of Horcum, and for more information visit Rudolf Rocker's website here.

Maiden's Garlands, Old St Stephen's Church, Fylingdales