Further reminiscences of Husthwaite – notes probably written by Thomas Taylor early 1920s.
The following pages were found by Martha Wailes amongst letters and bills for rent of land etc of Lodge Farm, the early home of her Husthwaite Wailes ancestors. They are likely to have been written after William Taylor’s other Reminiscences [see previous article]. With grateful thanks to Martha for this transcription which uses the original spellings.
I am asked to write a History of the Village of Husthwaite - & I will begin at Beacon Banks which overlooks Coxwold Newburgh & a wide stretch of views as far as Hambleton Hills, the White Horse & the adjoining hills. In the old days their was no Hall. At Beacon Banks it was four crossroads know as Gibbet Hill. Where anyone who had done wrong - was Gibbitted until they died. Once a Husthwaite man was hauled up for stealing a horse - & he was placed in the stocks & but for the interference of some authorities he would have been hungered to death - & my Great Grandfather who was Bass Solist at York Minster & walked to York every week end Called upon the said mayor & told him this story & the man was released, with the promise he would clear his country - & a few pounds was gathered for him & he went to New Zealand & died a wealthy man.
Then Beacon Banks Hall was built & Mr Wailes came into residence - & their used to stand an old building, beyond the Plantation, & one very dark winter's night a couple went into sleep - with two children & during the night another baby was born - & the husband knocked up Mr & Mrs Wailes who got the Dr there & sent fine linen food & warmth & gave them each a gold sovereign & sent them on their way - but before leaving the mother had to go Church & the baby boy was christened Peter - The Dr in those days was known to keep a "black draft" & if any one had a drop left in the village a journey to fetch him was avoided -
An old Nannie Nettleton was considered a great sort of Dr for children & she used to make Carraway Seed tea & Cinder water - & used to hawk it in bottles for Gripes & Wind in the stomach - a home was not considered complete without a drop of Nannie Nettletons Cinder tea.
When we come down to the Village itself it is much changed since the old days. Where Miss Seaton livs were three alms houses which was supported by the gentry farmers of the district. Things were very bad then my father saw several couples get married & go straight to the Union house - They had no work - The old school was on the green - and my grand(father) used to say he went when he hadn't to tend cows pigs and geese - As their was no front gardens in Husthwaite in those days the space in front of the houses were common right - & most people kept geese fowls pigs etc & turned them out to graize. A Newspaper called the Yorkshire Gassette was introduced & 3 papers came once a week to Husthwaite and was lent round. An old woman was Postman - & if any one was anxious to know their neighbours business....
Notes
Miss Seaton was most likely to be Miss Emily Seaton, b 29.6.1861 Pickering. In 1939, aged 78 she is given as a retired school mistress and lived at Peach Holme (now Broom House), Husthwaite where she was also living in 1911. She remained single and her death is recorded in Easingwold in 1952, at the age of 90. In 1881 she was at Southlands Wesleyan Training College, High St, Battersea, London; in 1891 she was a schoolmistress living with an uncle, Matthew Millington (born in York) and his family in Colliergate York and by 1901 they had moved to Hackney where Emily was a School Board Teacher. By 1911 she had moved to Husthwaite with her uncle, a retired leather merchant, and his wife and in the 1939 register she was living with a domestic servant at Peacholme.
These memories must have been written after Emily had moved from London to Husthwaite so sometime after 1901-1911 and she must have become a well known figure in the village, possibly in association with the Methodist Chapel.
Nannie Nettleton may have been Sarah Ann Nettleton b 1878 Tadcaster, and in 1891 a servant at Moor house Raskelf to her uncle William Viney, a farm labourer; by 1901 she was a general domestic servant at Acaster Hill. However “old Nannie Nettleton” may refer to another older person.
Further notes about the Taylor family
With the help of Martha Wailes and a closer look at old papers relating to the tenancy of Lodge Farm, signatures on marriage certificates etc have revealed the author is most likely to have been William Taylor’s son Thomas Taylor. Thomas was tenant of Lodge Farm for many years and is likely to have written the further reminiscences in the early 1920s.
Three generations of William Taylors were significant people in the life of Husthwaite. William Taylor I (1764-1833) born Husthwaite was the son of John, a cordwainer. A James Raggitt was once a shoemaker in the village and died in 1748 with no family to take over from him so it is quite likely that John Taylor from Thirsk took over and did well as a cordwainer and may have been apprenticed for several years. John and his wife Ann (Husthwait) had at least 5 children who died in infancy. However their son William lived a full life. He was also a cordwainer, inherited Cote House in 1823, was parish clerk, a church warden 1796-1799, bailiff of the manor and a chief constable for the Liberty of St Peter. He made his will in 1832, with his son William as executor. Sadly, one of the beneficiaries was his wife Ann who had died a few months before he did. He had bequeathed her “twenty pounds a year”, “the use and occupation of the parlour at the north end” of his dwelling house and “furniture sufficient to furnish one room with”. His children John, William and Ellen were also left considerable sums amounting to hundreds of pounds [£100 in 1832 is today equivalent to over £11,000 in purchasing power]. To Ellen he also left “one feather bedstead and bedding”. His son William Taylor II was executor and witnesses were well known names in the village – Robert Moncaster [schoolmaster], Thomas Moncaster [grocer] and Peter Wimp [farmer, owner of land and properties].
William Taylor II (1793-1884) was also a cordwainer, and from the census for 1851 was occupied as a farmer of 50 acres; he inherited and lived in part of Cote House with his wife Elizabeth (Pook) and three children; he was a church warden around 1853. In turn his son William Taylor III (1834-1923) left the village to farm 124 acres at Sinnington, the 107 acres at Pockley, and by 1890 was farmer at Park House Farm, Coxwold, was with daughter Grace in York at the 1901 census and by 1911 had retired to Bank Cottage, Husthwaite. His wife Frances (Morrill) was born in Bagby and before marriage in 1858 was house servant to her uncle Thomas who farmed 80 acres at Flower ‘o May.
William Taylor III (1834-1923) wrote his reminiscences at the age of 87, c1911; his son Thomas (1860-1838) was tenant at Lodge Farm from 1894 to 1927, when it was taken over by his son Samuel (1897-1979). Thomas’s older brother John farmed at Baxby Mill and Angram Grange whilst daughter Grace was a music teacher and composed poems [see Reminiscence booklets]. Samuel never married and is still remembered as a great down to earth local character. Descendants of the Taylor family still live in the village. As yet no link has been found with the other Taylor family who emigrated to Canada and later installed the St Nicholas stained glass window in the church.
Angela Ovenston 2020