As is my habit I looked around for somewhere to visit on the way to the site. I’ve recently been rereading a book called Bollocks to Alton Towers which gives details of alternatives to the big theme parks; one of the places mentioned is the Workhouse Museum at Ripon, along with the Courthouse Museum and the Prison and Police Museum. I have a general interest in social history and criminology and they seemed like interesting places so that settled that. Due to opening times I started with the Workhouse, it was enjoyable, although I know quite a bit about the setup of these. I’d noted a Fish and Chip restaurant nearby so that provided lunch before I continued walking round to the Cathedral. My timing was possibly impeccable as it was the first day of their 1,350 year anniversary celebrations, the crypt being part of the original church dedicated in 672AD. I find that quite incredible really, that was less than 300 years after the Romans left Britain and was closer to the Iron Age* than it is to today!
The Courthouse museum is the smallest of the three and, incidentally the only one where the volunteer guide wasn’t talkative. It wasn’t a long visit so it was quickly on to the Prison and Police Museum. After a lengthy chat I had a look round. The building was an extension to the House of Correction and later served as a Police Station until the 1950’s. Again, lots of stuff I already knew but interesting to see the artefacts and actual rooms - you don’t realise just how small the cells were in Victorian times. I ended the visit with a bit of shopping for essentials, mainly bread rolls, before the short drive to Northallerton and the Sentry Circle campsite.
I think there were about 27 Berlingo or Partner campers there, plus a couple of interlopers in other vehicles. We were on the site’s smaller field as there was a Beltane festival on the main one. That suited us anyway, enough room to spread out but all in one place. The weather during the day had been great, with sunshine, but as evening came on the temperature dropped a lot. We still sat around the fire pit drinking and chatting but I’ll admit that when I got back to the ‘van I needed to warm up. As there’s no electric hookup I had to fall back on older technology, the hot water bottle! Once in the sleeping bag with that at my feet I quickly got cosy again.
Saturday was another day of good weather so I decided to walk down to Northallerton itself. It’s a bit under 3 miles which I’d reckoned overall would be on my limits but doable. By the time I got there a pint beckoned, the first pub I looked in was heaving, due to it being the May Day Fair, but I noticed a sign for the Stumble Inn. I’m not that keen on shopping arcade micro-pubs but they advertised a good range of craft ales and ciders so I decided to give it a go. 3 Pints of Leeds Brewery’s Yorkshire Gold later, and a chat with the bar staff and customers, it was definitely time to stumble out! I had a wander round the fair, and Lakeland, before the walk back up the hill to the site. Unfortunately the weather then deteriorated with rain coming on and setting in for the evening so the fire pit session was shorter than it would have been and I had an early night with the Kindle and hot water bottle for company.
The rain continued Sunday morning and the day didn’t brighten up until late afternoon so I settled on a quiet day in the van. We did have a much better evening though, chilly again but it stayed dry and the conversation was varied and enjoyable.
Coincidentally to my trip the Wensleydale Railway were holding a model show which I thought would be worth a visit. Had the weather been better I’d have gone on Sunday but I called in today on my way home. I didn’t have high expectations, and wasn’t disappointed, but I’m glad I went. As an adjunct to their train services and the fact they were formally reopening the Leeming Bar Station House it was fine, with a few layouts, a couple of traders and a couple of demonstrations. I had a chat with someone about electronic control, he gave me a couple of useful ideas and I may have returned the compliment. Due to the drive home I didn’t have time for a train trip, I’ve traveled the line before and will try and do so again before too long as it’s one of my favourites.
The drives both to and from Northallerton were fine, with only minor slowing down a couple of times, so that was fine. I was fortunate in my timing as I heard there were problems on the A1 later on Friday. I’ve given up on the Garmin satnav now and I’m just using the TomTom app on the phone - the traffic is far better and that helps with the routing. The downside is I’ve lost the reversing camera which was handy with the bike rack but there are options which I’ll explore.
Only two things didn’t go quite to plan, I took the bike but it didn’t get used, again a victim of the Sunday weather, and the milk would have been handy for making cheese (or Yorkshire curd tarts) but it wasn’t much good in coffee.
All being well the next trip is Devon at the beginning of June so not too long to wait.
I’ll add some photos when I’ve downloaded them from the camera.
*Using the convention that the Iron Age ended in 500BC.
That convention is not really applicable to the UK where, in England at least, the Iron Age is considered by most historians to end with the Roman Invasion. In wilder parts (like Scotland) it can be argued that the iron age didn't end until as late as 800AD
ReplyDeleteThese are all, except for the later, artifical constructs anyway as the iron age is said to end when written history begins, thus aligning pre-history (the period before a written history) with technology. SInce iron continued to be the primary source of metal and since steel is merely a form of iron with a high carbon content, it could be argued that it is still the Iron Age today!
Very interesting web site this :- https://www.workhouses.org.uk/ , Gressenhall museum & workhouse is worth visiting. My late parents told me stories of them visiting the workhouse. I took them to Gressenhall as their archivist who was an expert on workhouses wanted to hear and record their stories. My mother as a young child (born 1915) used to go on a Sundays with her father and uncle to see the inmates of the Bethnal Green workhouse who used to sit on the wall outside in their grey uniforms. That was the only day the husbands and wives could be together but not allowed to touch one another even there, as they were separated inside the workhouses. My mothers father and uncle used to give my mother sweets to give to the lady inmates and her father and uncle used to give a little tobacco to the men. My father as a child (born 1913) used to go to the workhouse with an old pram to collect what was called "external relief". Donated food on three trestle tables which those giving it out begrudgingly threw at you, i.e:-stale bread, rancid meat and old haricot beans (the latter, the only really edible thing) that his father had secured for the odd times his father could not find any work. You only could secure a days work at the time in and around the London Docks at that time. The workhouse acted like food banks today, but my grandfather had to sit before a workhouse board to convince them he couldn't secure any income to feed his children. Don't get me wrong, my grandfather who I knew was a very hard worker and would take any job to feed his wife and children, but times were much harder then and in those days there were no unemployment benefit payments. We don't know how lucky we are today, but I think my late parents would be very sad to see that todays essential food banks have once again become a necessity. They would have hoped things like that they experienced in the past were banished to history. Most people do not realise why my parents generation always had a fear of going into hospital, it was because when the workhouse system was closed down, most of them became hospitals, so the fear of going to the workhouses they remember still remained. Hope this is of interest.
ReplyDelete