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M.D. 19 February 2010 (109.2Kb)
Memories
The 'Memories' section of the Boroughbridge Community Website is intended to
enable individuals' memories of the Town to be recorded for posterity. If you
have a particular memory of the Town you would like included please contact us
on 01423 322 956 at 1 Hall Square, Boroughbridge or send us an email at info@boroughbridge.org.uk
Memories and collected information of Mr Bernard Porter - Boroughbridge, February
2010.
Hostelries were in abundance in and around Boroughbridge. Passing trade and travel
in those days provided ready customers. It is believed there were about 40 of
such places providing food/drink and accommodation to those that stayed or travelled
through the Town. Up at Kirby Hill stands the Bluebell, which is 200 years old.
Down in its cellars there were 2 cells designated to hold villains. They were
kept there for short periods for onward shipment south to
In Langthorpe there was Waricks Brewery, The Free Masons that became Oddfellows
then renamed Steam Mill, which later became the Anchor. Other pubs were The Railway
Tavern, the Old Red Lion, and The Fox & Hounds. In Boroughbridge there were
several hostelries to name a few there was The Crown, The Three Horse Shoes, The
Three Grey Hounds, The Royal Oak, The Green Tree, The Blinking Owl (previously
mentioned being a licensed restaurant). Many of these establishments have long
gone or have changed names.
Mr D Styan…Memories of Kirby Hill & Boroughbridge 1920’s onwards
Clay Pit Lane
” and “
Brickyard Lane
”. Will future citizens of Boroughbridge make the connection?
The old railway is another institution long gone, but brings back happy memories.
Running through Boroughbridge via Starbeck, Knaresborough and on to
Another fond memory of the railways many years ago was of the iron rail bridge
(long demolished) that spanned the river Ure just above the weir As young boys
in summertime we would jump off this bridge into the river and swim to one side
or the other. This was very daring as the bridge was some way above the river
and the drop was considerable. What thought of Health & Safety, and Risk Assessment
in those days?
In past times I recall watching very long logs (tree trunks) being transported
through the town on a set of wheels front and rear joined down the middle by a
long plank. The carriage was drawn by a number of large horses. The logs were
destined for John Boddy’s wood yard. When the carriage driver came to negotiate
the sharp left bend at the bottom of High Street, and with sometimes-skittish
horses many a time things went wrong putting out the windows at what is now the
Tourist Information Point. Similarly when turning from Horsefair into Valuation
Lanethe manoeuvring occasionally went awry and did the same to buildings nearby.
Long ago as far as my mind can stretch I recall a service being run by a lady
from Kirby Hill who had a horse drawn charabanc. It operated to and from Ripon
at a cost of 1 old shilling. I remember the Bluebell Inn at the top of Kirby
Hill housed a prisoners cell. This was used as an overnight stop to keep a prisoner
being taken from northern climes (even
Again in my youth I was told of how travelling folk, whom we called gipsies,
used to park their horse-drawn caravans and carriages on land adjacent to the
Bluebell Inn. One morning it is said a man was found dead between the Church and
the
A Brief Description and History of the Old Foundry in Boroughbridge - From Ray
Horner
The foundry was established by Charltons c1790. The foundry was on the left
hand side of St Helena in Boroughbridge, and extended from the new veterinary
surgery in New Row down to the River Tutt. The site comprised of a long narrow
yard with buildings along each side, the foundry building was on the right and
at the bottom of the yard and butted on to the river.
Immediately opposite was another building, which was used as a machine shop.
This had an engine house on the end of it, in which was housed a gas engine, and
the fan which blew the furnace. There were two furnaces against the foundry building
wall with launders1 through the wall into the foundry itself. Molten iron was collected here and
then distributed around the foundry where requested.
At the bottom of the yard was a large open fronted building where coke was stored
undercover. At the back of this building was a doorway which led out across a
footbridge, into a building on the other side of the river Tutt. This was once
used as a machine shop but latterly was used as a pattern store. There were two
turbines side by side in what was an early, undershot water wheel pit.
The water wheel had been used for driving a bone mill many years ago, which ground
bone into bone meal, for fertilizer prior to 1800. One of the turbines can still
be seen in the form of a large bevel gear. The second turbine was smaller and
was moved across the river to the foundry side in about 1928. It was relocated
to drive the machine shop, which it did until after the last war. It developed
about 10HP.
The foundry was started by a Mr Charlton who was a millright2 and came from Reeth in Swaledale in about 1800. Prior to that the premises
were used as a tan yard. Charlton settled here and proceeded to make lead mining
machines and agricultural implements on the site. Somewhere about 1840? My Grandfather
who was a millright came from Kirby Moorside to work for Charlton as a Journeyman.
He ultimately married a local woman, Jane Gatenby, after buying the business
from Charlton’s widow, (date no known), and settled in the house at the top of
the yard, which is now the vet's surgery. They brought up three children there,
the youngest being Fank, who was my father. Six months after Frank was born Grandfather
Charles crushed his thumb in some machinery at Boroughbridge Station and died
of Tetanus three days later.
The foundry was then sold to a Mr William Walker who was a blacksmith in Langthorpe
somewhere about 1869. He had two sons who were brought up at the foundry. The
result was that in 1916 John Walker, the remaining son, went into bankruptcy.
Meanwhile my Father, Frank Boddy, had been away and served an apprenticeship as
a blacksmith. He worked at an engineering works in Yorkshire. He eventually
returned home and set up a business in Boroughbridge somewhere about late 1880s.
After Walker went bankrupt Frank Boddy returned to the foundry and started it
up again in 1917. It ran well until 1924 when all of Boroughbridge suffered a
severe blow; Boroughbridge belonged in total to the Lawsons who owned the Aldborough
estate. In 1917 Andrew Lawson Senior died and in 1924 the Boroughbridge part
of the estate was sold to pay the death duty. This then put them all in trouble
because all of the tenants had to buy their properties, which were sold at public
auction. The result was that Boroughbridge belonged to Midland Bank for years.
The years between the wars was a struggle for all, particularly with the general
strike in 1925, followed by the greatest depression in living memory, and as a
result a lot of the businesses were in debt up to and even after the 1939 war.
At the outbreak of the war I personally was called up and spent the war in the
RAF as an engine fitter. In 1945 I was recalled by the Ministry of Supply to
run the foundry. My father, Frank Boddy, died in 1942 after a series of strokes.
His executors, an accountant and a schoolmaster, then took on the running of the
business on behalf of Frank’s wife to provide her with a living. This had to be
done because she did not have a pension, since Frank did not believe in National
Insurance Stamps. It struggled on until 1945 when I was sent home to run it.
During the war if you wanted castings you had to go to an area office of the
Ministry of Supply, in Leeds, who then sent you to a foundry who had a capacity
for this. This was controlled through a monthly return system. A weighting machine
maker in Batley received an export order from Persia. He went to the Leeds office
to be sent out here. On his way back through Leeds he called back at the Ministry
of Supply office and said tha the person who should be running the place was in
the RAF in Germany, I was immediately sent home.
This was August 1945, after which things took a turn, whether for better or worse,
one will never know. For one thing money was very tight, the executors had let
the place and equipment run down badly. Some money was found to install a new
furnace, which was obtained second hand from West Yorkshire Foundries, a subsidiary
of British Leyland. This reduced melting costs dramatically. A second hand moulding
machine was obtained and installed.
In 1950 a contract was obtained through an agent to make small flywheels for
Petter Engines in Staines. The order was for 10,000; we thought we had won the
Lottery! When we had got going on this I looked out one morning and saw three
lorry loads of flywheel castings in New Row. They were part machined, and rejected
as too hard, even though they were in specification. We really hadn’t got a leg
to stand on. One foundry in Newcastle went to court and got a farthing a wheel
after 12 months litigation. The problem was that India and Australia put an import
ban on Petter’s Engines.
Petters hadn’t any money and couldn’t pay for the flywheels, so they did the
obvious thing and shipped all their casting stock back onto the suppliers as unsuitable.
This left things in a very poor state with bankruptcy staring us in the face.
The agent came forward and offered us a place in a joint company, which we formed.
I was made a director, which I did for about six months, after which, due to a
disagreement I resigned from the company. They brought a man in to run it, but
he had no idea of the type of work we did. The company and foundry closed in
1956.
In order to provide for Frank’s widow, the property was then let to Tithersleys,
a company who washed and cut cotton rags. They then packed them in cardboard
boxes and sold them to people like garages for rags. They ultimately bought the
property on Frank’s widows death. Later on due to the death of Tithersleys owner
the laundry closed and Mr Raymond Horner bought the site.
The reason Tithersleys came was the water in the river. They were paying £100
per day for mains water in Blackburn.
1 Launder – a long, sand lined, trough to run molten iron from one place to another.
2 Millright – an early name for an engineer
The Nautical Training Corps - From Ian Hick
Moving “up” to King James’ Grammar School in 1949 I found myself in a class with
a couple of boys from Boroughbridge (Alastair Burkes and John “Chucky” Reynard)
who were members of The Nautical Training Corps. This was a sort of “independent”
Sea Scouts run by “Skipper”, who (if my memory serves me correctly) had been captain
of HMS Sheffield during World War II. They met on Monday evenings when Skip travelled
over from Pool in Wharfdale and learnt basic seamanship skills - knots, chart
reading, weather signs, use of a sextant and compass, etc. During the winter meetings
were usually held in members’ homes - the Tasker’s (Michael) in New Row or
the Sadler’s (Ernest) in High Street.
I was persuaded to join and each Monday evening caught the bus to Boroughbridge
from my home in Knaresborough, proudly wearing my navy serge shorts (nobody under
fourteen ever wore long trousers) and pullover, but carrying my carefully blancoed
beribboned sailor’s hat.
In the summer time we met on the river bank at the bottom of Boddy’s woodyard,
where our two boats were stored alongside the ramp where boats built there had
been launched in times past. The Corps had a small clinker built dinghy, complete
with mast and single sail, and an ex-Royal Navy twenty foot lifeboat, open to
the weather but with long oars and a very small outboard motor that could be attached
to the stern to save our arms. Many happy hours were spent rowing, and sailing,
up and down the river learning how to tack and gibe, row without splashing or
“catching a crab”, avoid Dick Potter’s barges, splice ropes, and, to work as a
team.
Each year the Corps went away to camp and, as there were not many of us in the
Corps, Skip invited some Sea Scouts from Wembley to join us. This meant that,
once all the tents, cooking equipment, food, and personal gear had been loaded
there wasn’t room for all of us in the boat so it was agreed that each day two
of us would cycle to the next planned stop. Of course, this tested our map reading
skills as we followed the route drawn up by Skip. The very small outboard motor
had to work hard to keep a steady three knots and progress was quite “steady”.
However, Skip had planned for us to reach the tidal waters below Naburn as the
tide was ebbing and provided useful assistance as we made for Blacktoft for an
overnight stop. As this was my first camp I was dutifully “christened” on the
dockside with a large, full, bottle of lemonade, leaving my pullover quite tasty
but very sticky for the rest of the week.
Next morning we had to time our journey from Blacktoft so that we could aim for
the mouth of the river Trent just as the tide was turning so that our tiny engine
could manage to get us across the Humber before we were swept back in the direction
of Naburn. There was a slight panic at one stage when the water seemed to be rushing
past but the boat didn’t appear to be actually moving towards the opposite bank.
It quickly became apparent that we were resting on a sandbank and so it was a
matter of three or four of us leaping over the side, to lessen the draft, and
pushing the boat into deeper water. Down through Gainsborough and Lincoln we eventually
arrived at out destination - Boston - and set up camp. There wasn’t sufficient
tentage to accommodate all of us so, each night, four people slept on the boat,
with a large tarpaulin covering everything. A lot of very tired bodies slept solidly
and the overnight rain didn’t wake anyone. Next morning the occupants of one tent
discovered a small stream running diagonally through the tent wetting half of
them, and their gear. Skip sent a couple down to the boat to check on its occupants
and they found the tarpaulin seemed to contain a number of large pools of water.
Keen to awaken the sleeping sailors the enthusiastic volunteers jumped on to one
end of the boat and watched, in horror, as the water on the tarpaulin rushed towards
them like a tidal wave before pouring into their end of the boat, soaking the
poor souls underneath.
Nothing ever seemed to bother Skip and he soon had us squeezing as much water
out of the wet clothing and blankets before draping over the nearby fence where
they quickly dried out in the warm sun.
On the way home Skip decided that we should take a different route from Goole
along the Selby Canal but, as it was now very little used and full of weed, our
tiny outboard quickly became clogged and, after freeing it a number of times,
he decided that it was time to get out the oars. Taking it in turns to row I
am sure we travelled much faster - until it started to rain, quite heavily.
By the time we reached Selby everyone was literally soaked to the skin and it
was decided that we would make the rest of the journey by service bus. Now blue
is not a particularly colour fast dye and, now that all the excitement had passed,
we began to notice each other and realised that we were giving a pretty good impression
of woad decorated Ancient Brits - we were blue from head to toe, although the
bus conductors were very good about it and never said a word!
In 1951 the passenger carrying service of the railway was discontinued and Skip
arranged for us to us the redundant waiting room on Boroughbridge Station as our
Headquarters. He also came across an RNLI lifeboat that had been released from
service and this was duly parked up in the canal, alongside Canal Garage. However,
other members of my class were now members of 1953 Squadron Air Training Corps,
in Knaresborough, and, as I could walk from home to their HQ in Jockey Lane, I
decided to transfer my allegiance from the Navy to the RAF.
Both Alastair and John went on to serve in the Royal Navy I understand but I
have never seen them since I left school in 1954. I went on to work for ICI Fibres
Division, alongside Michael Tasker, and we still bump into each other from time
to time.
Councillor Rob Young's Memories - collected September 2009
My first encounter with Boroughbridge in 1963 was as a young boy. My family having
moved to the area to take over the Public House known then as the Three Greyhounds
Hotel (now the Musketeers). The left hand side of the premises looking from the
front had previously been a garage with sliding doors. Inside the left hand side
of the pub the floor is set at a lower level with steps leading down to what was
the original garage floor. Prior to being a hotel the building had been a shop.
At one time there had been an overhead walkway to the right hand side over the
“lane” into Muleverer House. The “lane” is now used as an access route to the
pub car park and several houses behind the pub. At the top end of the lane is
a house known as “Snow Cottage” which was originally, two cottages. The two cottages
at that time were derelict. My brother eventually purchased these old buildings
and renovated them making them into one property.
A company owned the Three Greyhound Hotel, The Three Horse Shoes, The Crown,
and The Grantham Arms by the name of “Jacksons of Sunderland”. They also owned
other properties and land known as the Jacksons Estate in Boroughbridge. As years
passed by the estate was sold off, and all the public houses became privately
owned. Muleverer House (now flats) mentioned previously housed the many staff
that were employed at The Crown Hotel with management occupying the front accommodation,
and other employees the back. On the front of Muleverer House there is a blue
circular plaque that commemorates Captain Archie Cecil Thomas White VC MC (1890
– 1971) who had a very distinguished career through WW1 and beyond. He was born
in Boroughbridge where his parents owned a tailors shop where the plaque is displayed.
Opposite the Three Greyhounds Hotel where “Annes” news paper/sweets/crafts shop,
and “Mims” are currently was a garage owned by Nicholson & Slater. They also
owned Charltons garage. Alongside Charltons up until recently was a “prefabricated”
building, which had been used as a café. This has now been demolished to make
way for other uses.
Returning to my time at the Three Greyhounds Hotel I recall a picture hanging
above the bar. It depicted a ceremony of giving out WW1medals. I was told the
event took place in
Further along towards the bridge I recall a shoe shop known as “Fosters Shoe
Shop” over time this has now become a local fishing tackle shop, which also issues
local fishing licences. I also remember the Post Office run by Mr Topham, which
had a printing shop down in the cellar. They could and did print anything you
could ask for. Eventually the Post Office was taken over by Mr Topham’s son Ian.