A couple of months ago I was writing about programmes I watch on TV – not that I watch very much or very often, but I have my favourites:
When I’m ironing I watch things which don’t really matter if I miss bits, those antique hunting shows, and home moving and house buying. Recently I’ve become somewhat addicted to a series about an auctioneer who has a business in Ryedale, Yorkshire. He is Angus Ashworth, and I confess, I’m somewhat captivated by him, and no doubt a character inspired by him will appear in one of my stories sooner or later.
I mentioned that our family holiday was in Whitby this year, and Ryedale is about forty miles from there, so as we were travelling and not that far away, we diverted and went to visit the area: Ryedale, district, administrative county of North Yorkshire, historic county of Yorkshire, northern England. It is named for a small dale and river draining into the Vale of Pickering.
Rydale is the area, but Kirkbymoorside is the town we stopped in and, having parked up, we wandered around the old town. It’s a fascinating place, and I’m sure we’ll go back if we’re in the area again. People have lived around here for thousands of years as is evidenced by remains from the first peoples to live on our islands. Vikings, Anglo-Saxons and Norman conquerors – who built a castle, followed. When the Black Death stalked the land in the mid-1300’s, Kirkbymoorside was struck as were so many villages, towns and cities across England. It took many years for the country to recover from this plague, and it was no different here in this Yorkshire town. The local bigwigs were the Neville family, and they, as Catholics, took part in what was called The Rising of the North, a Catholic rebellion against the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I in 1569. However, during the 17th century, the town was quite a centre for Quakers, and their meeting house is today a place of significance. An important change to the town was when a railway line connected it to Helmsley and York in 1874, although by 1964 it was no longer in use.
We didn’t spend very long there, it was chilly and threatening to rain, but if we return to Whitby (which I really hope we do) then no doubt we will visit again!
Lois Elsden 