History and Heritage Yorkshire

🧵May Sybil Leslie, born in 1887 in Woodlesford, overcame significant barriers as a woman in science. From a working-class background, she won scholarships to study at the University of Leeds, graduating with first-class honours in chemistry. She later worked with Marie Curie in

Paris and Ernest Rutherford in Manchester, researching radioactive elements. During WWI, Leslie became head of a government lab in Liverpool, optimising nitric acid production for explosives - an extraordinary role for a woman at that time. Despite her brilliance, she faced

🧵Ellerton Priory was a small, poor Cistercian nunnery in Swaledale, founded around 1200 and housing only about 13 nuns at its peak (and as few as five by 1381). Following the priory's surrender to the Crown in August 1536 and its formal dissolution in 1537. the site underwent a dramatic shift in

ownership. By the 1690s, the estate was acquired by the Drax family, whose immense wealth was built entirely on Caribbean sugar plantations worked by enslaved labour. In the 1830s, John Samuel Wanley Sawbridge Erle-Drax inherited the property. Following the 1833 Abolition of Slavery Act, Erle-Drax

🧵Another Halloween tale. In the eerie world of 17th-century Yorkshire, few stories are stranger than the alleged “Fewston Witches.” Between 1621 and 1623, poet Edward Fairfax accused six local women of forming a witches’ coven after his daughters suffered terrifying fits and trances, and his infant

daughter died. Fairfax recorded the disturbing events in Daemonologia: A Discourse on Witchcraft, describing fears of familiars, spells and local witchcraft. But the accused women had defenders. Villagers signed petitions protesting their innocence, challenging Fairfax’s

Born in York OTD in 1803. this man was an architect who designed Birmingham Town Hall, Plymouth Cathedral and numerous churches. He is also credited with founding the architectural magazine 'The Builder.' He is best known though for one invention. His name Joseph Aloysius Hansom who died in 1882

Yes, ee was also the inventor of the Hansom Cab. By the early 19th Century, light horse-drawn cabriolets were being used in preference to the larger, heavier and more cumbersome coaches as a means of getting around large cities. Hansom designed a version of the cab which he was sure

🧵The history of visitors to the Devil's Arrows reveals that this site has fascinated travelers, treasure hunters, and scholars for over 500 years. Because Boroughbridge sits directly along the historic Great North Road (close to the ancient Roman route of Dere Street), it was

incredibly accessible, making it one of the earliest heavily documented prehistoric sites in Britain. John Leland the antiquarian visited the site around 1540 and recorded seeing 4 great stones standing in three separate fields. Others followed including William Camden and Dr. William Stukeley.

Don't miss Post 3!. 🧵Forming part of a wider prehistoric complex concentrated around the River Ure are the Devil’s Arrows at Boroughbridge. They form the southern edge of a ritual landscape which includes the Thornborough Henges as well as the Cana Barn, Nunwick, and Hutton Moor henges.

The Devil's Arrows are a series of three late Neolithic early/middle Bronze Age massive stones (there were originally one or two more). The largest of the stones is the second largest in the country The stones lie in an almost straight line running north-northwest to south-southeast. A

🧵Fact and folklore often go hand in hand, Untangling truth from legend is all part of the fun of exploring local history. A few tales in the run-up to Halloween. The weathered gravestone at St Andrew’s Church in Dent marks the resting place of George Hodgson, who died on 4 June 1715, at age 94.

Known locally as the "Vampire of Dent," Hodgson’s advanced age and unusually long canine teeth sparked dark rumors among superstitious villagers. When reports spread that he was rising from the grave to drink sheep's blood, terrified locals exhumed his body. They claimed to find his flesh, hair and

🧵Small-scale surface mining on Cononley and Glusburn Moor dates to at least the 16th century, with King Henry VIII permitting lead extraction as early as 1530. However, the mine’s peak came in the 19th century, when it was extensively developed from around 1842

under the Duke of Devonshire. His agents installed a steam engine to pump water and haul ore from the 82-metre-deep Engine Shaft. Production peaked at 804 tons of lead ore around 1850, while the mine averaged about 470 tons annually between 1840 and 1870. Declining

Wilfred Jenkins (1857–1936) was born in Gloucestershire, moving to Leeds, where he established a studio specialising in carving and gilding. Over time, he turned to painting and began exhibiting his work. Both in style and geographical location, his work is

When the clocks fall back, night take over. Streets black with rain contrast with the toy shop glowing like memory, and cafés warm with life. A hush in the air, a stillness that will soon be threaded with the first anticipation of Christmas, the promise of happiness, hope, and light beyond the dark.

It is time for my annual defence of the humble mangel (Mangelwurzel), lost in the root veg storm that is #Turniptober from @guinevereofmason.bsky.social The photograph is from WWI and shows three young women at Manor Farm, near Garforth in Leeds. They

are cleaning a pile of mangels to be used for animal feed. Women were trained in various tasks to take over jobs in agriculture as more and more men left to join the forces. Developed in 18th-century Europe, mangelwurzels are giant, high-sugar root vegetables bred primarily as a nutritious winter

🧵Filey presents a fascinating historical anomaly, once divided between Yorkshire’s East and North Ridings. The boundary followed Filey Beck, a stream running through a narrow ravine north of the town. Most of the town, including its homes and population, lay in the East Riding,

while St Oswald’s medieval church and cemetery stood across the boundary in the North Riding. This unusual arrangement inspired local folklore that the dying were “going to the North Riding.” In 1888, the creation of county councils placed the whole of Filey in the

🧵Extending over 2,280 feet over the town of Yarm and across the River Tees the viaduct is constructed of 43 arches most of them in red brick. It opened in 1852 carrying the then Leeds Northern Railway. The bridge cost £44,500 and was designed by Thomas Grainger and John Bourne.

In 1939 when Ella Pontefract (1896-1945) visited she found eighteen families living on Spurn. 'There is little to occupy the people except their work.' There were three distinct groups of people War Department, Lifeboat Crew and Lighthouse Keepers. Ella Pontefract wrote six books

There is something very special about the Rudston Monolith, as it stands serenely in the churchyard to the north side of the chancel of the village parish church. It is the largest single standing stone in the country, measuring nearly 8m in height and 5m in

circumference. There is also a significant amount buried below ground. It dates to the Late Neolithic/Bronze Age period and is believed to possibly be at the centre of a much wider spiritual landscape, something that the later Christians recognised when building a church on the site.