Bishopthorpe Social Club was founded in 1946 and this photograph was taken of the founder members during that year.

The Club purchased or rented the large, traditionally built house on Main Street, formerly a private residence known as ‘The Poplars’. It became a friendly meeting place for both sexes where, for a nominal annual subscription, members could enjoy a game of cards, billiards, darts and many other pursuits. From 1948 to 1966, the York & District Society of Model Engineers rented part of the extensive gardens to run their locomotives.

A large, framed copy of this photograph hangs inside the Club.

 

The men in the picture are:(Left to right)

Back row: George Pearson, Bill Snape, Tommy Mennell.

Middle row: Jack Elliot, Jack Masterman, Herbert Seal, Bert Tait, Ben Hudson, Duke Appleton, Fred Waite.

Front row: Reg Forrest, W. J. (Bill) Simpson, Ted Foster, Fred Finnerton, Dick Myers.

We would be grateful for further information regarding the history of the Club. For example, what was the initial idea behind the club? Was it purchased outright? When did it become affiliated to the Working Men’s Association? If you can answer any of these questions, please see ‘Contact’.

For many years it has been argued that Guy Fawkes was born in either York or Bishopthorpe. He was certainly baptised in 1570 at the church of St. Michael-le-Belfrey, but that doesn’t mean he was born within the parish. An oral tradition has persisted in Bishopthorpe that he had relatives living in Chantry Lane and that that is where he was born. Four hundred years have passed since the Gunpowder Plot was discovered and so it is a good time to explore whether our local interest is fact or fiction.

“Do you know anything about Guy Fawkes’s association with my house?” a resident of Chestnut Cottage, Chantry Lane, asked me a few years ago. Well I didn’t, and I have to admit that I felt a little sceptical. The present houses in Chantry Lane were built during the 18th century (Ramsey House excepted) and therefore would not have been in existence when Guy Fawkes was born. I had, of course, heard the story that the most famous conspirator was supposed to have been born in Bishopthorpe, but where had such a tale originated – and was there any truth in it?

We know from research carried out by Katharine Longley, the former Minster archivist, that Guy’s parents, Edward and Edith Fawkes, lived in a house situated in Stonegate. The building fell within the parish of St. Michael-le-Belfrey and, therefore, Guy Fawkes’s baptism took place in that church on 16 April 1570. This would suggest that he was also born in the same parish but, as most genealogists soon learn, a child’s place of birth and baptism are not always the same!

So why should it be thought that Guy was born in Bishopthorpe? The answer possibly lies with one Mr. Thomas Gent the eighteenth-century printer and publisher who, coincidentally, had a print shop in Coffee Yard, just off Stonegate. In 1731, Mr. Gent set out on horseback to journey around Yorkshire and, two years later, published a book about his “adventures”. He wrote of his visit to Bishopthorpe and was impressed by the Palace and its gardens. He must have spent time talking to local people and noted that:

“The House opposite to the Church is said to be the Birth Place of Guy Vaux, [sic] that vile Incendiary, one of the Agents in the Gun-Powder Plot, Anno 1605”.

The house in question, according to Rev. John Keble in his History of the Parish and Manor House of Bishopthorpe, was the Chantry House, demolished in 1822. This former home of the chantry priest was situated close to the south side of the first church of St. Andrew’s (demolished c1768), near to the river. The land it was built on eventually became part of the vicarage garden. (The house now known as ‘The Chantry’ used to be the vicarage and was built on the same site as an earlier vicarage.)

The oral tradition that Guy Fawkes was born in Bishopthorpe continued into the late nineteenth century. It was once again discussed in print by William Camidge, another historian who also spent time talking to the residents. He was a prolific writer on local history and in his book, Ouse Bridge to Naburn Lock, published in 1890, he recalled that:

“in the village this opinion [that Guy was born there] has always prevailed, and the fact has been unhesitatingly and confidently asserted”.

He had read Thomas Gent’s statement for he continued:

“The house referred to by Mr. Gent as the birth place of Guye [sic] came into the possession of a Mr. Dixon over 200 years ago, by purchase from the representatives of the Fawkes’s family, with the full assurance that Guye Fawkes was born there”.

Speaking to the descendants of Mr. Dixon, who still resided in the parish circa 1890, Camidge learned that the family occupied the property through successive generations, until about 1760. Apparently, during the time of their ownership, the house was visited periodically by sightseers keen to see the birthplace of the famous incendiary.

The Bishopthorpe parish registers do record entries of baptism, marriage and burials for a Dixon family, or families, during the late seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. Not surprisingly, the Fawkes family are absent from their pages. Guy’s great grandfather William Harrington was a wealthy merchant and alderman of the City of York. In 1501 he held the office of keeper of the manor of Bishopthorpe. He lived in Petergate and bequeathed one of his Stonegate properties to his son-in-law, William Fawkes, Guy’s grandfather. William Fawkes and his son Edward, Guy’s father, were both employed in their turn as registrar in the Archbishop’s Exchequer Court.

Three years after Edward’s death in 1579, (and burial in York Minster), his widow Edith, married Denis Bainbridge of Scotton. Guy’s paternal family was Protestant and it is thought that the Roman Catholic Bainbridges, had an influence on the young Guy in his change of religion.

When Guy was arrested and examined in 1605, he gave his mother’s name as Edith Jackson. Interestingly, two recusants, Ann and Guy Jackson, were recorded as living in Bishopthorpe during the 1580s. Their names appeared on a list of those Catholics who refused to attend Church of England services. Were they related to Guy’s mother? It is curious to note the naming pattern here, especially as Guy was not a common name – and also that Guy’s sister was named Ann.

Furthermore, in the 1940s, the Rev. Angelo Raine, who also concerned himself with the question of Guy’s birthplace, discovered evidence that Edward Fawkes had owned land at Bishopthorpe. Rev. Raine was honorary archivist to the City of York, and he found ‘A List of Chantry lands in York and suburbs’ dated 1585. This revealed that Guy Jackson occupied land between the vicarage and land owned by Edward Fawkes (who had died intestate in 1579) which was also occupied by Jackson.

It has to be said that, unfortunately, all of these facts remain inconclusive as to whether Guy Fawkes was born in Bishopthorpe. And does it matter? Well no, not particularly, but it would be satisfying to link together these intriguing pieces of information and prove, once and for all, the exact birthplace of York’s infamous son. This would, indeed, show the value of oral tradition.

Linda Haywood

Sources

The document that Rev. Raine discovered can be seen in “Boundaries of the Chantrie Lands by the Jury of the Queen’s Majesties Commissioners” drawn up in 1585. It is held at York City Archives, Reference K1a. A full transcription is as follows:

“Bissopthorpe

One messuage waisted or fronted conteyning by estymacon half an acre with one lathe latly buylded there nowe in the tenure or occupacon of Guy Jackson or his assignes abutting upon the strete of Bissopthorpe towards the north and a high way behynd the lath towards the South and between the land belongyng to the vicarage of the west syde and the lands late Edward Fawks [‘gent’ crossed through] notarie decessed [‘toward the East’ crossed through] now in the thoccupacon [sic] of the said Guy Jackson of the Eastsyde”

With thanks to Sarah Costley of York City Archives for checking the transcription.

A transcription written in Rev. Raine’s hand can be found in the James Raine collection: York City Archives, ACC28/49.

A further transcription written on a postcard by Rev. Raine and sent to ‘Oliver Sheldon Esq., Chantry House, Bishopthorpe’ in 1943[?], is held in the Bishopthorpe Archives.

Secondary Sources

Aveling, Hugh, The Catholic Recusants of the West Riding 1558-1790 (Leeds Philosophical & Literary Society) Vol. X, part VI (1963).

Camidge, William, Ouse Bridge to Naburn Lock (York, 1890) pp336-337.

Davies, Robert, The Fawkes’s of York, (London, 1850)

Gent, Thomas, The Antient and Modern History of the Loyal Town of Rippon [sic]; with A Journey into some parts of Yorkshire; particularly, to Pontefract, Wakefield, and Leeds. (York, 1733) pp63,64.

Keble, John R., History of the Parish and Manor House of Bishopthorpe (Leeds, 1905)pp21, 41.

Longley, K. M., ‘Three sites in the city of York’ in Recusant History, 12, 1-7. (1973).

Raine, Angelo, Mediaeval York (London, 1955) p121.

Did you know that The York & District Society of Model Engineers used to have its home behind Bishopthorpe Working Men’s Club? Back in 1948, the Society was searching for somewhere to set up track to run its engines. In March 1949 the Society learned of an available site behind the Club in Main Street. Following successful negotiations, the Modellers acquired the use of this land, an orchard, for an annual rent of 3GBP. The track was quickly laid in May and June and running was commenced in time for the Society’s twentieth anniversary. The site was vacated in 1966 when the land was sold for development.

The photograph, taken c1954, shows driver Bill Shearman giving village children a ride. The locomotive is a model of a London & North Eastern Railway V2 named ‘Old Alf’.

Can anyone provide further information about the event? Go to ‘Contact’.

(With thanks to Ken Bateman of the York City & District Society of Model Engineers for the information. Photograph courtesy of the Evening Press.)

There are fourteen men from the First World War and ten men from the Second World War on Bishopthorpe’s War Memorial.

I am in the process of carrying out research into the lives of these men who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. In due course, I hope to produce a publication as a tribute to them.

This is one of the men:

Ordinary Signalman GEORGE GRANVILLE HEBDEN (known as Granville), was the son of William and Lily Hebden of School Lane, Bishopthorpe. He was serving on HMS Tynedale while it was escorting a convoy off the coast of Algeria. On 12 December 1943, the ship was torpedoed by the German submarine, U-593. Granville was aged 21 when he died. His name is also recorded on the Plymouth Naval memorial.

I have already found a considerable amount of official information, including the fact that one airman from the Second World War died as the result of an action for which the pilot of the plane was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross. They both now lie side by side in the same Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery.

In 1975, Mr.C.E.W.Brayley, M.B.E., published his twelfth pamphlet of ‘The Annals of Bishopthorpe’ under the title, ‘Lest We Forget’. His admirable effort detailed the short biographies of the twenty-four men on the memorial. I hope to build on Mr.Brayley’s work using the official records of the two wars which are now much more accessible. I shall also be referring to the considerable number of well-researched published works which have appeared in the intervening thirty year period.

Please contact me by phone or e-mail if you have any specific knowledge or memorabilia regarding any of the men. I would be particularly interested in seeing photographs of them.

Additionally, I would also be interested in hearing of any men or women from Bishopthorpe whose names are not on the War Memorial but perhaps should be.

Ken Haywood: 39 Acaster Lane, Bishopthorpe, York YO23 2SA

Tel. (01904)704584

The names of the men on Bishopthorpe War Memorial

1914 – 1918

1. A. Bowlby
2. E. Dale
3. R. Gibbs
4. Hudson
5. Johnson
6. Mackay
7. T. Watson
8. Bowlby
9. Fuguel
10. Holt
11. Johnson
12. Lumley
13. Simpson
14. Wilkinson

1939 – 1945

1. F. Adams
2. R. Dixon
3. Iles
4. E. H. Medhurst
5. Umpleby
6. Cook
7. G. Hebden
8. Lancaster
9. Stobart
10. E. Whittaker

As we celebrate the 60th anniversary of Victory in Europe and Japan, Bishopthorpe Community Archive reveals life on the Home Front through words and pictures. Visit Bishopthorpe Library to see the display throughout August until 12 September.

The following photographs are a taster:

The local Home Guard carried out part of their training at Bishopthorpe Palace.

 

During the war The Garth, in Sim Balk Lane, was designated a sub-station for Leeds signal office at Oakwood. One lady who remembered working there was Mrs Simmons (nee Hill), of Haxby. Mrs Simmons was a private in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) and worked as a teleprinter operator. About 30 men and women were stationed at The Garth; the women lived on the premises and the men were billeted in the village.

In May 1943, ‘D’ Company, 11th West Riding Battalion, Home Guard, celebrated its third anniversary by marching through the village and attending an open-air service in front of Bishopthorpe Palace. The Company included men from Bishopthorpe, Acaster Malbis and other local villages.

Bishopthorpe Women’s Institute join the war effort by knitting sea socks.

 

Early Days

The Millennium prompted many activities in the village – and among them was the founding of the Bishopthorpe Local History Group. In 1998, a group of residents decided to publish a book for the year 2000 in aid of, what was then known as, the Bishopthorpe Millennium Fund.

A successful application for an ‘Awards for All’ lottery grant helped towards the costs and Archbishop Hope agreed to write the foreword. Having decided to restrict ourselves to aspects of Bishopthorpe history during the 19th century, members delved into various records using census schedules, maps, school logbooks and Post Office Archives, to name but a few. The result was, Bishopthorpe: Reaping the Past which was launched on 20th May 2000 at the Victorian Street Fair held in Main Street. One thousand books were produced; and all copies were sold over the next couple of years. This enabled the group to donate the sum of 2,600GBP to the Bishopthorpe Millennium Trust.

Linda Haywood, Freda Smith and Liam Godfrey launch ‘Bishopthorpe: Reaping the Past’ at the Victorian Street Fair in 2000. Photograph courtesy of the Evening Press.

 

Aims

Our aim is to research, record and preserve the history of Bishopthorpe and, where possible, publish the results. We are currently engaged in producing The Bishopthorpe Community Multimedia Archive and an Oral History project.

Members also carry out individual projects. Subjects range from education to the Women’s Institute. Data is compiled on village family histories; a twentieth-century chronology and, believe it or not, a Bishopthorpe anthology.

The Bishopthorpe Local History Group hold a collection of local archives that have been given to the Group by many individuals. These consist of photographs, postcards, minute books and assorted ephemera relating to the village. They are catalogued and stored in archive-safe boxes and sleeves, funded by the Bishopthorpe Millennium Trust.

Some examples can be seen here:

In 1950, Bishopthorpe’s Village Hall, originally known as the Reading Room, was gutted and enlarged. The renamed St Andrew’s Hall included a much-needed stage for the many concerts and amateur productions held there. The work was carried out by local builder W. J. Simpson.

 

Mrs May Hill’s clothing ration book. During World War II all sorts of food items were rationed as well as clothing, furniture and petrol. Clothing coupons were introduced in 1940 and continued to be used until 15 March 1949.

The Ebor Hotel in 1912 when the proprietor was Mr William Welburn.