Still exploring York between Micklegate and Skeldergate, it is just amazing what is there if you scratch the surface. Wilkie Collins [1824 - 1889], a brilliant novelist, wrote "No Name" which has a description of York - In that part of the city of York, which is situated on the western bank of the Ouse, there is a narrow street called Skeldergate, running nearly north and south, parallel with the course of the river. ... the few old houses left in the street, are disguised in melancholy modern costume of whitewash and cement. Shops of the smaller and poorer order, intermixed here with dingy warehouses and joyless private residences of red brick compose the present aspect of Skeldergate.. On the riverside the houses are separated, at intervals, by lanes running down to the water, and disclosing lonely little plots of open ground, with the masts of sailing barges rising beyond ...... He then places his characters in one of the "cheap lodging houses" just off Skeldergate. If you haven't read "No Name", then make a point of seeking it out. Great book. But Wilkie Collins might not recognise Skeldergate today. There are several large hotels, the warehouses have been repurposed as expensive apartments, the sailing barges have gone. I walked down one of the little lanes and am standing on Queen's Staithe, looking across the River Ouse to King's Staithe on the opposite bank. Queen's Staithe still has the cranes, but no barges. However, it does have an interesting history. Part of a pedigree of the Topham family of Coverdale, some of whom went to York. Now what is now called the Queen's Staithe on the Ouse in York, was previously called Topham's Staithe and was built in 1660 by Alderman Christopher Topham who at one time was Lord Mayor of York. This particular Christopher is not on the family tree above, but as two Tophams moved from Caldbergh to York, there may be a connection. But as there are Tophams in many parts of Yorkshire, if you know different, let me know. This staithe was used for butter. There was a butter market at the top of Micklegate, and from there it was put on barges and ended up in London. Coming back up the little lane from the river, end on to Skeldergate is an Almshouse with this wonderful coat of arms and the dedication "These Almshouses were erected by public subscription to the memory of the late Sir Joseph Terry". The name Terry in York is connected to chocolate. Oh the memory of All Gold chocolates, the fragrance as you opened a new box .... alas no more, the Terry's factory is now very upmarket houses and apartments. Sir Joseph Terry [1828 - 1898], here his portrait by Emily Lawson Barnard [1840 - 1911] at the Merchant Adventurers Hall in York, and on Art Uk, was a J.P., a councillor and a Lord Mayor for York as well as well as a driving force behind the chocolate factory, developing boxes of chocolates. The Almshouses were built in 1899 and the subscription raised was £1,020 12s 9d. And behind Terry's Almshouse, is another interesting building, the Middleton Hospital. This building, with a statue of the benefactress above the door, is very similar to the Wandesforde Hospital on Bootham [see blog for April 2021]. This was built as a hospital (place of hospitality) for twenty poor widows of Freemen of the City of York. The money was left in the will of Anne Middleton in 1659. Her husband Peter had been a Sheriff. The building had been nearer to the street but was rebuilt further back. It is no longer used for its original purpose of housing poor widows, but is a Very upmarket hotel, which now also incorporates the Joseph Terry Almshouse. Anne Middleton's will [PROB 11/274] made the 14th August 1655 and proved 20 April 1658/1659. She was extremely generous to a long list of kinsmen and their children, and then left money for a school in Shipton and ... Also I give and bequeath unto the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Commonaltie of the Citie of York ... £2,000 to the intent and putpose that they shall therewith erect and built an hospitall convenient for twentie poore widdowes to dwell in that have been freemen's widdows and to have £4 a piece yearly to them paid quarterly during their respective naturall lives ...... Wandering back up the hill from Skeldergate I came upon this sign on the side of buildings which are now residential, but had formerly been the site of a factory making optical instruments. This was the site of Buckingham House, and then much later, Thomas Cooke's Optical Instruments factory. Let's start with Buckingham House, now long gone. On the left is Thomas Fairfax [1612 - 1671] who was a Parliamentarian Commander in the English Civil War. This portrait is by Henry Stone [1616 - 1653] and is at the Manchester Art Gallery, on the ArtUk website. On the right is his daughter Mary [1638 - 1704] after John Michael Wright [1617 - 1694] in the York Art Gallery and on ArtUk. And here is George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham [1628 - 1687], this portrait in all its flamboyance, was painted by Robert Wignall, active in the 17th century, and is at Charterhouse, the only one I could find on Creative Commons. The portrait at the National Portrait Gallery adds that he was described as "one of the worst men alive", such was his reputation as a scoundrel. However, he was a Royalist, yet he married the daughter of a Parliamentarian, Mary Fairfax. All this leads to Mary and George living in the house in York between Skeldergate and Micklegate built by Thomas Fairfax, but called Buckingham House or "Duke's Place" to the people in York. When it was pulled down the site was used to build the factory that made optical instruments for Thomas Cooke. Here is a telescope of his make. Search on online auction sites and his instruments are highly valued. In the nineteenth century they were sought after by anyone interested in astronomy, and he later made instruments for the navy and army. This is a snippet from the York Herald for 23rd June 1860. The Royal family had bought one of the telescopes for Osborne House for HRH the Prince Consort. Mr Cooke went to Osborne House personally to take measurements. Such was the reputation of Cooke's telescopes that here is an advertisement placed in the London Evening Standard on 22nd June 1874 for a house to rent. It was some house as the rent was 100 Guineas but along with the house and 40 acres was an observatory with 7 inch Cooke Telescope equatorially mounted, transit room and instruments ! There was even a race horse called Cooke's Telescope in the 1880s, which galloped home hopefully with several guineas in winnings. Here is an advertisement from the York Herald for 8th October 1879 which lists the range of optical instruments made by Cooke's - Opera and Field glasses, military glasses, rifle practice telescopes, surveying and drawing instruments, scales and rules, drawing boards, T squares etc, barometers, pocket aneroids, thermometers, microscopes, electrical and pneumatic bells, batteris, indicators etc and etc. The company also installed clocks, and evidently there are tower clocks all over the country attributed to Cookes. The Observatory in the York Museum Gardens has a Cooke's telescope. This is from the York Herald 17 April 1869, an obituary to Thomas Cooke who set up the business. He had more or less been a self taught and self made man. He came from Allerthorpe where his father was a shoemaker. Not wishing to follow in his father's footsteps [pun intended], he went to York where he taught himself mathematics, and specialised in a refracting telescope used in astronomy. The company continued under his sons and eventually moved to another site and this site was redeveloped for houses in the 1980s. So wander around any of the streets in York and it is amazing what is there to be discovered.
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AuthorThis is where you can share creativity with me. I believe that everyone has something creative within them, and it is a joy to find ways of being creative. Blogging is NEW to me, so here goes ..... Archives
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