Meetings 2018
Meeting: 14th October 2018, 3pm in Dallowgill Chapel Schoolroom
8 people attended, chatting on various topics.
This was the last meeting this year. We meet again on Sunday 10th March 2019.
There will still be work going on behind the scenes and if you find or hear anything interesting, we would love to hear from you anytime.
Meeting: 10th September 2018, 3pm in Dallowgill Chapel Schoolroom
10 people attended, looking at maps and chatting on various topics.
• We need to finish indexing Lilian Chandler’s books – only recently someone said that they had forgotten there was no index when they went to look for something, and how useful an index of people and places would be!
• Geoff brought a box of memorial cards he found while clearing out, which was very interesting to sort through. Sheila is taking them to see what she can add to her wonderful section on the website for Memorials.
• We welcome Tom and Sophia Bromet to Dallowgill, they bought Hoggerstone Hill in June. They are very interested in finding out about their new house and would appreciate any information and pictures that anyone has.
Meeting: 8th July 2018, 3pm in Dallowgill Chapel Schoolroom
• We borrowed the Parish Council map archive and the maps were available in the Chapel Schoolroom for the meeting. As well as having a good look at the maps, we took photos to add to our own collection of maps of the area.
• Some of you will know about this, but please see below about St Pater’s Church, from Emma Cosgrif, Case Officer – North East Region for the Closed Churches Division, Church Commissioners for England:
I write with an update on the closed church of Dallowgill St Peter. Since the building was formally closed for worship I have been in discussion with the local planning authority about its future. We submitted a pre-application enquiry seeking their comments on a proposal for a residential conversion and they came back and told us that they expect us to comply with policy CFX of the Harrogate Local Plan, which seeks to retain buildings that were last in community use in community use. We do not think there is any realistic prospect of finding a new community use, and we feel that the inaccessible location, lack of parking, lack of water/heating/toilets etc. make it unsuitable for such a use, but we have agreed to market the building nevertheless and see if anyone comes forward.
Harrogate Borough Council also wish to dictate our asking price and we are discussing this matter further with them at the moment. Its currently guided at £75,000 but I can say that any reasonable offer would be considered, and I wouldn’t wish anyone to be put off coming forward. Are you able to help us “get the word out” that we a seeking expressions of interest for a community use? We want the marketing process to be meaningful so we can show that we have made every effort to find the kind of use Harrogate BC would prefer
Meeting: 10th June 2018, 3pm in Dallowgill Chapel Schoolroom
• Bev, Patrice, Phil and Sheila managed to make a good start on the index for Lilian Chandler’s fantastic books about Dallowgill and Laverton, and it’s amazing how much more we learnt by reading through them carefully. They are very interesting, and Lil did so much work, but it can be frustrating when you are looking for something in particular, but can’t remember where it was! Eventually, the index will be available for a small donation to the DDHP fund.
Meeting: 8th April 2018, 3pm in Dallowgill Chapel Schoolroom
• This week, Patrice spent an enjoyable hour in gorgeous sunshine with Josh and Geoff who have been doing some field-walking around the fields and moors of Dallowgill, looking for clues in the walls and on the ground for what happened here in the past. So if you see some people wandering round with a camera, clipboard and GPS it’ll be them. When they have completed their project, their results will be available to the group.
• There were 10 people at the April meeting, who had come to hear how Patrice was getting on with discovering the history of Bents House, and finding out how difficult it can be, especially when for example, the census was never carried out in the same order every year! We have to remember too, that to err is human, and view any information in the records we have accumulated, with care. If anyone wants a template to create a timeline for their own house, please get in touch.
• We are lucky to be able to make use of the Chapel Schoolroom for meetings and we pay every few months for any electricity we have used, so the £2 meeting fee is important. It also covers refreshments, and the rest goes in the kitty to purchase anything needed by the Project, like the new sign we got done recently. Last month, apart from a generous donation, everyone forgot to put their £2 in the box, so please support us when you come. Sheila, Carol and Patrice are doing a lot in the background for free!
GILLFIELD MINE VISIT
Shirley Everett is kindly taking a group down Gillfield Mine at Greenhow on the evening of Thursday 5th April – at the moment she only has 3 people wanting to go, so I promised I would remind everyone in case anyone else was interested. If you want to go, please contact her direct on 01756 792120 or shirley.embsay@icloud.com.
The Making of Mashamshire – message from Jan Reed
You may have spotted that the Tour de Yorkshire is to sweep through our town and area again this year! In honour of this we have decided to link our annual exhibition to the history of sports and leisure in Mashamshire. The exhibition will be in the Town Hall for three weeks from the weekend of the Tour de Yorkshire – 5th May to the 26th May.
• We are on the lookout for stories about sport or leisure in Masham over the years.
• Do you have pictures of events or activities? How about old sporting equipment or scorecards from back in the day?
• We also want to find out about the forgotten places – like the football field by Leyburn Road or the pavilion behind the Kings Head.
• What did your parents used to take part in? Were there big events and celebrations?
• We also need volunteers to talk to older Mashamshire residents about their memories. Could you give an hour or two?
If you can help in anyway please contact us at info@mashamhistory.com or via the Masham Community Office, 01765 680200
Meeting: 11th February 2018, 3pm in Dallowgill Chapel Schoolroom
• We had a very interesting meeting when Shirley Everett gave her fascinating presentation about Greenhow and the mining industry there. Several miners had Dallowgill family names like Newbould and Mawer which was indicative of how people moved around to where the work was. There were a lot more cottages up at Greenhow during the 19th century, and Geoff Lobley said that there were quite a few temporary buildings at Carlesmoor when labourers were working on tunnel-building and stone slate quarrying. Greenhow History Group has produced a lovely book with plenty of old photos. Many thanks to Shirley for coming, and to the 12 people who came to listen – it was a good turnout.
• She has suggested two dates for a trip down Gillfield Leadmine, Thursday 29th March and Thursday 5th April, meeting at the mine entrance at 6.30pm on both evenings. There is space for 6 people each evening, so if you are interested, please contact Shirley by email shirley.embsay@icloud.com for further details. Again, many thanks to Shirley for this opportunity.
• Don’t forget, we are always looking for new information and photos for the project – thanks to Malcolm Hutchinson for a booklet about Sheep Marks for this area by Jonathan Graham, and a copy of a map produced for the sale of Grantley Hall in 1947, with all the properties numbered (if anyone knows of the whereabouts of a copy of the booklet explaining the numbers, we’d love to know!).
• Sheila and I continue to go to the North Yorkshire County Records Office and are trawling through lots of documents from the 1800’s – from a solicitor’s office now closed – with a view to providing a catalogue of them all, making their contents more accessible. We keep finding bundles to do with Dallowgill properties, which are helping to build up our bank of information, although it takes hours to decipher and transcribe them!
• I hope you’ve been having a look at all Sheila’s wonderful work on the website, adding memorials from the two graveyards – many thanks to her. If you have or know anyone who might have any photos of anyone interred there she’d love to hear from you – people are more than just dates and an inscription on a memorial……
• Some of you might have been watching a very good series on BBC recently about the history of a Liverpool house through time. That’s the sort of thing we are trying to do for Dallowgill – remember the people who have lived here through their properties, occupations and lives, and the external events that affected everything. The series is available on BBC iPlayer if you missed it!