Oral history recording for Pocklington and District, audio recording

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Oral history recording for Pocklington and District, audio recording

Originally deposited as an audio cassette Contributor Councillor Jack Buttle (00:10) Introduction to Councillor Jack Buttle. (00:30) Jack says that St Helens Gate gets its name because 'gates' were places in which smallholders could hold sheep. St Helen is the name of one of the springs in the area. (01:40) There was a St Helen's well on Chapel Hill. (03:04) Archbishop Ullathorne was related to Jack. The bishop was born in Pocklington, and was bishop of Birmingham before taking Catholicism to Australia. (04:46) Jack tells us that his family came from Holme-on-Spalding Moor Hall to Pocklington in 1430. (05:01) He remembers Chapel Hill being called Primrose Hill. At one time church services were held there in a temporary building, which is why it is now called Chapel Hill. (05:58) Jack says that the oldest street in Pocklington is Chapmangate. It is named after the chapmen who carried their goods on pack horses and would lay them out for sale on the ground there. (06:49) Waterloo Buildings is named after the battle of 1815. It was a public house that subsequently closed. (11:12) There were hump-backed bridges over the beck at one time. Jack describes the course of the beck before it was covered over. (11:57) Jack remembers living at Brass Castle Hill. (12:45) Smithy Hill had no 'smithy' there in Jack's time. The blacksmith was in Church Lane. (14:38) Jack recalls that West Green ran past where the railway used to be. (16:55) He explains that feast days are registered in the town charter. (17:19) Jack says that he had been a councillor for thirty-one years. (17:59 Vessel Cuppers, a type of mummer, used to come around before Christmas. They were very good male singers. (19:04) Jack's parents and grandparents ran a butchers stall opposite the Feathers Hotel. They gave meat to poor people at the end of the day. (20:39) Jack's father was born in Union Street. He and Jack's uncles were members of the first rugby union club in Pocklington. (21:46) Jack remembers the Star Inn, which is now [Colbeck's] shop. (23:43) Policeman Moody once told Jack that he had seen a female ghost in one of the lanes in Everingham. (24:19) The Feathers Hotel is the third such hotel with that name on the site. (25:09) The old building that is now the cinema was once Hawk House. It had a cockfighting chamber. There was a serving bar at the Black Bull for serving drinks to people in Hawk House. (25:53) Jack is asked about old stone crosses in the churchyard. The only one he can remember was found in the churchyard underneath the church tower. (26:37) Three of his grandfather Bentley's family are buried in front of the pulpit in the Church. (27:15) His grandfather Bentley ran a public house, the Old Red Lion. He also had a butcher's business, and a fellmongers (dealer in hides or skins) business. (28:08) Market Street used to be called Swinegate. (28:39) There was an old pub on that street with 'crooks' in the walls so that working people could hang pens on it as a way of displaying pigs for sale. (29:09) There was a public house in George Street called the Royal Oak. But the oldest pub was in Chapmangate. It was called the Tiger Inn, and was later a fish and chip shop. There was also a pub called the Buck Hotel, which no longer exists. (30:24) Jack says that the Cross keys is a very old pub, but the Feathers Hotel is the oldest pub in Pocklington. (30:40) They discuss church buildings near the Methodist cemeteries. (31:44) Jack says that John Wesley came to Pocklington, riding his horse down George Street. (31:55) He remembers the Masonic Hall being built for the freemasons. Manor Court was a farmyard at the time, and the Hall was built in a field. Jack's uncle Percy [Jewlson] and his brother-in-law Noel [Moore's] father were founding members. (33:33) The [Moores] were one of the farmers on the land where the airfield was built. (34:46) York View was in Barmby Parish until they changed the boundaries. (35:18) Jack lists the people who have owned [Kilnwick] Mansion. (36:41) [Millington] Springs is the water which runs past the church in a beck. The wood nearby is called Ginny [Furkin], named after someone who was cooling butter in the beck and drowned. (37:45) Jack discusses the supplies of spring water in Pocklington. (38:52) He says that Garrowby Hill is a Roman road and the next oldest road is 'the Hodsons' [Hodson Lane], another Roman road. (40:16) Bishop Wilton is named after a bishop. Jack says that gravediggers often found parts of an old building when they dug graves. There was an archbishop's palace there at one time. (41:58) He says that Givendale has a Norman church. The area has been excavated and an old village was discovered north of the church. (43:31) Jack believes that the last witch to be burned at the stake in England was burned in Pocklington Market. (44:09) He says that the Star Inn had a thatched roof at one time and then it had another storey added. At the same time they added a tiled roof and faced the walls with new bricks. (45:12) The shop where Jack worked as a grocer had very thick walls, which were especially noticeable in the cellar. Public access copy available in Audio-Visual room