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- The Royal Connection
- North Yorkshire Eats
- North Yorkshire VIPs
- Richard Remembers
- Owlbut's Birdwatch
The Royal connection here is obvious.
The House of York provided three kings of England, although only two of them were crowned. The first was Edward IV who, as you can read later, won the crown at the
Battle of Towton in 1461. He reigned until 1470 when Henry VI was briefly restored to the throne but took the crown back in 1471 until his death in1483.
On his death the crown passed to his eldest son, another Edward, but he was only 12 years old. Edward IV's younger brother was appointed protector
and escorted the young Edward, along with his younger brother Richard, to the Tower of London to prepare for the coronation. However, the two youngsters were
never seen again so although Edward V had officially become king on his father's death, he was never crowned, just like another Edward, the eighth, in 1936.
Uncle Richard was then crowned as Richard III but his reign only lasted for two years. He was defeated at the Battle of Bosworth Field by Henry
Tudor, sort of a Lancastrian, who became Henry VII. He quickly married Elizabeth of York thereby uniting the two houses. As you probably know the Tudor dynasty
lasted for 118 years. Henry also combined the white rose of York with the red rose of Lancaster to make the Tudor rose. Clever chap was Henry.
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We're back on cheeses this week.
Wensleydale is a very famous cheese first made in, wait for it, Wensleydale in North Yorkshire. The term Yorkshire Wensleydale can only be used for cheese that
is made in Wensleydale but the cheese is now commercially made in large creameries throughout England. The Wensleydale Creamery is in the town of Hawes, obviously
in Wensleydale and it has a visitor centre where you can see cheese being made, or at least you could when I travelled through there on my second coastal journey.
Wensleydale cheese was first made by French monks who had settled in the area. The recipe they used involved making the cheese from sheep's milk but
by the 14th century cows' milk was being used which actually changed the character of the cheese. At that time Wensleydale cheese was always blue. The making of
cheese continued until rationing in WWII when most milk was used for making standard Government Cheddar. Cheese making returned to Wensleydale after the war but
on a smaller scale.
Wensleydale cheese is crumbly and some say it has a slight honey smell. It is particularly popular when mixed with fruit, especially cranberries.
Having never seen cheese being made on a large scale I was fascinated by the large vats of milk which were slowly being turned into cheese. Today, the Wensleydale
Creamery has an interactive experience which takes you on a journey through the art of cheese-making and you can see the cheese being
made by the team of master cheese-makers. There is also a demonstration room and children's games area.
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Seven random people who were born in North Yorkshire in the last 100 years:-
Dame Judi Dench (Actor), Steve McLaren (Footballer/Manager), Dame Jane Glover (Musician/Conductor), Sir Ben Kingsley (Actor), Susan Hill (Author),
Jimi Mistry (actor) and Joanne Froggatt (Actor - Downton Abbey).
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If you read my memories from East
Yorkshire, you will know that it was one the ten stretches of coastline anywhere in the world that I would like to re-visit. This is another. Forget about the
incredible beauty of the North Yorks Moors and the Yorkshire Dales National Parks, both in this county, and the historic city of York, the coastline in this
county is fantastic. Let me take you on a journey along it from my memories. I do need to emphasise that my journeys around England happened in 1985-86, 1994-95 and
2001. It's twenty years since I saw these places so don't necessarily go and look for what I saw and be surprised it's changed.
We start our trip along the North Yorkshire coast at Filey. Lovely beach, wide sweeping bay and I actually first went there on a day out in 1958 when
we lived In Leeds. A little further north and we reach Scarborough. Two beaches and a Viking Museum because the Vikings gave Scarborough its name, In 1620 a local
resident called Elizabeth Farrar discovered springs of discoloured and sour-tasting water bubbling from a rock. She did what anyone would do and claimed the waters
had special healing properties. Forty years later and Dr Wittle told everyone sea bathing was good for the health and soon naked men and women were leaping into
the sea and Scarborough became the first seaside resort in England. Oh and between my first and second trip things did change because the Holbeck Hall Hotel
collapsed into the sea in June 1993.
A bit further along is Ravenscar, perched 600 feet on the top of a cliff and I certainly remember the walk down and, even more so, the walk up.
Next comes Robin Hood's Bay although there is no evidence the outlaw, if he even existed, ever came here. A twisting street leads down to the shore and little
cottages are either side of the road. This was smuggling country and there are stories that, because of underground passage beneath the cottages, smuggled goods
could go from the shore to the top of the village without ever being seen by the custom men.
Whitby is a major town and port, famous for whaling in the
olden days, indeed an arch made of the jaw bone of a whale is on the cliff top and on the other
side of the headland are the ruins of Whitby Abbey. There are 199 steps leading up to the church near the ruins and here Bram Stoker set some scenes for his
novel, Dracula. In the town gift shops sell Whitby Jet, which is fossilised wood and was popular with Queen Victoria after her husband Albert died because it
was a black gemstone. Move on and you drive past Sandsend, two and a half miles of uninterrupted sand and then you reach Runswick Bay. The road down to the bay
is one of the steepest I have ever driven and driving back up I wondered if the car would actually topple over backwards.
Then you reach Staithes and the ninth of my 10
memorable, wow-giving views in England. I had seen a similar picture to
the one on the left and I loved it. I knew I wanted to stay there and we found a small
cottage halfway down the little street which leads to the harbour. Cars are not allowed down so we had to carry our stuff to the cottage from the car park at the
top of the hill. Further down is the tailor's
shop where Captain James Cook began his working life before going off to Whitby, joining the navy and becoming one of our greatest explorers. Sadly it was
noticeable on my second trip that Staithes was dying. Young people went off to work in big cities and quite a few of the little cottages were boarded up. I
wonder how it is now.
Just north of Staithes, Boulby Cliffs are the highest point on the east coast of England at 666 feet high. Then you reach Skinningrove that has, or
had, a little stream stained with the rusty colour of iron ore waste from the mines nearby. From there you have sandy beaches at Marske and Redcar before you
reach Middlesborough on the mouth of the Rives Tees and the end of the North Yorkshire coast. I know this is a long piece but I just wanted to try to tell you
of the beauty of this coast and share some of the amazing and exciting things I saw.
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The Gannet is a large, mainly white bird with black wing tips and a yellowish patch on their heads. They have black legs and
a long, powerful and chunky, black and blue beak. When flying out at sea, they flap their wings and then glide low over the water. When it's time to feed, they
fly higher, circle around and then plunge into the sea. Needless to say, they eat fish. They are on the amber list and only breed in certain places. One of these
areas is Bempton Cliffs which are in East Yorkshire but I told you about the Puffin there. I think they look like Concorde and if you don't know Concorde you can find
out more on our website here.
Gannets are around 100cms in length, have a wingspan of about 175cms and can weigh 2.4 to 3.6 kilos. There are 220,000 nests in the UK. They arrive at
their nesting sites from January and leave between August and September. Those birds which don't nest here can be seen offshore almost anywhere, especially between
August and September.
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Two extra sections, "It Happened Here" and "Now That's Weird", will appear on 16 June 2025
