EYLHS Newsletter 39 summer / autumn 2018 Newsletter of the East Yorkshire Local History Society Front cover: Detail from an early 18th century illustration of Risby Hall (Gott Collection, Wakefield Museum) Contributions Based in Hull it is not always easy to keep track of events in other parts of the Riding; news that members could contribute on their town or village should be sent to the editor. Short articles, illustrated or unillustrated, news on libraries, archives, museums, societies or education, queries other people may be able to answer, etc. for inclusion in future newsletters should also be sent to the editor. Newsletter Edited by Robert Barnard 825 Anlaby Rd, Hull, HU4 6DJ Telephone 01482 506001 e-mail [email protected] Published by the East Yorkshire Local History Society Secretary Jenny Stanley 15 Southcote Close, South Cave, HU15 2BQ Telephone 01430 422833 e-mail [email protected] Printed by Kall Kwik, Hull News from the Society Programme Saturday 3 November 2018 Education Room, Treasure House, As usual, the Society has arranged a full Beverley programme of lectures and excursions 2.00pm Please support the events and bring ‘The Statute Hiring Fairs of East along your friends. Yorkshire: The Highlight of the Rural Year, 1890-1925’ PLEASE NOTE: Please make all Talk and Presentation cheques payable to the East Yorkshire Speaker: Stephen Caunce Local History Society. All cheques and Hiring fairs are now largely forgotten, booking slips should be sent to the but they were eagerly anticipated Programme Co-ordinator. every year across most of northern England until surprisingly recent times, Programme Co-ordinator: especially in the East Riding. They Pamela J Martin (Tel no 01482 442221; began simply to link employers with e-mail [email protected]) workers, male and female, who were seeking farm jobs, but by 1890 much Friday 19 October 2018 more went on and few would willingly Education Room, Treasure House, have missed them. Beverley Cost: £3 per person 2.00pm Max No. 40 people ‘Public Health and the Medical **Own Transport Professions in 17th century Hull’ Talk and Presentation Speaker: Mike Rymer Participation in events Cost: £3 per person As reported in previous years, it has Max. No. 40 people not been possible to arrange group **Own Transport insurance for events. We therefore strongly recommend that members Saturday 27 October 2018 and their friends take out personal Local History Book Fair accident/loss insurance, or include Venue: Hull Minster (formerly Holy this in their households policies. We Trinity Parish Church), 10 King St, Hull, would also stress the need for suitable HU1 2JJ clothing - in particular, sturdy footwear 10.00am – 03.30pm and waterproofs - for outdoor events. Free Entry **Own Transport Please note There is usually a waiting list for most of the Society’s events. If you book an event and then find you cannot attend, 3 please inform the Programme Co- the copper wires of yesteryear were ordinator. Please do not transfer your first insulated in paper and eventually booking to a relative or friend without plastic derivatives and then encased in first consulting the Programme lead pipes. These were so heavy that C-ordinator, whose telephone number inspection hatches had to be placed can be found at the beginning of this every 100 to 150 yards. section. Thank you. Spencer explained the problems of copper wire regarding ingress of Review of EYLHS Events water and shorting out compared to the resistance of modern fibre optic KCOM Lighthouse Building systems. 10 May 2018 Spencer answered all of our questions On a sunny spring afternoon 7 intrepid with clear answers and finally EYLHS members found their way demonstrated an “ultra HD” TV with through an industrial estate in west super fast fibre optic connections Hull to the Lighthouse Building of producing a “surreal” colour experience. KCOM. Wenceslaus Hollar’s map of Hull We were met by Spencer Barrett who 25 May 2018 provided an excellent history of the origins of the telephone, the Hull Professor English gave us an excellent Telephone company in 1902 and on to illustrated talk and explained that her the present day. particular interest in this map was sparked by the recent discovery of the On 22 August 1902, Hull Corporation original copper plate on which it was (which later became Hull City Council) engraved. The plate was on show at the was granted a licence under the Ferens Art Gallery last year but it is now Telegraph Act 1899 to operate a permanently on display at the British municipal telephone system in the Library. Kingston upon Hull area, opening its first telephone exchange on 28 Hollar was born in Prague in 1607. As November 1904 at the former Trippett a young man he went to Frankfurt Street Baths. where he trained as an engraver. He was a handsome man who moved in Examples of early telephones and exalted circles but he may have had systems and their development to the a defective eye which assisted his ultra fast fibre optic systems currently artistic skills. By 1633 he was working being rolled out across the KCOM in Cologne where he met Thomas, area were demonstrated utilising real Earl of Arundel, who was an avid art life exhibits. Spencer showed how collector. The Earl admired his work 4 which could be favourably compared because my ancestor Robert Langley to Durer and decided that Hollar was of Elloughton owned two properties the man he wanted to make a record on High Street, including one at the of his extensive collection of artworks. north end which was comparable to This led to Hollar’s move to England in Wilberforce House and where one of 1636 where he spent most of the rest his tenants was Thomas Broadley, and of his life. a garden house on the north side of Salthouse Lane. Professor English described the complex and exacting process by The top picture is a landscape of Hull which the image was produced by viewed from the River Humber. This Hollar involving a copper plate, wax, shows the city wall, the entrance sharp needles and acid. A beaver hat to the River Hull and the south and dipped in oil was used for the final middle blockhouses with shipping polishing. on the Humber. The two outstanding buildings are Holy Trinity Church and The image is divided into three distinct what was probably Suffolk Palace. parts: In the bottom right hand corner is a The main picture is a bird’s eye view of plan of the coastal areas of Holderness the city within its walls and bounded and north east Lincolnshire. This map by the Rivers Humber and Hull with is in a strange orientation with the the immediate surroundings including east at the top but the details can be a clear representation of the three compared with Christopher Saxton’s blockhouses and interconnecting first county maps published in 1579 walls on the east side of the River and John Speed’s early 17th century Hull. This view is an astonishing piece publications. of work and has been replicated and used many times to illustrate the city By studying the whole image in detail sometimes long after the environment it can be fairly confidently concluded had been changed by development. that it was created in 1639. It also shows the Beverley Gate where the first hostile confrontation of the A final touch of humour is that a English Civil War took place when Sir decorative mug with a copy of Hollar’s John Hotham refused Charles I entry Hull can be purchased from zazzle. to the city and access to the arms and co.uk (an American company). munitions stored there. There is also a busy waterfront along the River Hull The talk was very well received and one with ships and staithes and a street of the comments was that the bird’s eye layout that can still be recognised. I was view seemed to be from a thousand particularly interested in the debate feet above what is now Ferensway. about whether the representations of the houses were factually c orrect Richard Walgate. 5 A guided walk at Risby. In 1401 the medieval manor of Risby 14th July 2018 passed by marriage to the Ellerker family who rose to regional and The historical importance of Risby is not national prominence in the course of as widely appreciated as it deserves. A the 16th and 17th centuries. Sir Ralph significant step towards addressing this Ellerker (1461-1539) and his eldest deficiency was taken between 2010 son (also Ralph, 1489-1546) were and 2012, when local archaeologists, knighted after the Battle of Flodden funded by Natural England, undertook in 1513. To reflect their growing status a survey of land around Park Farm, it is likely that they extensively rebuilt Risby, on behalf of the farm’s owner, the existing manor house, probably in John Clappison. It was with the kind the area of the present farm buildings permission of Mr Clappison that though its precise location is uncertain. twenty-one EYLHS members were Later records show it as a substantial treated to an illuminating guided tour by Ed Dennison who compiled the report of the survey. Although no actual excavations had been undertaken, much information had been gleaned from a study of available documents, early maps and aerial photographs, together with a detailed survey of surviving earthworks. These revealed four notable features of the historic landscape as follows: Towards the earthworks of the terraces to the north, evidence for building with fifteen hearths. agricultural exploitation in the Roman period; Henry VIII, in the course of his northern at Cellar Heads, the site of a Tudor progress of 1541, is known to have deer park and moated lodge; stayed overnight at Risby where he close to the present farm was lavishly entertained, possibly at buildings, a hollow way, alongside the moated lodge within the deer park.