The third AGM of the Pocklington and District Local History Group included AGM business and officer reports, election of officers and a talk from Phil Gilbank'. All officers were re-elected. The accounts showed a healthy surplus and thanks were expressed to Jo for her work on the Lottery Grant application and to Andrew for his work on the website and who also showed latest information & old photos which have been donated to the group. Jo concluded it had been a most successful year. The committee were re-elected; Chair – Jo Green, Secretary – vacant, Treasurer – Peter Green, Archivist/Webmaster – Andrew Sefton, Committee – Alan Cartwright, Phil Gilbank, Dennis Moor, Paul Jennings, David Rumbelow, Pearl Harris and Geoff Pea. Roger Bellingham continues as Honorary President. Jo appealed for a volunteer for the position of Secretary with no takers. Please contact Jo if you are willing to help.

Phil Gilbank went on to give a most fascinating talk on the location of Pocklington's Manor House. He showed Watson's maps and old newspaper clippings and other manor houses in the area. The conclusion was it may still be there, albeit in a much altered form.

The Church Records section has been upgraded with more information. A useful article appeared in the 1898 Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, Volume 14, by Alex. D.H. Leadman. I have extracted most of this article into different sections. Leadman's description of Pocklington Church includes a review of the Sotheby monument. Leadman goes on to look at the church monumental inscriptions, some of which have since disappeared since the article was written. Pocklington Parish Record abstracts are particularly interesting, Leadman has extracted some good examples.

A full list of known Pocklington Vicars is included, and we are fortunate to have a photograph of all Vicars since 1840. Next is a list of the various Charities set up to help the poor of the parish. Old Church documents has information on old Pocklington families and some descriptions of early property in the town. Although Heraldry is a very specialised area in historical research, it can give clues as to the various important families in the area going back to very early times.

The last of the local inns have been included and the Wellington Oak at Canal head provided refreshment to the workers on the Pocklington Canal.

A newspaper reference on the 1840 Gala day is an interesting insight into the celebrations of the marriage of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert. Following last months page on Yapham School in 1929, another school photograph was submitted for Yapham school in 1925.

Cock Fighting was the persuit of Pocklington Gentlemen in the eighteenth century. The practice continued into the nineteenth century. An extremely rare and fragile handbill has been discovered in the British Library and it has been reconstructed to show on this site. Further references to Cock Fighting have been found in my trawl though the York Courant newspaper and appear on the same page. A Theatre handbill was also discovered in the British Library for a production in 1793 in Pocklington.

A photograph of Yapham School in 1929 was kindly sent to me by Kevin Warcup. His uncle Eric provided names of all the pupils. If you have any school photographs, please send them to me.

Timothy Overend had a brewery in Pocklington which was sold in 1763. The York Courant sale details are shown on the Pocklington New Inn page.

The Lee family of Pocklington were an early Pocklington family. It is not known if they are the same family that created the 'Eric Lee' business in the town.

In 1536, Robert Aske of Aughton led the revolt against the Church Reformation, and the destruction of the Monastaries by Henry VIII's henchmen, and became known as the 'Pilgrimage of Grace'. After an uprising in Lincolnshire, the people of the East Riding met on Arras hill at Market Weighton. They moved to Pocklington before marching on York. This page represents ongoing research and will be added to.

Blackthorn Press have approached the Pocklington and District Local History Group to write a book on the History of Pockington. We have agreed to do this and have assigned joint authors for the project. We have a big job ahead in terms of research and a fairly short timescale (less than 2 years). There is very little written about Pocklington apart from the excellent David Neave booklet, and various publications on the church, the police station etc. There is no Victoria County History and therefore much of the research for the book will have to be original. We will appreciate any help that anyone can give the joint authors such as visiting record offices, studying the census returns, supplying photographs etc. Any research used in the publication book, will receive the appropriate credit. Please contact me if you wish to help and contribute to the project.

The Lord of Pocklington Manor, Robert Dolman and his family, had problems of debt in the eighteenth century. Various parliamentry acts were passed to allow the sale of the Manor and the proposed railway map of 1844 shows remnants of the old Manor. The sale notices posted in newspapers provide extra information that is valuable in assessing what was present. The sale of Reighton Manor in 1862 also has attached to it Ousethorpe and Ousethorpe Mill. The sale of Kilnwick Percy Estate in 1840 provides more useful information and a wonderful example of nineteenth century descriptive text. The sale of Yapham Mill of 1825 provides information about build date and a description of the working mill. The sale notices of Waplington Manor also show that the owner Robert Denison was suffering from ill health in 1844, and he had a sheep sale to fund an overseas rest and recuperation. Also added is the sale notice of the Manor of Grimthorpe bought by Robert Denison in 1795, which includes Meltonby, some parts of Fangfoss, Yapham and Givendale which was given to William, son of Ulf in the 12th century by Henry I.

Martin Cooper provided various first world war memorial texts from local newspapers. Pocklington War Memorial was unveiled in 1921 and in the same year one was unveiled in Pocklington School. There was one in Pocklington St. Mary's and also one in Pocklington Church.

Quote from the official Lottery press release - "Pocklington and District Local History Group is looking forward to a brighter future after receiving a grant of £5,111 to create an oral history database and archive photographs and other documents in a digital format.

Archivist and webmaster Andrew Sefton, who also helped form the group, said: “We set up the group to promote the history of Pocklington as we felt it was neglected by publications and research. By starting to preserve its past, we can help to promote the town and lead to interest in it.

“The grant will help us to create a digital archive of the town’s history and record it for the future, as we will be able to buy a laptop and screen for our meetings. We will now be able to exhibit the materials gathered and hold roadshows in neighbouring villages and we can also give talks to community groups to increase the awareness of the wealth of local historical evidence in the area and encourage more people to become actively involved in local history."

Our AGM was an interesting evening of AGM business including officers reports, election of officers and a talk from Nigel Puckrin on the 'History of the York Sugar Beet Factory'. All officers were re-elected. The accounts showed a healthy surplus and thanks were expressed to Jo for her work on the Lottery Grant application and to Andrew for his work on the website who also showed latest old maps & old photos which have been donated to the group. Chair – Jo Green, Secretary – vacant, Treasurer – Peter Green, Archivist/Webmaster – Andrew Sefton, Committee – Alan Cartwright, Hilary Angle, Phil Gilbank, Dennis Moor, Paul Jennings, David Rumbelow and Pearl Harris. Roger Bellingham is Honorary President. Jo appealed for a volunteer for the position of Secretary, and two further committee members, with no takers. Please contact Jo if you are willing to participate on the committee.

I thought it was time I issued the recent updates to the website. Pocklington was witness to one of the world's first ever balloon flights made back in 1786 by the Italian pioneer balloonist Vincent Lunardi.

We have been fortunate to discover an early Pocklington National School photograph of 1910 with all the names thankfully recorded by the Buttle family. The Buttle family have also been added to the families section and also a photograph of James Easton blacksmith of Church street has been found recently. More families hopefully will follow.

The local villages have also started to be catered for. Allerthorpe has gained three more trade directories. Barmby Moor, Bielby and Burnby have had the entries for Bulmers 1892 added.

Two more Inns had been added. The Windmill Inn changed it's name to the Tiger Inn in Chapmangate and in George Street the Royal Oak Inn.

A research group was formed to study the history of women in Pocklington in the autumn of 2008. They presented the results of their comprehensive research to a packed room in the old courthouse. The research team was Jo Green, Sue Bond, Sue Skelton, Heather Anderson, Joyce Fowler and June Malcolm. They covered a wide ranging period of history from Queen Ethelburga, who converted her husband King Edwin to christianity, and through to Pocklington workhouse Matron Mrs Janine Sargeant. The depth of information was impressive with examination of wills, and studies of the local nunneries. The research will hopefully be written up, and published on the website, or eventually in a printed publication.

A new section has been created for societies and entertainments. A history of Cinema in Pocklington as well as the Pocklington Amateur Dramatic Society. The social calendar in Pocklington was varied in the late 19th century, an early agricultural society was followed by a Horticultural Society. Educational evenings were provided by the Pocklington Literary Society.

Pocklington was one of the first towns to create a Conservative Association in 1835. A newspaper report describes an amazing inauguration dinner for 250 attendees all catered for by the Feathers Inn in a large marquee set up in Pocklington Fair. A sound clip of the music played played on the day is included in the page. These early meetings were the foundation of today's Conservative Party, which was formed between 1830 - 1840.

More group photos are included. The Station sawmills in 1948 and another working mens club photo. Pocklington choir from 1924-1928 has been recently sent to me.

A superb and extremely rare Trade Directory has been found. Williams & Co. Directory of the City of York for 1844 has a detailed list of Pocklington trades and professions and is a significant addition to the information on the website.

Our January meeting was a talk given on the Archaeology of Pocklington and the work of the Humber Archaeology Partnership, by Ruth Atkinson, the Sites & Monuments Record Officer for the partnership. She included details on some of the 70+ records held on Pocklington at the SMR in Hull. Aerial photographs and rare photographs from their archives of the town were shown to a well attended meeting.

Transportation by horse drawn coach from Hull to York took 6 hours in 1787! Roger Bellingham has written about the York to Beverley Turnpike. He also examines the arrival of the telephone to Pocklington and writes an article on the early adopters of the telephone in Pocklington.

Pocklington Railway station closed in 1965 following the Beeching cuts to the railway network. We all miss the line and it is being considered for re-opening. This article examines the history of the York to Beverley railway line.

Trade tokens were issued in the seventeenth century. Who was Barney Buttery? His tokens issued in 1666 still survive today.

A murder in Pocklington took place in 1915 at Brass Castle Hill by a soldier from the Ousethorpe camp. The crime and court case is described in detail by Martin Cooper. Other crime and court case incidents from the 19th century are included in the new Crime & Punishment section under Archives -> People ->Crime.

The Black Bull was an old Cock Fighting Inn and now has a page on it's history and past landlords. Next door to the Black Bull, Procter's Grocery store is still remembered by the older residents of the town. Trevor Brigham wrote to me telling me his grandfather Lyth Downham was rulleyman for Procter's and supplied me the photograph of Procter's 1935 Jubilee Celebration.

An email conversation highlighted the existence of a photograph of the 1957 Pocklington bellringers. This was tracked down and displayed on the Pocklington Church old photos page, together with names of the bellringers.

The Gough map is the earliest Medieval Map and is drawn sideways! It highlights the important towns of the East Riding and Pocklington appears as does Market Weighton. There are two roads shown from York to Market Weighton, one passes via Pocklington through Stamford Bridge and the other crosses the river at Kexby.

Check the forum and make a posting. A superb history of the descendants of Sir Thomas More has just been posted by Martin Wood, the author of the book “The Family and Descendants of St Thomas More”

A new section has been started on the website called 'Pocklington families' and Martin Cooper has written a profile on the Robson family of Pocklington. Thomas Robson served many offices in Pocklington at the turn of the century and his obvious contribution was the building of the Victoria Memorial in Market Street. Two other Robson's were amongst Martin's 'Fallen Heros' that he recently researched for the exhibition held in November. If you would like to submit a Pocklington Family page, then please contact me.

Further research on Pocklington Inns has produced extra information on the Three Horsehoes inn in Market Street. Using property records it has been possible to find out that the 'Horseshoes' inn was opened around 1750 by John and Mary Easton as a diversification for their Blacksmith business on the same site. It has been possible to trace the property back to 1686 when a property record describes "the town beck running before the door on the south".

The Buck has been taken back to at least 1769 when William Pinder applied for a licence (Alehouse recognizance). Pocklington New Inn was found to have been built just prior to 1759 by Thomas Overend, a Pocklington Brewer who wanted to capitalise on the Coaching trade that was bypassing Pocklington on the York-Hull road.

Do not forget to post a message in the Forum. Valuable information is starting to appear there. For example, Phil Gilbank has posted a history of Pocklington newspapers.

Dr. David Neave came back to Pocklington 40 years after starting the first history classes at Woldgate School, which later led to the publication of the definitive reference on Pocklington called "Pocklington 1660-1914: A Small East Riding Market Town". David gave a most interesting talk on the development of the town from early times, included some previously unseen photographs and references which the history group will follow up and research.

'Simply Books' launched the new Pocklington & District Local History Group book called "A Pocklington History & Heritage Trail". To coincide with the launch and the town's book week, the history group organised a sell out walk and talk for 45 people. Various speakers were stationed at historic locations in the town and each gave a 10 minute talk. Everyone enjoyed the evening between the rain showers.

*STOP PRESS* - The story of a young telegraphist aboard HMS Volage is told by Australian Arthur W. Carter who has kindly submitted his story to this website. HMS Volage was adopted and sponsored by the town of Pocklington in the last war.

On Monday 21st April 2008, the first AGM of the Pocklington Local History Group took place. After the officers reports, the election of the committee took place.
Chairman – Jo Green
Secretary – Alan Cartwright
Treasurer – Peter Green
Archivist/Webmaster – Andrew Sefton
Committee – Hilary Angle, Phil Gilbank, Dennis Moor, Paul Jennings, David Rumbelow and Pearl Harris. Roger Bellingham is Honorary President. A vote was made to introduce a subscription which was carried. The amount and setting of the future programme would be decided at the next committee meeting.

The evening concluded with three mini-talks by Peter Green on his recollections of threshing days as a youngster, Phil Gilbank gave an illustrated talk on old Cycles in Pocklington, and Jo ended with a talk on the use of pigeons from the Pocklington Airfield in the war.