2010

Poor Thomas Fairfax. You spend years going bravely into battle, doing your duty, nearly die from a horrible war injury to your shoulder, lead the New Model Army, win the battle of Naseby – and in the capital of the county where you were born and lived and fought so many battles, most people have never heard of you, and keep mentioning Oliver Cromwell instead.

They didn’t just fight, the Fairfaxes. They showed a remarkable regard for the treasures of what we now call our ‘historic environment’. As is often quoted, it’s largely thanks to them that we still have medieval stained glass in our Minster and ancient parish churches, and that it wasn’t smashed to bits when the siege of York ended.

There are many other recorded instances of Fairfax involvement in protecting treasures of the past for the citizens of the future.

They had a home within the city walls, in Bishophill. The name of one of its Victorian streets is the only reminder of their forgotten mansion. Another home was at Nun Appleton, not far from here. Thomas Fairfax lived at Nun Appleton after retiring from his military role, and died there in 1671. He and his wife Anne are buried in the church at Bilbrough, in this side chapel. The chapel was beautifully restored in the 1980s.

Anne Fairfax (nee Vere) was an equally interesting character, who was at one point captured by the Royalist forces, while following her husband and his armies.

Recent reports in the papers regarding an excavation in the Fishergate area of a mass grave from the time of the 1644 siege showed how this once famous Yorkshire family have been forgotten. Soldiers who had been under the command of Ferdinando and Thomas Fairfax were widely reported as being ‘Cromwell’s soldiers’.

Perhaps though I shouldn’t get on my high horse about this misunderstanding. (Pictured left is Sir Thomas on his high horse.) When I started this site I’d read about the siege of York and the Fairfaxes, but struggled to find it interesting. The civil war period is generally seen as rather dull and confusing, despite the best efforts of those who do have a passionate interest. I got drawn in eventually.

In the 1640s, Fairfax was a hero to many, charismatic, respected. When the famous New Model Army was founded, Thomas Fairfax was made its commander-in-chief – with Oliver Cromwell in charge of the cavalry.

Often mentioned is Fairfax’s ‘modesty’. Perhaps the modesty, combined with other personal qualities, meant that he was destined to withdraw from the limelight, and to be overshadowed, and to have his fellow Yorkshiremen/women forgetting him and attributing his achievements to Cromwell. Many modest people will recognise that scenario.

Still, Thomas Fairfax is remembered here, in a thoughtfully restored chapel in Bilbrough church, not far away from York. And also not far from Marston Moor – site of just one of his many, many battles. Anyone reading biographies of Thomas Fairfax, and his own ‘Short Memorials’, will probably recognise that many of the battles were with himself and his own conscience.

More information

The Castle Museum in York has amongst its military collection a buff coat which once belonged to Thomas Fairfax. This is more interesting than it sounds, honest. Buff coats were apparently the 17th century version of the biker’s leather jacket.

If that doesn’t capture your interest, there’s even a novel about Thomas and Anne Fairfax, written some decades back: The Rider of the White Horse, by Rosemary Sutcliff. York Explore (Central library) has a copy, in the reserve section somewhere in the basement, available if you request it.

Biography of Thomas Fairfax on www.british-civil-wars.co.uk

The post Thomas Fairfax, Bilbrough appeared first on York Stories.

2010

Like many villages, Sutton-on-the-Forest, near York, has a cemetery as well as its original churchyard. Among the headstones carrying the usual English names like Barker, Wood and Smith, a small area of the cemetery is occupied by headstones marked with less familiar names, including Pakuza, Stanisz, Rdultowski.

I’ve walked through this cemetery a few times, to visit a grave at the far end. I’d never noticed the section of graves with Polish names. On this occasion, I was looking for this particular area. There are carved stones of various types, many are crosses with the figure of Christ. Among them, several large wooden crosses, which look like they were handmade, all those decades ago. One has a metal plate attached which bears a name no longer readable, apparently handwritten or etched onto the metal.

One of the crosses has wooden wedges driven into the ground around it, some time back, an effort to keep it upright. Another also has what seems to be evidence of repair, wire wrapped around, presumably to keep the Christ figure attached, as the wood decays. Touching details showing that at one time these memorials were carefully tended by the community.

Why is a section of an English village churchyard the burial place of so many Polish people? These graves mark the resting place of just a small number of the Polish ‘displaced’, driven from Poland during and after the Second World War. Many of those who fled to England were housed in airfield accommodation vacated by the allied forces. One of the hostels was at the East Moor airfield at Sutton-on-the-Forest.

The memorials date from the 1940s to the present, with many from the early 50s. The style changes over the decades, from worn stone to crisp black marble. Perhaps the wooden crosses are the earliest memorials, though sadly it’s difficult to tell, as their names and dates are missing or illegible now.

Nameless or named, we shouldn’t forget that these people fled here, driven from their homeland, and like so many others ‘displaced’ by war, were laid to rest in a corner of a foreign field.

More information

The website Polish resettlement camps in the UK 1946-1969 has information on the East Moor Polish hostel, and personal memories of East Moor. The site also has a page of photographs of many more of the Sutton-on-the-Forest memorials, with individual names recorded.

The post Polish graves, Sutton-on-the-Forest appeared first on York Stories.

2006

This memorial is in the parkland of the Sledmere estate, owned by the Sykes family. It commemorates the lives of the family’s dogs. The stone pillar has an inscription on each face.

This handsomely carved inscription commemorates Lambchop, a bull terrier, and Barley Fidelis, a greyhound. Both died in the 1980s.

The monument was off the beaten track, but was mentioned in the walks guide we were using, and I sought out this memorial in particular. It seems fitting that on an estate with so many memorable monuments, the dogs should have one too.

The earliest inscription, in Latin, dates from the 1780s. The other side commemorates Venom, Minx, and also a puppy, who died in the 1920s.

The fourth side of the column has this rather long poem by Byron, which I wasn’t familiar with, but have since discovered is Inscription on the Monument of a Newfoundland Dog, dating from 1808. The text of the poem is included below. The image itself can be enlarged with a mouse click.

Some people no doubt feel that only humans deserve such memorials. But I thought it was charming, and would be understood and appreciated by anyone who has ever had a beloved dog.

Though I wonder if the person who created the work wished that a shorter poem had been chosen, Byron’s poem is perfect, justifying why a dog might deserve such a memorial.

When some proud son of man returns to earth,
Unknown to glory, but upheld by birth,
The sculptor’s art exhausts the pomp of woe
And storied urns record who rest below:
When all is done, upon the tomb is seen,
Not what he was, but what he should have been:
But the poor dog, in life the firmest friend,
The first to welcome, foremost to defend,
Whose honest heart is still his master’s own,
Who labours, fights, lives, breathes for him alone,
Unhonour’d falls, unnoticed all his worth –
Denied in heaven the soul he held on earth:
While Man, vain insect! hopes to be forgiven,
And claims himself a sole exclusive Heaven.
Oh Man! thou feeble tenant of an hour,
Debased by slavery, or corrupt by power,
Who knows thee well must quit thee with disgust,
Degraded mass of animated dust!
Thy love is lust, thy friendship all a cheat,
Thy smiles hypocrisy, thy words deceit!
By nature vile, ennobled but by name,
Each kindred brute might bid thee blush for shame.
Ye! who perchance behold this simple urn,
Pass on – it honours none you wish to mourn:
To mark a Friend’s remains these stones arise;
I never knew but one, – and here he lies.

– Byron

The post Dogs memorial, Sledmere appeared first on York Stories.

2006

I love the way these wealthy landowners put fabulous monuments all over the place. The land around Castle Howard is littered with impressive bits of architecture, and it’s similar on the Sykes estate in and around Sledmere. You can’t move very far without finding another monument. I don’t know what ordinary folk at the time thought to these enormous erections, but these days you can’t fail to be impressed, or interested at least. This one in particular is a tremendously over-the-top creation, at least by modern standards.

I thought we’d seen all the monuments, and wasn’t expecting this one. We were on our way from Fimber to Filey, following a straight stretch of road (the B1252) from Sledmere towards Garton-on-the-Wolds, and then suddenly this huge towering thing was ahead of us, prompting cries of "What’s that?"

It’s so huge it’s impossible to fit it all in one photo. It’s so grand it even has its own cottage nearby, built for the caretaker. (I forgot to get a photo of that – I was too dizzy from looking up at the monument.)

The monument is 120ft (37 metres) high. It was built in 1865, in honour of Sir Tatton Sykes, 4th baronet (1772-1863), by "those who loved him as a friend and honored him as a landlord", as the inscription says. Here he is, on his horse, in a detail from the many carvings on the monument.

It’s got lots of sticky-out bits and different coloured bits, little stars, and even has references to biblical texts. It’s a fabulously exuberant creation, and all the more impressive standing there in the middle of fields, with nothing much to compete with it. Not that anything could.

The post Tatton Sykes monument appeared first on York Stories.

2006

This handsome construction, dated 1840, is opposite the gates to Sledmere House, and has been included elsewhere on this site, in the page on Sledmere. More detail seemed necessary, particularly to include its lengthy inscription.

There’s a well under this structure, apparently. Over the well is a more obvious feature, a rotunda of Tuscan columns supporting a lead-covered dome.

Carved into the stonework is an inscription:

"This edifice was erected by Sir Tatton Sykes Bart. to the memory of his father Sir Christopher Sykes Bart. who by assiduity and perseverance in building and planting and inclosing on the Yorkshire Wolds, in the short space of thirty years, set such an example to other owners of land, as has caused what once was a bleak and barren tract of country to become now one of the most productive and best cultivated districts in the County of York."

Just a note: I’m no expert, but I think that not everyone thought that enclosure ("inclosing") was a marvellous thing, at the time.

Still, it’s a fine aesthetically pleasing monument, and that’s what I’m supposed to be representing.

The post Christopher Sykes monument, Sledmere appeared first on York Stories.

2006

At least one website I read stated that this cross is one of many that were erected to mark the stopping places of the body of Eleanor of Castile, wife of King Edward I, when on her journey to her final resting place.

This is incorrect – Eleanor of Castile’s body rested in many places, but not in Sledmere. This is a copy of an Eleanor Cross, but it’s not got any real connection to the lady in whose honour the original ones were erected.

If I’d realised it wasn’t a royal monument, but actually a village cross and more recently a war memorial, I would have paid more attention, instead of taking a couple of rushed photos while on my way to visit the Waggoners memorial just up the road.

Sledmere is home to many unusual monuments. This is perhaps the best known, being so ornate and eyecatching.

I discovered from my Pevsner guide that the Eleanor Cross, designed by Temple Moore, was originally erected in 1896-8 as a village cross (rather more grand than the usual village cross I think). It is a replica of the Northampton cross (located near Delapre Abbey in Northamptonshire), which dates from 1291. The Northamptonshire cross is a proper Eleanor Cross. This is a copy of it. A very fine one at that, says Pevsner.

The Sledmere Eleanor Cross was adapted as a war memorial around 1920. This work saw the addition of brasses which include the figure of Sir Mark Sykes, sixth baronet, who died in 1919. (See links, below, for more information.)

These photos showing the monument’s details can be enlarged with a click of the mouse.

Nearby, also connected with Sir Mark Sykes, is the Waggoners memorial.

More information

The Sykes family have been the owners of the Sledmere estate since the 1700s. More information can be found on the Sledmere House website.

Sir Mark Sykes, commemorated on the monument, died of the Spanish flu, in 1919. In 2007, permission was given to exhume his body, to assist with scientific research aimed at preventing a future flu pandemic. See the BBC site: Inside Out page. For more background information on Sir Mark Sykes, see the Wikipedia page.

The post Eleanor Cross, Sledmere appeared first on York Stories.