Sunday 14 August 2016

Saltburn: lost and found (Saturday 13th August)

As a sort of holiday from walking on Saturday morning, Bob and I went to visit the ruins of Guisborough Priory. A community group has been working to restore the 'lost gardens' that had gradually become submerged since the Reformation. This includes the lovely Monks Walk, a shady space surrounded by lime trees now over 200 years old.

There's a corner heap of masonry pieces abandoned like a huge puzzle which is being photographed and catalogued. Meanwhile they're holding a teddy bears' picnic tomorrow if you know a bear looking for a good day out.

The way to Saltburn was over fields to Skelton where I was momentarily lost in a housing development in which the names of all the streets were in Cumbria. A man in a car noticed my indecision and pointed me in the right direction. Just in time, Bob appeared from the Saltburn direction. We retraced his steps together, including under the huge Saltburn viaduct, and emerged in the valley gardens.

At Street level the path placed us adjacent to the town war memorial. An unusual design, it bears the names of two of those from our Silcoates roll of honour. They are A P Antrobus, the youngest of the schools war dead at just 18 years in 1914. His father had been a Congregational minister in Saltburn. The other was W B Weatherill, one of six brothers to attend Silcoates who died in 1918 . His father was described as a Sea Captain, and Willie joined the school when it was in exile in Saltburn. Which brings us to the next connection.

The school was housed in what is now the Saltburn House Hotel from 1904 to 1908 after a fire gutted the Wakefield site. John Yonge was the Headmaster and he is credited with the leadership and vision that not only saw through the period or exile in Saltburn but also the return to Wakefield. See http://www.silcoates.org.uk/about-silcoates/history/

There is a plaque in the entrance hall of the hotel about what happened to it after Silcoates left:
"This home, built by Sir Joseph Pease in 1872 was purchased by the Working Mens Club and Institute Union for the purpose of a convalescent home and was opened on Saturday September 11th 1909 by the Right Honorable Harberton Samuel MP."

Pease was a Quaker and Samuel a Unitarian who had similar ideas about temperance and education for working men at the time. On a board in the rose garden over the road there is mention of Silcoates and its connection to Saltburn. A connection that meant that two young men of the town, having become Silcoatians and then been killed in action in the 1914 -1918 war are remembered together both in this their home town and on our roll of honour back at Silcoates in Wakefield.

On our hearts and on our homes
The peace of God

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