Tailors Shop

 

This building is still standing to the rear of Rose Cottage.  In 1857 Richard Ellerker Richardson and Wilkinson Yoward were recorded as tailors in church records and a trade directory.  Later, from 1921 to 1937, Mr Arthur Foxton was the tailor; he would sit cross legged on a large table making suits and also breeches for the hunting fraternity.  He would never fit a telephone because he said that people would only pester him to find out when their jobs were ready!  He had a pipe with a silver lid to stop the ash falling on his cloth.  The pipe also had a cloth cap made on the sewing machine from cavalry twill.

 

Rose Cottage

 

Rose cottage was the Foxton's home for many years.  Behind Rose Cottage there used to be a number of poultry houses run by Mr Rob Foxton.  Mr. and Mrs Dowie bought the property in 1981. Later it passed to Henry and Linda Heaton who extended the building.

 

1.  View behind Rose Cottage showing many poultry houses, circa 1940.

2.  Note the School in the centre foreground and the large part of the Rectory garden turned over to vegetables at that time.

3.  Arthur & Rob Foxton's (son's of Arthur Thomas) initials are carved in the bridge coping stones.

The Village Shop and Post Office

  

Older residents will remember the row of houses just south of the lay-by in the village.  The Boyes sisters ran the shop and owned the complete row of houses.  Margaret Wood remembers helping in the shop as a child.  One of the sisters was Margaret's godmother.  Margaret's favourite job was arranging the special toys and gifts which were obtained for sale at Christmas.

 

On display at the village exhibition was the old flour bin from the shop, which is used to hold rolled barley for geese to this day.  Mrs Gladys Foxton, a former resident remembered the Boyes sisters.  Apparently they both wore wigs.  One day they blew off and ended up in the flour bin!

 

When Miss Jane Boyes became infirm Margaret looked after her until her death.  Miss Boyes left the houses to Margaret in her will.  However, they were in need of much repair and were eventually demolished, thus leaving Normanby without a village shop and post office.  In 2 out of 5 villages throughout Britain there is no longer a shop or post office.

 

The Butchers

 

Very little is known about this business but the building still stands between the Sun Inn and St. Andrew's Coke house.

 

Directories record the butcher as William Monkman in 1840 and John Sanderson in 1857.  In 1922 William Earnest Humpleby is recorded in Church records as a butcher.

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4.  The little girl (Betty Brown nee Walton) was still living in Pickering in 2000; she remembers the photograph being taken.

 

5.  The site of the Butchers Shop.

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Normanby House

 

The present house was built in 1815 as The Rectory for St. Andrew's Church.  The Rev. Arthur Cayley was appointed Rector on 1st Feb 1814.  On 9th Feb 1815 Christopher Dowker, Vicar of Salton and Michael Makereth, Vicar of Middleton, wrote a letter to The Lord Archbishop of York saying that the Parsonage House was "in a very ruinous state, totally unfit for the residence of a clergyman", they noted that the Rev Arthur Cayley (famous for his flying family connections) had been given two hundred pounds for dilapidations, but no part had as yet been spent on repairing the premises.

 

On 6th Feb 1815 Richard Henry Sharp, of the City of York, surveyor, certified that he estimated the expenses of the proposed building of The Rectory House (44 feet long, 24 feet wide, 23 feet high) could not be completed under the sum of six hundred and fifty pounds, exclusive of the materials and leading.  The requisite barn and outhouses he estimated at a further sum of two hundred and fifty pounds.  On 17th April 1815 Rev. Arthur Cayley wrote to Queen Anne's Bounty to raise a mortgage.  The Bounty of Queen Anne for the Augmentation and Maintenance of the Poor Clergy was set up during the reign of George III to promote the residence of the parochial clergy by making provision for the more speedy and effectual building, rebuilding and repairing and purchasing of houses and other necessary buildings and tenements for the use of their benefices.  Arthur Cayley was lent the sum of seven hundred pounds "to be laid out and expended in the rebuilding the Parsonage House belonging to the said church".  He was to pay interest of 4% annually and to repay capital at 5% annually.  Work must have started promptly, there are a series of receipts from local tradesmen for material and labour in June, July and August 1815.  A final State of Account of the money advanced and paid by the Rev. Arthur Cayley came to £708.11.

 

The previous house, on the same site, was built some time between 1724 and 1743.  The Terrier for 1743 says "The Parsonage House consists of stone and rebuilt from the ground by the present Rector" (Thomas Mason 1724-45).  It also notes "Behind the dwelling there is a close containing about two acres and this is all the glebe belonging to the Rectory".

 

The 1749 Terrier says, "The Rectory consists of a stone house and barn and a room for fewel adjoining the barn, all covered with thatch. The house contains a Parlour, Kitching, Staircase, Back Kitching, Milkhouse. Before the house is a garden and behind it are a little orchard and a close".

 

The house before that, referred to in the Terrier of 1716, is described "in form like the letter L, extending from North to South in length 21 yards and from East to West in breadth six yards and one foot.  Also one barn and one stable both under one roof".  We have no record of when it was built.

William Harrison was gardener at the Rectory for 26 years up until 1893.

 

The house was sold by the Church Commissioners in 1954.  It was bought by Maureen Bucher, wife of General Sir Francis Robert Roy Bucher K.B.E. CB. MC. the last British Commander in Chief of the Indian Army. He commanded native Indians including Ghurkhas, Sikhs and Mahrattas.  The house had neither running water nor electricity and was in need of extensive restoration.  The architect employed was Francis Johnson C.B.E, based at Bridlington and well known for his work on Georgian houses in Yorkshire, including Burton Agnes, Garrowby and Fairfax House.

 

Lady Bucher was chair of the Parish Meeting for 16 years, working for much of the time with Rob Foxton who was secretary for 22 years.  Sir Roy and Lady Bucher lived in the house until she died in 1978 and Sir Roy Bucher in 1980 aged 84.  Both are buried in Normanby churchyard.

 

In 1981 the house was bought by Brig. The Hon R.G. Hamilton-Russell, who lived here with his wife until Jack and Claire Wallis bought it in 1985.  Because of the extensive alterations the house was not previously listed as a building of special architectural or historic interest but was included in 1989.  The Yew trees were shaped for many years by John Wood, Albert (Tally) Hornby and Harold Spenceley.  Boys in the 50's would climb inside the Yews and took delight in poking their heads out of the very top.

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6. Normanby House,  7. The Yew trees,  8. A 2000 intruder!

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The New Rectory

 

This was built in 1961 at a cost of £3950.

 

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The New Rectory

 

Willow House

 

Willow house was once one of the village's numerous ale houses.  The grounds once included the whole of 'the Warren' to the north and the fields behind that down to the river.  There were repairs made to the east wall in 1932 when a crack appeared.  There has been some storm damage over the years.  One bad gale brought a chimney stack down.  The windows have been in situ for many years but they are not the originals, which were leaded.  The grounds of Willow House once covered the whole of the woodland which is now occupied by various new houses.  There was much cultivation of the land.  There are a number of photographs of the garden from this time.

  

South View

 

South View was demolished to make way for the new bungalow built on the site of Harold Spenceley's (formerly the Ward families) old cottage in 1986.  Harold sold up and later died in Beechwood nursing home at Scarborough.  The tiles from the roof remain in the village as an extension on Pasture House.

 

South View was a traditional south facing cottage.  It was a former ale house which was appropriate for Harold.  More than once he was assisted home from the Sun Inn once by wheelbarrow.  Another occupier was Mr John Scaife, a renowned bee-keeper who used straw skeps.

 

Normanby Hill

 

This was once the home of the Wood family (no relation to Margaret Wood).  Cora Stead was living there in 1971 when she died aged 85.  Robert Stead died 3 years later aged 84.  In the 1980s it was a rural education centre, run by the Asfari family.  Following a succession of tenants each spending considerable sums of money on the property, it has now returned to a family home.  Normanby Hill and Barn Farm were also once owned by Col. S.S. Lockwood JP who was noted for a world record in milk production, his Jersey cow,

 

"Stonehurst Patrician's Lily" produced;

 24094.25 Lbs of milk.

1087.24 Lbs Butter Fat

in 365 days 1934 to 1935

and

22309.75 Lbs of milk

1048.97 Lbs Butter fat

in 365 days

1935 to 1936.

 

This was a world Jersey record for milk production and the first Jersey in the world to yield over 20000 lbs of milk in two successive lactations.

 

“Stonehurst Patricians Lily” horns displayed on a shield and a Normanby Hill milk bottle (Presented to the Beckhole Museum Pickering by Dennis Stead).

 

9.  Willow House,  10. The Warren,  11.  South View & Halycon, 12.  Normanby Hill,

13 & 14.  Milk production

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Normanby Manor

 

The manor was conveyed to Sir Arthur Robinson in 1632.  He was a wool merchant and Sheriff of Yorkshire 1633-4. He died in 1642 leaving property to his son Luke who was in possession in 1694.  The manor belonged to the Robinsons of Welburn until purchased in 1878 from a Mrs Wrengham and Misses Smith by Thomas Harrison.  The present farm house is not the original Manor House.  The foundations of this can be seen near the present pig sty.  The existing farm house has a large extension which was constructed in 1800 for entertaining shooting parties.

 

Bridge farm

 

Bridge farm was the residence of the preacher and farmer Joseph Smith in the middle of the last century.  In the 1950s a Mr Harry Brown lived here.  The Wood family also farmed here for 40 years.  In the 1920's the farm house was two properties the Perkins's in one and the Tanton's in the other.

 

Pasture House

 

Pasture House was built around 1750.  Like all the old houses it faces south to catch the warmth of the sun but its windows are of such a size that summer heat is not too excessive.  There were originally no windows in the north wall to reduce winter heat loss.  Some of the brick and stone walls are two feet thick and are standing on clay.

 

For many years it was the home of the village blacksmith and his family. In tithe records for 1841 three associated plots are recorded, the Feeding paddock, the House paddock and Smith's shop with garden.  The property originally had 4 acres attached.  It is believed that Thomas Henry Foxton committed suicide in one of the bedrooms.  In 1926 John Robert Foxton passed on the property to Cecil John Foxton and Thomas Henry Foxton. Thomas died on 11th March 1940.  John Robert died on 9th February 1953 aged 79 years.  Dora Annie Foxton died on 19th November 1954, also aged 79 years.  In 1955 Cecil John Foxton passed on the property to Thomas Hubert Foxton, husband of Gladys.  In 1961 the property was passed on to Gladys Foxton when Thomas Hubert died.  Gladys lived in Pickering until she died aged over 90 years of age.

 

At one time a path led down the south boundary of the property used by villagers to collect water and take washing.  Cobbles have been unearthed during garden digging along with many horseshoes, clay pipes and a George the third penny.

 

In 1981 Gladys sold Pasture House to the Dowell family.  Part of the land was split at sale into three building plots but 2 acres remain, tended organically since 1981.

 

The house has seen many alterations over its life.  At one time there was a door leading directly out onto the street.  In 1981 the property was renovated.  Central heating was added, and the old wood floors which rested directly on the clay soil were replaced with cement.  At this time the wash house still had an old copper used during the annual butchering of the pig. The pig sty, along with a calf barn and outside lavatory, was originally attached to the east side of the house.  Its bricks were used to make a garage and fuel store. Foundations were added to the south wall for the first time.  An extension at roof height was added in the 1980s.  The bricks for this were obtained from an old mill in the Malton area.

The pantiles came from Harold Spenceley's old house which once stood in the next field to the north of Pasture House.

 

The garden has also changed.  It was once pasture but now includes an orchard, large vegetable gardens, a "wild" area, four pools, tree areas, a wild flower meadow and winding paths through raised beds and a wood.  Animals continue to be kept including pigs, goats, ducks and geese.

 

The greenhouse contains a Black Hamburg grape vine which was transferred from the Sun Inn a number of years ago.  It originally came from a stately home.  The yield is usually 60 bunches a year.

 

Risebro View

 

These two houses were built in the 1940's.  The site was once a gooseberry garden.  Phyllis Hornby, who lived in one of the houses, used to tell, (amongst many other things), of the trials she experienced while giving lodgings to land girls during the war.  The Frank family lived in the other for some forty years.

 

Walnut Cottage

 

Home of Dr Peter Smith and his wife Dorothy in 2000, this is built in former woodland once part of the garden at Willow House.

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15. The Manor, 16. Bridge Farm, 17 & 18. Pasture House, 19. Riseborough View,

20. Walnut Cottage

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Orchard Lodge

Home of the Blythes, year 2000.

 

The Lodge

Home of Mike and Silvana Hine, year 2000.

 

Red House

Home of the Dunces since 1981 when it was built on land formerly linked with Pasture House.

 

Rivers Edge

Home of Paul and Susan Marquis in 2000.

 

High Gables

Home of Alan Atkinson, his friends sometimes arrive by helicopter!  A recent kitchen renovation was celebrated with a visit from the Queen (look-a-like!).

 

Herons Reach and neighbouring house

The homes of the Belt family and the Sleightholme's, year 2000.

 

21. Orchard Lodge, 22. The Lodge, 23.  Red House, 24. Rivers Edge, 25. High Gables,

26. Herons Reach.

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Felbridge

 

Home in 2000 of Paul and Jan Roberts.  The house was named by the Richardson's who now live in Marton. It has an unusual chimney stack.

 

New house

The Cairncross home, year 2000.

 

Hill Top Farm

The Bell family, year 2000.

 

Little Garth

Formerly the home of Helen and Anthony Harrison

 

South Hill Cottage

David and Josephine Jackson, year 2000.

 

Yew Tree Cottage (On the right in the picture below)

 

Fernleigh (On the left in the picture above)

Underneath the relatively modern exterior is one of the oldest houses in the village.  At one time there were at least two other properties down the short lane adjacent.

 

Barn Farm and Cottage

These houses were for agricultural workers when there was a farm based opposite.  Land girls were lodged there during the war.  They worked in the diary at Barn Farm opposite.  In 2000 Valerie Kavanagh and John Murphy lived at Barn Farm, Wendy and Nicholas Crummack at Barn Farm Cottages.

 

Mount Pleasant

The home of Isabel McLean in 2000. 

The exterior of the bungalow actually hides a much older structure.

 

 

 

27. New House, 28. Hill Top Farm, 29. South Hill Cottage, 30. Yew Tree & Fernleigh Cottages,

31. Barn Farm Cottage, 32. Mount Pleasant.

 

 

The Latest Buildings

 

The Whimsey's house was under construction during the year 2000.  It is adjacent to Mr Lund's Vine Cottage.

 

In 2002 a barn conversion was completed  at the South end of the village.