_Concerning the Zoology of the Forest and Vale_
The great expanses of wild moorland, the deep, heavily wooded valleys, and
the rich and well-watered level country included in the scope of this book
would lead one to expect much of the zoology of the Pickering district,
and one is not disappointed. That the wild life is ample and interesting
will be seen from the following notes on the rarer varieties which Mr
Oxley Grabham of the York Museum has kindly put together.
On THE MOORS _the Curlew, the Golden Plover_, and the _Merlin_ nest
regularly together with other more common species.
In THE WOODS _the Woodcock, Pied Flycatcher_, and _Wood Wren_, together
with the _Green_ and _the Great Spotted Woodpeckers_, breed by no means
uncommonly.
In THE MARSHY AND LOW-LYING LANDS _the Snipe_ and _the Redshank_ find
congenial breeding quarters.
Many rarities have been obtained in the district such as _the Kite, the
Great Plover, the Smew_, and _the Golden Eagle_, and numerous varieties of
wildfowl during the winter months. I have seen large flocks of
_Crossbills_ and _Bramblings_ hunting for food in the severe weather, and
occasionally a small flock of _Waxwings_ appears in the district.
There is a well-protected _Heronry_ in the neighbourhood, and these fine
handsome birds may frequently be seen in the vicinity of the Costa, a
stream famous for the size and quality of its _Trout_ and _Grayling_.
From a sporting point of view there are few better districts in the north
of Yorkshire. _Grouse_ are abundant on the moors, and there is some most
excellent _Partridge_ ground at hand, whilst certain of the coverts are
famous for _Woodcock_ during the winter months.
_Foxes_ are numerous, and three packs of regular hounds, Lord Middleton's,
Sir Everard Cayley's, and the Sinnington, hunt the country, whilst the old
established trencher-fed Goathland pack accounts for a goodly number every
season.
_Otters_ and _Badgers_ are far more plentiful than most people have any
idea of; but, unfortunately, they are generally killed whenever a chance
of doing so presents itself, the trap and the gun being regularly employed
against them.
The usual smaller mammals are present in goodly numbers, and present no
special or peculiar features, with the exception of _the common Rat_,
which has been of late a perfect pest in some parts of the country; the
hedge bottoms have been riddled with rat holes. Gates and posts and rails
have been gnawed to bits, and in one instance a litter of young pigs were
worried during the night. On one farm alone, during the year 1904, over
two thousand rats were killed.
OF REPTILES, _the common Adder or Viper_, locally known as the Hag-Worm,
is numerous in the moorland districts. It seldom if ever attacks human
beings, but occasionally dogs and sheep get bitten with fatal results.
_The Slow or Blind Worm_ is also to be found here, as are the other usual
forms of reptiles.
OXLEY GRABHAM, M.A., M.B.O.U.
* * * * *
The famous breed of horses known as the Cleveland Bays come from this
district of Yorkshire. They are bred all over the district between
Pickering, Helmsley, Scarborough, and Middlesborough, and although efforts
have been made to raise them in other parts of England and abroad, it has
been found that they lose the hardness of bone which is such a
characteristic feature of the Cleveland bred animals. The Cleveland bay
coach horse is descended from the famous Darly Arabian, and preserves in a
wonderful manner the thoroughbred outline.
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Allen, J.R., Monumental History of the Early British Church, 1889.
Anecdotes and Manners of a few Ancient and Modern Oddities, 1806.
Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Journal of.
Associated Architectural Societies' Reports, vol. xii.
Atkinson, John C, A Glossary of the Cleveland Dialect, 1876; Forty Years
in a Moorland Parish, 1891.
Bateman, Thomas, Ten Years' Diggings, 1861.
Bawdwen, Rev. W., Domesday Book, 1809.
Belcher, Henry, The Pickering and Whitby Railway, 1836.
Blakeborough, Richard, Wit, Character, etc., of the North Riding of
Yorkshire, 1898.
Brooke, John C, Illustration of a Saxon Inscription at Kirkdale, 1777.
Brown, Gerard Baldwin, The Arts in Early Britain, 1903.
Browne, G.F., Bishop of Bristol, Theodore and Wilfrith, 1897; The
Conversion of the Heptarchy, 1896.
Buckland, Wm., Dean of Westminster, Account of Fossil Bones at Kirkdale,
1822.
Chaucer, Geoffrey, Canterbury Tales, 1902.
Cholmley, Sir Hugh, Bart., Memoirs of, 1787.
Clark, George Thos., Mediæval Military Architecture in England, 1884.
Codrington, Thos., C.E., Roman Roads in Britain, 1903.
Collection of above 300 Receipts in Cookery, Physick, and Surgery, 1719.
Corlass, R.W., Yorkshire Rhymes and Sayings, 1878.
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Domesday Book, Facsimile of the Survey by Col. Sir H. James, 1861-63.
Drake, Francis, Eboracum, 1736.
Eastmead, William, Historia Rievallensis, 1824.
England, Annals of, 1876.
Fawcett, Rev. Joshua, Church Rides in the Neighbourhood of Scarborough,
1848.
Frank, George, Ryedale, North Yorkshire Antiquities, 1888.
Fuller, Thomas, The History of the Worthies of England, 1840.
Gidley, Lewis, Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English Church, 1870.
Giles, J.A., Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English Church, 1840.
Gould, S. Baring, Yorkshire Oddities, 1874.
Hailstone, Edward the Elder, Portraits of Yorkshire Worthies, 1869.
Hatton, W.H., and Fox, W.E., The Churches of Yorkshire, 1879.
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Holinshed, Raphael, Chronicles of England, 1807-8.
Jackson, R.E. Scoresby, The Life of William Scoresby, 1861.
Jewitt, Llewellyn, The Ceramic Art in Early Britain, 1883; Grave Mounds
and their Contents, 1870.
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Morris, M.C.F., Yorkshire Folk Talk, 1892.
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Strangways, C.E. Fox, Geology of Oolitic and Liassic Rocks North of
Malton, 1881; Geology of Country between Whitby and Scarborough, 1846; The
Jurassic Rocks of Britain, 1846.
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APPENDIX
A LIST OF THE VICARS OF PICKERING
The living itself, at the time of the Norman Conquest, came into the
possession of the Crown, and remained at the king's gift till Henry I.
annexed it to the Deanery of York. It thus became one of the Dean's
peculiars, until in the last century his property was vested in the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and the patronage transferred to the
Archbishop.
1150 Hugh
13--? Midelton, Thos de. Resigned for the
Church of Scalton
1341 Acaster, Hen de. Dismissed
1349 Queldriks, Robert de
Pokelington, Robert de. Resigned for
the Church at Holtby
1388 Laytingby, Will de
1568-1570 Coleman, William
1581-1600 Owrome, William
1602-1615 Mylls or Milnes, Edward. Deprived 1615
1615-1659 Bright, Edward. Died 1659
1661-1690 Staveley, Robert. Died 1690
1691-1712 Newton, Joshua, A.M. Died 1712
1713-1740 Hargreaves, Robert. Died 1740
1740 Hill, Samuel
1745 Dodsworth, George
1764-1784 Harding, Samuel. (Blind.) Died 1784
1784-1786 Robinson, John
1786-1804 Harding, Samuel J. Died 1804
1804-1809 Laye, W.T. Died 1809
1809-1814 Graham, C.R.
1814-1857 Ponsonby, F.
1858-1863 Cockburn, G.A., M.A.
1863-1875 Bennett, Edward (Curate-in-charge)
1875-1881 Lightfoot, G.H. (Curate-in-charge)
1881-1902 " " (Vicar)
1902 Drage, E.W.
_"Here taketh the Makere of this Book his Leve."_
* * * * *
_"Now preye I to hem alle that herkne this litel tretys or rede, that ...
if ther be any thyng that displese hem, I preye hem also that they arrette
it to the defaute of myn unkonnynge, and not to my wyl, that wolde ful
fayn have seyd bettre if I hadde had konnynge."_
_Chaucer's Canterbury Tales._
[Illustration: A Sketch Map of the Pickering District]
End of Project Gutenberg's The Evolution Of An English Town, by Gordon Home