A village with character (From Gazette & Herald)

A village with character

IF you travel along 'The Street', which is the name given to the old Roman road from Hovingham to Malton - and more mundanely known as the B1257 - you will come across a real gem among villages.

When the Danes first created a settlement here around the middle of the 9th century, they gave it the name 'Eslingesbi'. A couple of hundred years later, when King William ordered the compilation of the Domesday Book, it was included as 'Selungesbi'.

Today, Slingsby is a very attractive village. The older part, with its grey stone cottages and pretty gardens, blends in remarkably well with the newer red brick houses and bungalows. Wide grass verges together with a pleasant village green give an impression of quiet spaciousness.

Residents are very much aware of the historical aspect of their village. The overgrown ruins here are generally referred to as Slingsby Castle, but in fact they are the remains of an elaborate mansion house built in the 1640s for Sir Charles Cavendish, grandson of Lady Elizabeth Cavendish, perhaps better known as Bess of Hardwick Hall.

The house was built on the site of the original ancient castle dating from the time of the Norman Conquest. This original castle later became a stronghold for the Yorkists during the Wars of the Roses.

Although not particularly impressive, these ruins give character to the village and add to the keen sense of continuity here, especially as some of the stone was used in the building of local cottages.

Another thread in the fabric of village history can be found in the churchyard. Here an old Celtic-type cross stands in memory of Captain Robert Ward RN. He was a midshipman on Admiral Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar. One of the older residents of the village is directly descended from Captain Ward.

Mr Gordon Lange, who is 88, said: "He was my great-great-grandfather. My roots are certainly well and truly established in Slingsby, though, because according to our family tree an even older ancestor was rector at the church here."

Gordon himself has long connections with Slingsby church, having been the church warden for 50 years.

He said: "In recognition of this, we got an invitation to a garden party at Buckingham Palace. It came completely out of the blue, a real surprise. That was in 1996."

This year, Gordon and his wife Kathleen are due to celebrate their golden wedding.

Kathleen, who is very sprightly and young-looking for her age, still opens her popular tearooms from Easter to October. The teas are served in their lovely conservatory. She said: "I've always loved baking and everything we serve is homemade here in the kitchen."

Like Gordon, Kathleen loves the village and has many happy memories. She said: "I can well remember dancing round the maypole on the village green as a child. More boys took part in those days, including Gordon, but I think it's mostly girls now."

Slingsby has a splendid maypole. It stands 50ft high and is painted red, white and blue, with a golden cockerel on top.

There are many legends surrounding the origin of May Day festivities, but in medieval England most villages held processions where people carried green leafy boughs and a maypole - the maypole being a tall young tree stripped of its branches and decorated with ribbons and garlands of flowers.

There has been a maypole in Slingsby for more than 300 years. "Every time a new pole is erected," said Mrs Betty Petch, "details are written down, put in a bottle and buried underneath it. There are records going back as far as 1708. That was the year the Quakers tried to stop the May dances!"

During the war years, there weren't any dances, but with the arrival of a new pole from Sweden, in 1985, Betty felt it was time to revive the tradition. She got involved and was instrumental in setting up the Slingsby Maypole Dancers.

She said: "May Day has always been an important occasion for the village, and we've had great fun with the dancing. In almost 20 years, I can only remember it being cancelled once for the weather.

"Up to a few years ago, we used to go round several villages for charity, taking a mobile pole and dancing at garden fetes."

Betty has lived in Slingsby since her childhood. She said: "It's a good village. I wouldn't like to live anywhere else."

Certainly, Slingsby has a lot going for it. There is All Saints Church, a chapel and village school, as well as football, cricket, tennis and bowling clubs.

In addition, there is a thriving business community with two garages, shop and post office, TV and electrical goods shop, pub, restaurant, bakery, tea rooms, joinery business and an antique shop.

The antique shop has been run for the last 15 years by Tony and Libby Popeck and they both agree Slingsby is a great place to live.

"It's the kind of village you used to find more often years ago," said Tony. "People are very friendly and always ready to help each other. I think that's probably because it's still very much a working village."

Tony has always been interested in buying and selling, not just antiques, but, as he said: "Anything, really, you come across all sorts and never know what you might find next!"

Libby chipped in: "Tony's in his element going to sales and house clearances. He likes searching for hidden treasures. He once bought a font from a church sale and sold it to a local pub. They were going to use it for flower arrangements."

Tony laughed: "Do you remember the time I bought a coffin lid? I only had it a few weeks when a chap bought it with the idea of turning it into a coffee table. Unfortunately, his wife wouldn't have it in the house. Then there was that gravestone ..."

Despite these more macabre transactions, there are in fact some lovely things in the shop. Libby said: "People are always coming to have a look round. When I want a bit of peace and quiet, I go down to the fields with my horses."

Libby has always loved horses and bought her first one when she was just 15.

She said: "I saved up for it out of my tatie-picking money. It cost me £150, which was a lot in those days."

She has four horses now, including a race horse which she had been given a couple of years ago. "But", she said, "Duke is my favourite. I bred him myself and he's 11 now. He is a skewbald show cob and he's won masses of rosettes."

He is certainly a fine animal and Libby can often be seen riding him along the village streets.

Tucked away in a corner is the shop and post office run by Tony Hodgson, helped by his daughter Jane. Tony has lived in the village all his life. He said: "We started off by selling home-grown fruit and veg on the way outside - we used an honesty box then.

"There used to be three grocery shops and when they closed down we decided to expand a bit."

Tony is very philosophical about all the recent post office raids. "We're providing a service to the community and it's no good worrying about what might happen. If I did that, I'd end up scared to cross the road!"

At one time, the shop was included in the popular tourist attraction Wyville Animal Farm, run by Tony's daughter.

"The animals are still here," said Tony, "but the farm isn't open to the public any more. There were so many rules and regulations when foot and mouth was on the go it just wasn't worth it."

Many of the villagers still refer to it as the 'farm shop' or simply 'Tony's'. "Everybody calls me Tony - even the children."

This is typical of the friendly atmosphere of the village. Slingsby is a real gem - a place where residents and visitors alike can go on making happy and unexpected discoveries. Perhaps it should have been called Serendipity...

Updated: 10:38 Wednesday, July 09, 2003