Bishop Wilton, Past and Present  

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View from the Church Tower.

This image appeared on the front cover of the last of the current series of Local History Bulletins, No. 20. It comes from a set of at least 18 postcards by W. Bramley of Leeds from the late 1930s. It is the postcard that encapsulates the most about the recent recordable history of the village.

Features in the postcard (numbered above) have been the subject of Bulletin articles as follows:

    1. The communal village pump (see Wilton Water by Mike Tanner in Bulletin 3) on the grassy bank that leads down to the beck. This was fed from a stream that still runs through the property behind. Photographic evidence suggests that it was originally established without a pump probably in a trough that overflowed via pipework down to the beck. By this stage the pump is visible at the back of the fenced enclosure.
    2. The house occupied by the Swains who feature in Bulletin 20. Looked at closely, this image reveals a deck chair outside the front door of the property. By all accounts Major Swain enjoyed his garden.
    3. The travellers’ caravan parked at the front of Mill House that was remembered by a number of former residents and war-time evacuees (see Conversations with Ken Sissons in 2001 by Mike Pratt in Bulletin 19). Evidently it was the dwelling place of Grandma Sissons who used to be able to knit a pair of socks that were ordered in the morning and picked up at the end of the afternoon.
    4. The Park, as it is still referred to, being the medieval Deer Park of the Archbishops of York (see Wilton’s Deer Park by Mike Pratt in Bulletin 7 and an update in Bulletin 9). This is a good example of where a feature in the landscape retains a name beyond the point at which its origin is remembered.
    5. The Village School - for which the Log Books have been covered in detail (see Bishop Wilton Village School Log Books by the late Kath Nevens & Kate Pratt in Bulletin 16, continued in Bulletin 17). It is still in use on the same spot.
    6. Rose Villa (now Witton House) home of the Fryers & the Wadsworths at different times (see Malcolm Burgess: Memories of Bishop Wilton - Recorded on 7th March 2003 in Bulletin 6. Also Mrs Fryer’s Rolling Ruler by Mike Pratt in Bulletin 20).
    7. The East end of St Edith’s Church is just visible in this postcard image taken from the Church Tower (see Bulletins too numerous to list for information about the Church).
    8. This is a building of 3 cottages which included the homes of Charlie Cullum, Benny Wilkinson and Sarah Wilkinson (Charlie’s sister). Charlie was a boot and shoe maker. Benny was a game-keeper and dog breeder (see To Ben Wilkinson by Barry Trotter in Bulletin 4 and Charlie Cullum Memories collected by Nancie Boyes in Bulletin 5).
    9. Charlie Cullum’s shoe-making and repair shop, a wooden hut, in Benny Wilkinson’s Dog Pound.