Category: Bill Goldthorp

January 1, 1970

Gervii (Fen Dwellers) – submitted by Bill Goldthorp

I am proud to admit being a 50% Gervi by inheritance and a born and bred Gervi until the age of 18 when I went to University. At this time immigrants into the Isle were rare. It probably accounts for my bizarre sense of humour which is constantly getting me into trouble. So here goes lets get into trouble again. For the benefit of newcomers […]

Bill Goldthorp Roads

January 1, 1970

Mill Trod – Submitted by Bill Goldthorp

Submitted by Bill Goldthorpe Mill Road, Crowle, Mill Trod was the name given to Mill Road by the older inhabitants of Crowle when I was a boy, although by then the official name was Mill Road. I feel very sad that many of these old names have been modified. Mill Trod, makes me think of a tired farmer plodding alongside his horse and cart with […]

Bill Goldthorp Family History

January 1, 1970

Proud to be a Staniforth. Or The advantage of being an Axholme man.

Hannah Stanniforth aged 33 married John Everatt aged 39 in 1857. According to family tradition,(my mother and aunts) an arranged marriage. I have always felt proud of my 12.5% Everatt genes and totally neglected the 12.5% Stanniforth ones. Looking at John Everatt’s career, the reason is obvious, 1841 age 22, agricultural labourer, 1851 age 32, farmer 6 acres, 1861 age 42, farmer 50 acres, 1881 […]

Bill Goldthorp World War 2

January 1, 1970

Crowle at War: Part 9. Preserving, Newspapers, – submitted by Bill Goldthorp

Preserving. One could use the sugar ration and occasionally get extra sugar for preserving. My father’s orchard contained a Conference pear and another type of pear tree, Victoria and Damson plums. Green gage plums could be bought from the Ramsdens who owned the Tetley Hall Estate. Every autumn my parents put up about a hundred bottles of fruit in the old Kilner Jars. Damsons were […]

Bill Goldthorp

January 1, 1970

Fishing in the clay pits – submitted by Bill Goldthorp

The Tetley gang. All born in 1933, myself, 46 Wharf Road, Laurence Lowthorpe, Mike Maw, both lived at Tetley, Chippy (Brian) Chapman, 60 Wharf Road, Roy Strachan, the doctor’s son and a few others from the age of 7 or 8 spent the majority of our time messing about, making sure we were not caught around Tetley and the clay pits, and occasionally, now what […]

Bill Goldthorp World War 2

January 1, 1970

Crowle at War: Part 8. Salted pig – submitted by Bill Goldthorp

My father started to salt his own pig, the shoulder, ham and sides of bacon. I would be sent to Wrights the grocers with a wheelbarrow and return with a block of salt 2 & ½ feet long and a foot wide and high. The cold slab would be deeply covered in salt and the hams etc. rubbed in salt every day and covered in […]

Bill Goldthorp Family History

January 1, 1970

Early Goldthorpe spellings in the Kirkburton Registers.

Early Goldthorpe spellings in the Kirkburton Registers. Originally the parish of the kirk (church) at Burton 1540 to January 15th 1654. www.archive.org/details/parishregisterso01kirk Parish clerks were only partly literate, word spellings not finalised and they often just wrote down what they heard. In fact a surname can be spelt two different ways in the same sentence. Browsing the family histories which intertwine on the red1st.com website, […]

Bill Goldthorp World War 2

January 1, 1970

Crowle at War: Part 7. Meat, Killing a Pig – submitted by Bill Goldthorp

Meat. We had to make do with our ration of beef and mutton. Pork products we had by the barrow load. Ordinary people could give up their bacon ration and were allowed to keep a pig instead but at the start of the war the government took half the pig when it was killed. Farmers had to record the number of piglets born and were […]

Bill Goldthorp

January 1, 1970

Swimming in the Old Clay Pit.

It is impossible to locate the swimming area now. 1949. Dressed and ready for home. Aged 16. Don Tune, became head of the Music Department in a Comprehensive School, Brain (Chippy) Chapman, Lecturer at an Agricultural College, Don Clarke, joined the administrative department of Lysarsts Steelworks, one other and a great pal, my dog Mac. I cannot spell Lysarts. 1952, long summer vacation of my […]

Bill Goldthorp World War 2

January 1, 1970

Crowle at War: Part 6. War Weapons Week, Rationing – submitted by Bill Goldthorp

War Weapons Week. The whole of Crowle, Catholics and Protestants, Women’s Institute, Men’s Clubs, Pubs, Political parties, Sports’ clubs all joined together in a special week dedicated to raising money for the war. The Crowle Show and Gymkhana occurred that week together with children’s sports day with fancy dress competitions etc, etc. All sorts of money raising activities were organised which not only raised cash […]