Craven through the years

9:53am Friday 29th February 2008

100 years ago The chairman of Skipton Urban District Council was trying to arrange for a practical demonstration of the efficiency of the humane killer. The Herald said local butchers were inclined to pooh-pooh the latest means of cattle slaughter and were difficult to convince that any other method but the old one was the best.

Craven through the years

2:47pm Thursday 21st February 2008

100 years ago A quarry man from Earby was summoned to the petty sessions at Skipton Town Hall for working a horse while in an unfit state. PC Coldwell stated that he saw the defendant in charge of a horse attached to a stone wagon. He noticed that the horse was acting in a peculiar way, so he stopped the defendant and examined the animal. Under the saddle he found a large, raw wound and told the defendant he was not to work the horse. However, some days later he saw the horse again working in a quarry in the same condition.The defendant was fined £1 and costs.

Craven through the years

10:11am Friday 15th February 2008

100 years ago A Grassington butcher sued a dentist for the price of a pig. The court was told that the defendant was in the habit of attending Grassington professionally and, in November, he had ordered a pig. The question before the court was whether the price of the pig had been 5s 1/4d per lb or 6s 1/4d per lb. The action was to recover the £1 5s 8d that the butcher said the defendant still owed. The butcher said that although the defendant was almost deaf, he fully understood the terms of the sale. It was agreed that the price of the pig was 6s 1/4d per lb and the dentist was ordered to pay the outstanding cost.

Craven through the years

9:07am Friday 8th February 2008

100 years ago A highly interesting lecture was given on local history. Kildwick Church was a subject of much interest to the lecturer, who delighted in telling the audience the many incidents in connection with weddings and burials. It was for a long period the only church in the neighbourhood and for some time used as a day school. It was considered a mark of respectability to hold a pew in the church and those pews were handed down from generation to generation.

Craven through the years

9:24am Friday 1st February 2008

100 years ago Mr W Clough, Liberal MP for Skipton, presented to the House of Commons a petition from 484 inhabitants of Skipton protesting against the practice of allowing children to be present in drinking bars of public houses. They said it was detrimental to their health and morals and to the wellbeing of the community. The petition called for the House to include a clause to exclude children under 14 from drinking in bars in the forthcoming Licensing Bill.

Craven through the years

9:33am Friday 25th January 2008

100 years ago The chauffeur of Conservative parliamentary candidate Captain Richard Roundell, of Gledstone Hall, appeared in court for not having a rear light attached to his motor car. Captain Roundell was a great advocate of the "horseless carriage" and had previously told how the new invention had helped him get around during his unsuccessful election campaign. However, his vehicle was spotted by a constable parked outside the Black Horse, on Skipton High Street, with no rear lamp attached. The driver told the PC he had gone to the pub to get a lamp after realising he had missed lighting up time.

Craven through the years

9:21am Friday 18th January 2008

100 years ago Two Earby men faced each other in court after fighting over a dead cat. One claimed he was looking into a shop window on Earby "Main Street" when the defendant went up to him and, without the slightest provocation, began "knocking him about". The victim asked his assailant: "Why have you done that?" and the defendant replied: "I will let you know" before resuming the onslaught, causing two black eyes and knocking out two teeth. The defendant denied being the aggressor and said the trouble arose over his prize cat and some prize pigeons belonging to the complainant. He said he had met the complainant on Water Street and accused him of poisoning his cat to protect his pigeons. He said the complainant then attacked him and he retaliated. The case was dismissed after a policeman called to the incident told the court he had seen "no black eyes".

Craven through the years

9:25am Friday 11th January 2008

100 years ago The sturdy Conservative organisation of the Grassington polling district lacked a common meeting place and centre. In a word, the Grassington workers wanted a club. The Herald mused: "Such an institution has been found necessary in less important places than Gerston' and the wonder is that this popular pleasure resort has so long been left out in the cold".

Craven through the years

9:20am Friday 4th January 2008

100 years ago The poor and afflicted in Skipton were looked after right royally at Christmas. Indeed, so far as the public and rate-aided institutions were concerned, there were those who thought that the public had been too generous and that a considerable amount of the good things might have been distributed among those who shrank from parading their poverty.

Craven through the years

9:28am Friday 28th December 2007

100 years ago A vicar attacked the evil concept of socialism while addressing the rather sinister-sounding Earby Brotherhood. The Herald noted how, during the Rev R Tallantire's lecture on "the Battle of Socialism and How to Win It", "the disciples of socialism were conspicuous by their absence". The report read: "Mr Tallantire prefaced his address by asking, Where are the socialists? And he then proceeded to attack them for their intolerance."

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