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Thirsk
Thirsk maps
Historic maps of Thirsk and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Thirsk maps
Thirsk area books
Displaying 1 of 28 books about Thirsk and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Thirsk
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Thirsk.
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Bagby
I grew up in Bagby, moving there around 1988 and it holds some of the fondest memories for me. I lived in the village for 15 years before moving out of the area but I always make a point of driving through whenever I visit family close by. The village seems to have grown enormously, new houses near to The Greyhound which I believe has been renamed now and my old house bears little resemblance to its former grand incarnation. Bagby will always be a magical place for me and my only hope is that the new buildings don't begin to overpower the old.
A Childhood in And Around Thirsk
I spent my childhood in and around Thirsk, although living in the nearby village of Sowerby. Thirsk was where I went to secondary school. It is where we shopped and went to the cinema (there were two of them, The Regent and The Ritz). Teenage years saw me and my friends attending dances at the local town hall. Sometimes we had visiting well known bands such as Kenny Ball. It was a fun time to be living in.
North Yorkshire memories
Place Where I Was Born
Sowerby holds many happy memories for me. I was born there in April 1935 and left for pastures new in 1957. Over the years I have made many visits back to my homeland from Australia. The village has changed very little apart from looking more prosperous than in my childhood, and alas most of the people I once knew have died or moved on.
My Grandma And Grandad Bill And Hannah Chapman
I used to have wonderful memories going to stay with my grandma and grandad who lived next to a farm owned by people called Gardiner I think. I played with the very close farm families' children. And although I was brought up as a Jewish girl as my dad was Jewish, the liveliest memoriesI have are of my grandma's twinkly lights on the Christmas treee. We never had one at home and the couple of Christmases I spent there were the only times Father Christmas remembered me. Grandma would clean the church and I'd have toffees from the post office. There was one shop and each Monday there would be a bus we'd catch taking us to Thirsk to go shopping. My name was Francine Solomons. Truly, Bagby holds very happy memories. There was a grand house with windows bricked up, I used to see ghosts around that house. Grandad was a big Geordie with a great head of hair and everyone knew him, in the farm next door. One... Read more
Topcliffe Fair
I lived on Long Street in Topcliffe 1958-1972 - opposite the old school, which is now a post office, and therefore on the other side of the road from this photo. I was excited by the fair, horses trotting along the road, smells, sights and sounds different from usual, lots of people, including photographers who wanted to take pictures from our upstairs windows and the occasional visitor who would ask to use our loo. Gypsy children attended Topcliffe school in the period before the fair, one family came for several years running, the boys wore orangey-brown boots. Village people and the gypsies didn't seem to mix, although I've been told that a generation earlier, gypsies came to give condolences on the death of my grandfather who had been a butcher in the village, so there must have been some channels of communication. And for the generation before my grandfather, I believe that the fair lasted three days or more, including fairground rides??? In 1969 or early 1970, I spotted a... Read more
Lawrence Tait Williams- A Resident of Kirby
I come from Poland. I met L.T. Williams (Uncle Bill for me) when he was visiting Poland some years earlier. To be honest, he made me learn English, he invited me and my brother to Kirby then his son David and his wife Elizabeth invited me to Maidenhead. It all seemed like a fairy tale as Poland was a diiferent country then. Now it`s slowly reaching the state your country was in when I arrived here. Uncle Bill was and still is my hero, who showed me the world and taught me not only language but values. I owe so much to him and his family. I miss Kirby- such a picturesque and typically English place. Now I`m an English teacher myself and I pass these values to my students. Thanks Uncle Bill!
Rose Cottage -- Baldersby-St-James
I live in the USA -- Florida to be precise.
My birth certificate says I was born in Baldersby-St-James in Rose Cottage on October 30, 1950. I hope to travel to the UK next year, and hope to find a record of my birth in the local [Anglican] church, and also see my birth place if it still exists.
Somewhere in my photos, I have a picture of my mother holding me outside Rose Cottage. I will post the picture when I locate it. I am hoping that someone can help me with the physical address of this location.
