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Topcliffe
Topcliffe maps
Historic maps of Topcliffe and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Topcliffe maps
Topcliffe area books
Displaying 1 of 28 books about Topcliffe and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Topcliffe
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Topcliffe.
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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
North Yorkshire memories
69 Years of Being A Part of Rainton
69 years ago I remember my father going to war. Many tears. He was in the RAF and was sent to Topcliffe and Dalton. He was occasionally based at then Skelfield School. He made a lot of friends in Rainton. They we're willing to open their homes to my mom and I for holidays. 69 years on, my family and I are still coming up to Rainton, having a caravan at The Nursery Garden Holiday Park just a mile from Rainton. It is still a beautiful village, part of my life.
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.
Evacuee
I lived in Baldersby St James at the begining of the war. I was with my grandfather and we lived in the house nearest to the schoolteacher's. My grandfather, Mr Hodgson, was caretaker for the school and the church, he used to work the bellows for the organ on Sundays. I remember that I was given a small bucket when I arrived in Baldersby so that I could go to the well and help to bring water to the house. I went to the school for at least a year and really enjoyed myself. One vivid memory is learning to polish shoes at Mrs Potter's (?) farm. After a year or more, I returned to my home in Stockton-on-Tees and Granddad moved to Harrowgate. I have been back just a few times but as I now live in France it is not very often, unfortunately.
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.
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.
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.
