An early start

It was dry when I left home but by Gribdale Gate, the wind had picked up and it was beginning to spit, and any thoughts of photography had been forgotten.

Still, it was pleasant to see Gribdale empty of cars; apart from two early dog walkers.

It’s has always been a popular car park as the easiest ascent up to Capt. Cook’s Monument, but since the yellow lines and parking charges have been enforced in Newton, it is often heaving.

Gribdale was the traditional starting place for that time-honoured custom of the ‘Beating of the Bounds‘ for the Manor of Great Ayton¹‘MANOR OF GREAT AYTON.’ | York Herald | Saturday 24 September 1859 | British Newspaper Archive.” Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk, 2022, www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000499/18590924/076/0001.[Accessed 23 November 2022].. This typically involved thrashing the boundary stones with branches to ensure a communual knowledge of the manor boundaries is retained (I imagine John Cleese thrashing the bonnet of his car in Fawlty Towers).

An attempt to revive the practice happened in 1930. After a lapse of twenty years, the Lord of the Manor, 83-year-old Alfred Thornhill, led the large congregation on a nine mile permabulation of the moors, ‘with all the energy and buoyancy of youth‘²‘Beating The Boundary.’ | Leeds Mercury | Saturday 28 June 1930 | British Newspaper Archive.” Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk, 2022, www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000748/19300628/198/0007.‌.

The Thornhill family had been Lords of the Manor since about 1857 as trustees on the death of Elizabeth Proctor³‘In Chancery.’ | Yorkshire Gazette | Saturday 07 March 1857 | British Newspaper Archive.” Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk, 2022, www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000266/18570307/098/0001.[Accessed 23 November 2022].⁴“Parishes: Great Ayton | British History Online.” British-History.ac.uk, 2022, www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/yorks/north/vol2/pp225-231#p19.[Accessed 23 November 2022]..

They are perhaps best known for having made a gift of the two village greens in Great Ayton to the Parish Council in 1909⁵‘VILLAGE GREENS TO BE HANDED OVER TO PARISH COUNCIL.’ | Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough | Friday 18 June 1909 | British Newspaper Archive.” Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk, 2022, www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000159/19090618/129/0006. [Accessed 23 Nov. 2022]..

• 1
  ‘MANOR OF GREAT AYTON.’ | York Herald | Saturday 24 September 1859 | British Newspaper Archive.” Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk, 2022, www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000499/18590924/076/0001.[Accessed 23 November 2022].
• 2
  ‘Beating The Boundary.’ | Leeds Mercury | Saturday 28 June 1930 | British Newspaper Archive.” Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk, 2022, www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000748/19300628/198/0007.‌
• 3
  ‘In Chancery.’ | Yorkshire Gazette | Saturday 07 March 1857 | British Newspaper Archive.” Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk, 2022, www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000266/18570307/098/0001.[Accessed 23 November 2022].
• 4
  “Parishes: Great Ayton | British History Online.” British-History.ac.uk, 2022, www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/yorks/north/vol2/pp225-231#p19.[Accessed 23 November 2022].
• 5
  ‘VILLAGE GREENS TO BE HANDED OVER TO PARISH COUNCIL.’ | Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough | Friday 18 June 1909 | British Newspaper Archive.” Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk, 2022, www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000159/19090618/129/0006. [Accessed 23 Nov. 2022].