Two-stoop yate

‘Gate’, as in Westgate and Belmangate of Guisborough, is an old Scandinavian word meaning a ‘way’ or ‘road’. This is etymologically different to the modern useage of the word, which stems from the Old English word ‘geat‘ for a “door, opening, passage, or hinged framework barrier”¹‘Etymonline’. 2021. Etymonline.com <https://www.etymonline.com/word/gate?ref=etymonline_crossreference#etymonline_v_1309> [accessed 1 December 2022].

In Yorkshire though, we say ‘yate’, ‘yat’ or ‘yet’²‘Yate – Yorkshire Historical Dictionary’. 2022. York.ac.uk <https://yorkshiredictionary.york.ac.uk/words/yate> [accessed 1 December 2022]. Thus the old name for Chop Gate is ‘Chop Yat’, although Chaucer used the word, for example in ‘The Clerk’s Tale‘:

But with glad cheere to the yate is went

“But with a glad face to the gate she went”³‘From Geoffrey Chaucer’s “the Canterbury Tales”, the Clerk’s Tale, Lines 1009-1029’. 2022. Librarius.com <http://www.librarius.com/canttran/clrktale/clrktale1009-1029.htm#:~:text=But%20with%20glad%20cheere%20to%20the%20yate%20is%20went> [accessed 1 December 2022].

Another North Country word is ‘stoop‘ or ‘stowp‘, defined as “a post fastened in the earth”⁴Brockett, J.T., “A Glossary of North Country Words in Use; with their Etymology, and Affinity to other Languages; and Occasional Notices of Local Customs and Popular Superstitions”, E. Charnley, 1829, https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6-cQAAAAYAAJ, i.e. a gate-post or yate-post.

I’ve been volunteering today with the National Trust in Bransdale in a lovely patch of mature oak wood pasture called Church Banks. We were planting some oak saplings as, being constantly grazed by sheep, the trees are prevented from regenerating naturally.

The wood pasture is on the route of an old trackway connecting Bransdale Mill and Spout House with the church at Cockayne⁵‘MNA146608 | National Trust Heritage Records’. 2015. Nationaltrust.org.uk <https://heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk/HBSMR/MonRecord.aspx?uid=MNA146608> [accessed 1 December 2022]. It can be determined by a grassy hollow way after fording the beck and passing through this ‘two-stoop gate’⁶‘MNA146039 | National Trust Heritage Records’. 2015. Nationaltrust.org.uk <https://heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk/HBSMR/MonRecord.aspx?uid=MNA146039> [accessed 1 December 2022].

The wooden five-bar gate is modern but the stoops are dated as ‘Post Medieval’ and are described as follows⁷‘MNA146039 | National Trust Heritage Records’. 2015. Nationaltrust.org.uk <https://heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk/HBSMR/MonRecord.aspx?uid=MNA146039> [accessed 11 December 2022]:

“The E stoop [left in the photo] is a rectangular block with a square top, 1.40m high, 0.26m wide and 0.50m thick with two existing pintels replaced with new ones. The W stoop [right] is also a rectangular block with a slightly pyramdial top, 1.40m high, 0.25 wide and 0.50m thick with one partly broken socket 0.02m square and 0.09m deep towards the top. Like other gate posts on the route, these were designed to impress and have the appearance of manufactured stoops.”

• 1
  ‘Etymonline’. 2021. Etymonline.com <https://www.etymonline.com/word/gate?ref=etymonline_crossreference#etymonline_v_1309> [accessed 1 December 2022]
• 2
  ‘Yate – Yorkshire Historical Dictionary’. 2022. York.ac.uk <https://yorkshiredictionary.york.ac.uk/words/yate> [accessed 1 December 2022]
• 3
  ‘From Geoffrey Chaucer’s “the Canterbury Tales”, the Clerk’s Tale, Lines 1009-1029’. 2022. Librarius.com <http://www.librarius.com/canttran/clrktale/clrktale1009-1029.htm#:~:text=But%20with%20glad%20cheere%20to%20the%20yate%20is%20went> [accessed 1 December 2022]
• 4
  Brockett, J.T., “A Glossary of North Country Words in Use; with their Etymology, and Affinity to other Languages; and Occasional Notices of Local Customs and Popular Superstitions”, E. Charnley, 1829, https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6-cQAAAAYAAJ
• 5
  ‘MNA146608 | National Trust Heritage Records’. 2015. Nationaltrust.org.uk <https://heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk/HBSMR/MonRecord.aspx?uid=MNA146608> [accessed 1 December 2022]
• 6
  ‘MNA146039 | National Trust Heritage Records’. 2015. Nationaltrust.org.uk <https://heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk/HBSMR/MonRecord.aspx?uid=MNA146039> [accessed 1 December 2022]
• 7
  ‘MNA146039 | National Trust Heritage Records’. 2015. Nationaltrust.org.uk <https://heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk/HBSMR/MonRecord.aspx?uid=MNA146039> [accessed 11 December 2022]