On me bike which meant I had to negotiate Guisborough’s busy town centre!

Surprisingly quiet.

The town cross is relatively modern but the steps are worn, perhaps part of the Medieval Market cross although a 17th or 18th century engraving shows circular steps¹‘Heritage Gateway – Results’. 2012. Heritagegateway.org.uk <https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=ae6e1ce2-a7d3-45a8-aabd-250a0bf48fe4&resourceID=19191> [accessed 7 December 2022]²‘MARKET CROSS and DRINKING FOUNTAIN, Guisborough – 1329553 | Historic England’. 2012. Historicengland.org.uk <https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1329553?section=official-list-entry> [accessed 7 December 2022].

Perhaps the engraving also shows the town’s bull-ring which was located very near the cross³Blakeborough, R. ‘Sports & Pastimes 100 Years Ago.’ | Northern Weekly Gazette | Saturday 28 March 1903 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2022. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003075/19030328/115/0013> [accessed 25 November 2022]. Yes, bull-baiting was a very popular in this period and most towns had their bull-ring. Guisborough was no exception with the ring being reported as still extant in 1860⁴Ibid..

The ring would possibly been as simple as an iron ring fixed firmly to the ground where the bull would have been tethered. Although it could likely have been a pit. But whatever, a ring through the bull’s nose tethered it to the bull-ring. It would have pepper blown up its nose and two or three bull-dogs snapped at its stomach.

Pepper would be blown up the bull’s nose to goad it and it was then set upon by up to three bulldogs whilst others would be trained to climb on its back and attack its snout⁵Rhodes, James. 2018. ‘A Short History of Bull-Baiting in Leeds’, Rhodes to the Past (Rhodes to the Past) <https://rhodestothepast.com/2018/08/08/a-short-history-of-bull-baiting-in-leeds/> [accessed 7 December 2022]. The dogs would likely end up being tossed and gored by the horns of the bull.

This barbaric practice was considered good sport by all classes of society. Blakeborough writes of a Great Ayton inhabitant, “when quite a lad,” skiving off to Guisborough to see a bull being baited⁶Blakeborough, R. ‘Sports & Pastimes 100 Years Ago.’ | Northern Weekly Gazette | Saturday 28 March 1903 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2022. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003075/19030328/115/0013> [accessed 25 November 2022]. Blakeborough goes on to suggest this took place sometime after 1821.

There were a few dissenting voices. Robert Southey, the Romantic English poet, wrote⁷Mortimer, Ian. The Time Traveller’s Guide to Regency Britain. Page 330. Penguin Random House. 2021.:

“… the amusement is to see him toss the dogs, and the dogs lacerate his nostrils, till they are weary of torturing him, and then he is led to the slaughter-house to be butchered … The bear and the badger are baited with the same barbarity; and if the rabble can get nothing else, they will divert themselves by worrying cats to death.”

There was some justification to the practice. It was thought, and this is a pure misconception that, if a bull was baited just before being slaughtered, its meat would be made more tender. In fact, under an ancient Act of Parliament, no butcher was allowed to sell bull beef which had not been publicly baited⁸Newspaper cuttings: Great Ayton news  14 December 1926 STOKESLEY’S SIGNS .Page 7/8. <http://greatayton.wdfiles.com/local–files/newspapers/Tom-Kirby-Newspaper-Cuttings-News.pdf>.

One attempt to ban bull-baiting on the grounds of cruelty came in 1802 but George Canning, a future Prime Minister, said that the practice “inspires courage and produces a nobleness of sentiment and elevation of the mind“⁹Mortimer, Ian. The Time Traveller’s Guide to Regency Britain. Page 330. Penguin Random House. 2021..

• 1
  ‘Heritage Gateway – Results’. 2012. Heritagegateway.org.uk <https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=ae6e1ce2-a7d3-45a8-aabd-250a0bf48fe4&resourceID=19191> [accessed 7 December 2022]
• 2
  ‘MARKET CROSS and DRINKING FOUNTAIN, Guisborough – 1329553 | Historic England’. 2012. Historicengland.org.uk <https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1329553?section=official-list-entry> [accessed 7 December 2022]
• 3
  Blakeborough, R. ‘Sports & Pastimes 100 Years Ago.’ | Northern Weekly Gazette | Saturday 28 March 1903 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2022. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003075/19030328/115/0013> [accessed 25 November 2022]
• 4
  Ibid.
• 5
  Rhodes, James. 2018. ‘A Short History of Bull-Baiting in Leeds’, Rhodes to the Past (Rhodes to the Past) <https://rhodestothepast.com/2018/08/08/a-short-history-of-bull-baiting-in-leeds/> [accessed 7 December 2022]
• 6
  Blakeborough, R. ‘Sports & Pastimes 100 Years Ago.’ | Northern Weekly Gazette | Saturday 28 March 1903 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2022. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003075/19030328/115/0013> [accessed 25 November 2022]
• 7
  Mortimer, Ian. The Time Traveller’s Guide to Regency Britain. Page 330. Penguin Random House. 2021.
• 8
  Newspaper cuttings: Great Ayton news  14 December 1926 STOKESLEY’S SIGNS .Page 7/8. <http://greatayton.wdfiles.com/local–files/newspapers/Tom-Kirby-Newspaper-Cuttings-News.pdf>
• 9
  Mortimer, Ian. The Time Traveller’s Guide to Regency Britain. Page 330. Penguin Random House. 2021.