Out & About …

… on the North York Moors, or wherever I happen to be.

Glaisdale Swangs

“ … a wet, morassy division of the Danby and Glaisdale high moors” according to the Rev. Canon Atkinson1Atkinson, Rev. J. C. “Forty years in a moorland parish; reminiscences and researches in Danby in Cleveland”. 1891. Page 340.. He was describing shooting Golden Plover at the time, a practice that today is totally immoral and illegal.

The word ‘swang‘ occurs fairly frequently, originating from the old Norse word ‘svangr‘ meaning a hollow usually boggy2Elgee, Frank (1912). The Moorlands of North-Eastern Yorkshire: their natural history and origin. Page 28. London: A Brown & Sons. OCLC 776748510..

It is a moor with a tragic history.

Henry Atkinson, a 32-year-old farmer, left Gill Beck Farm on horseback heading for Lealholm Bridge on the afternoon of Tuesday  19 May 1896. Gill Beck Farm [High Gill Beck] is on the east side of Glaisdale, about 3½ miles from Lealholm3‘York Herald | Thursday 21 May 1896 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2023. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000500/18960521/006/0003> [accessed 24 February 2023]4‘Whitby Gazette | Friday 22 May 1896 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2023. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001103/18960522/070/0003> [accessed 24 February 2023]5‘York Herald | Saturday 23 May 1896 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2023. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000500/18960523/028/0006> [accessed 24 February 2023]6‘Northern Weekly Gazette | Saturday 30 May 1896 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2023. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003075/18960530/077/0009> [accessed 24 February 2023].

There he tried to buy some laudanum for “a mare that was ill” but none was available so he went to Stokesley where he brought 6 ounces from the chemist, George Wm. West. He arrived back in Lealholm at 10 p.m., mounted his horse and headed home accompanied by a farmer named William Smith.

On parting, they wished each other good night and Atkinson said he would not see Smith any more.

Atkinson’s body was found in a shooting butt on Swang Moor at about 3 ‘clock the following afternoon. His horse was found in Glaisdale; the bottle that contained the laudanum was found ¾ mile away.

An inquest was held on Friday 23rd May 1896 at the Board Inn, Lealholm Bridge, where Atkinson’s body had been taken. He was found to have “committed suicide by taking laudanum while temporarily insane“.

What strikes me from this sad history is the speed of happening. Atkinson must have gone to Stokesley and back by train, presumably leaving his horse grazing on the village green. Stokesley railway station was a mile out of town, a 20-minute walk. But surely Whitby would have been nearer?

The inquest had been held within 48 hours of the body being found. Of course, I appreciate there is a need for urgency, especially in May.

Life as a dales farmer must have been for many a solitary and isolating experience. Farming was still largely done by hand, with few machines to make the work easier or more efficient. They often had to work long hours, tending to crops and livestock with only farmhands for company, and without much interaction with neighbours making it difficult to socialize or share resources.

At the same time, many farmers may have been struggling financially. Crop failures, weather disasters, and other challenges often made it difficult for farmers to make ends meet, leading to feelings of frustration and hopelessness.

Feelings which are often still prevalent today.

 

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3 responses to “Glaisdale Swangs”

  1. JOHN joseph JEFFERS avatar
    JOHN joseph JEFFERS

    thank you for sharing this story from the Dales. A tragic tale indeed. A sense of hopelessness is often the catalyst for depression and the farming community is to this day at risk of taking matters into their own hands, unfortunately. I wonder what if any dependants he left?

    Reply
  2. Graeme Chappell avatar
    Graeme Chappell

    In ‘The Exploits of Sir Jack of Danby Dale’ – old Rev Atkinson notes
    “…..the place now called Glaisdale Swangs, which even much less than a hundred years ago had still an uncanny reputation, because it was said to be the special haunt of misleading beings whose practice and joy it was to waylay any benighted persons, and to lead them through bog and thicket and tangle, and not leave them till the dawn came to dispel the illusion and show the weary, belantered and bemired wayfarers the road that led to their homes.”

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    1. Fhithich avatar
      Fhithich

      Thanks, Graeme. I’ll save that snippet of info. for the next time I head over that way.

      Reply

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