The Wainstones

I was heading down a proverbial rabbit hole this afternoon when I stumbled across this little snippet from the York Herald, 25 Aug. 1849¹“COUNTRY NEWS.” York Herald, 25 Aug. 1849, p. 6. British Library Newspapers, link-gale-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/apps/doc/R3211065468/GDCS?u=ed_itw&sid=GDCS&xid=a0160610. Accessed 26 Apr. 2021.:

“Gipsy” Party. — On Thursday week, a company from Bilsdale assembled on Wainstone-nab, intending to hold a “Gipsy” party on its summit. Wainstone-nab is a hill which overlooks the village of Broughton, and commands an admirable view of the vale of Cleveland. This company was shortly afterwards joined by certain individuals from Broughton and the neighbouring villages, amounting, in all, to about one hundred and fifty. Mr. Hunter’s celebrated brass band attended. During the day, the sky began to darken, and loud peals of thunder rolled in the distance; a storm approached; the vivid lightning glared, and rain fell in torrents on the mountain. The company retreated to the Wainstones, which afforded a temporary shelter. It became impossible, however, to continue the proceedings, and the party left the hill as soon as possible, and were comfortably sheltered at the residence of Mr. J. Spink, a farmer, in the vicinity, where about ninety individuals partook of tea. The company afterwards returned to their respective homes.

What on earth is a “Gipsy” Party?

An account in the 1830s refers to one as being “a species of entertainments peculiar to our islands, called in Wales ‘grass parties’, in Jersey ‘milk parties’, and at Greenwich and Richmond ‘PIC-NICS’“²STAUNTON, FRANK. “A GYPSY PARTY.” Tourist; A Literary and Anti-Slavery Journal, under the Superintendence of the Agency of the Anti-Slavery Society, 8 Oct. 1832, p. 30. Nineteenth Century UK Periodicals, link-gale-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/apps/doc/CC1903250860/GDCS?u=ed_itw&sid=GDCS&xid=c48fa826. Accessed 26 Apr. 2021.. Ah, the penny is dropping, a picnic I understand.

But on Baildon Moor, near Bradford, in the 16th-century the “gipsy party” was an annual gathering of genuine gypsy folks³“For a ‘Gipsy Party.” Cheltenham Chronicle, 24 Aug. 1929, p. 6. British Library Newspapers, link-gale-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/apps/doc/JF3238152890/GDCS?u=ed_itw&sid=GDCS&xid=989fd8aa. Accessed 26 Apr. 2021.⁴“Gypsy Carnivals – BaildonWiki.” Baildonwiki.co.uk, 2018, www.baildonwiki.co.uk/wiki/index.php/Gypsy_Carnivals. Accessed 26 Apr. 2021.. By the 18th-century though, it had been taken over by locals dressing up as Romanies, and perpetuating the customs of electing a “King” and “Queen” and celebrating the marriage of a “prince” and “princess”. A camp was set up on the moor, selling besoms, clothes pegs, baskets, mats, and so on, and a broth of the finest local game was provided, at which the gamekeepers turned a blind eye.

The festival lapsed towards the end of the 19th-century but was successfully revived in 1929 and continued until the start of the Second World War. There is some interesting British Pathé footage of this 1929 gathering but bearing in mind that many of these would have been locals dressing up, I do feel somewhat uneasy‌⁵British Pathé. “Romany Festival at Baildon in Yorkshire.” Britishpathe.com, 2021, www.britishpathe.com/video/VLVA7B4U8SW7FI0JMZ932KEK4TC4Z-ROMANY-FESTIVAL-AT-BAILDON-IN-YORKSHIRE. Accessed 26 Apr. 2021..

• 1
  “COUNTRY NEWS.” York Herald, 25 Aug. 1849, p. 6. British Library Newspapers, link-gale-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/apps/doc/R3211065468/GDCS?u=ed_itw&sid=GDCS&xid=a0160610. Accessed 26 Apr. 2021.
• 2
  STAUNTON, FRANK. “A GYPSY PARTY.” Tourist; A Literary and Anti-Slavery Journal, under the Superintendence of the Agency of the Anti-Slavery Society, 8 Oct. 1832, p. 30. Nineteenth Century UK Periodicals, link-gale-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/apps/doc/CC1903250860/GDCS?u=ed_itw&sid=GDCS&xid=c48fa826. Accessed 26 Apr. 2021.
• 3
  “For a ‘Gipsy Party.” Cheltenham Chronicle, 24 Aug. 1929, p. 6. British Library Newspapers, link-gale-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/apps/doc/JF3238152890/GDCS?u=ed_itw&sid=GDCS&xid=989fd8aa. Accessed 26 Apr. 2021.
• 4
  “Gypsy Carnivals – BaildonWiki.” Baildonwiki.co.uk, 2018, www.baildonwiki.co.uk/wiki/index.php/Gypsy_Carnivals. Accessed 26 Apr. 2021.
• 5
  British Pathé. “Romany Festival at Baildon in Yorkshire.” Britishpathe.com, 2021, www.britishpathe.com/video/VLVA7B4U8SW7FI0JMZ932KEK4TC4Z-ROMANY-FESTIVAL-AT-BAILDON-IN-YORKSHIRE. Accessed 26 Apr. 2021.