At Bolton the window may be seen from which she was lowered to the
ground, and one can trace the way she took in a north-easterly direction
across the rocky bed of the rushing stream into the woods below the
"Shawl." The window from which she escaped is the upper one of the three
running horizontally with the south-western tower. There is another
window to the prison-room which looks into the inner courtyard. The
apartment is grim and bare, with a small fireplace, and steps leading
down into a larger bare apartment, once the "drawing-room." Though
externally the castle is not so picturesque as Middleham, it is much
more perfect and interesting. The hooded stone fireplaces remain in the
walls, and various rooms can be located, from the hall and chapel to the
vault-like stables in the basement. The well, too, is perfect, with
scooped-out wall to the upper chambers, not forgetting the awful dungeon
in the solid rock. A large apartment with wide Tudor fireplace has been
converted into a museum, and the curiosities are of a varied nature,
from cocking spurs and boxing-gloves from the sporting centres of
Leyburn and Middleham to the bull-fight banderillos of Spain. There is
quite an assortment of weird-looking instruments of torture, which,
after all, are only toasting-dogs, huge cumbrous things like
antediluvian insects or much magnified microbes. How is it these
appurtenances of domestic comfort have entirely died out like the now
extinct warming-pan? But this museum can no way be compared with Mr.
Home's wonderful collections at Leyburn. Here you can learn something
about everything, for the kindly proprietor of the museum takes a pride
in describing his curios. Those who have been to Middleham and seen the
castle immortalised by Shakespere, may here study Edward IV.'s fair
hair. As rare a curiosity is a valentine of the time of William III.
From the treasures of Egyptian tombs you skip to the first invented
matches; from Babylonian inscriptions to early-Victorian samplers. And
the learned antiquarian relates how he was educated in the old Yore mill
at Aysgarth by old John Drummond, the grandson of the Jacobite Earl of
Perth, who had to hide himself in a farm in Bishopdale (How Rig) for his
hand in the '45, when the Scotch estates were confiscated for aiding the
cause of the Bonnie Prince. Were it not for Mr. Home's interest in
old-time customs, the bull-ring in the market-place would have
disappeared, for the socket was nearly worn through when he had it
repaired. He relates how at the last bull-baiting the infuriated beast
got away and sent the whole sportsmen flying, and at length was shot in
Wensley village.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account