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| Wensley Dale Knitters |
John gave me a belated Christmas present which he bought at the Antiquarian Book Fair in York earlier this month. It is a print from Walker's Costume of Yorkshire, a book of coloured prints, with some text accompanying each, that was published in 1814. The plates in the book show ordinary working people, in various parts of Yorkshire, going about their daily lives. Images of that kind are unusual for the days before photography (and extremely useful to museum curators in Yorkshire).
My print shows a village scene in Wensleydale, with everyone busy knitting. I suppose it should be possible to identify the village from the church and the profile of the hill across the valley, and possibly the exact spot, assuming that Walker was accurate in drawing the scenery.
The accompanying text describes how the working people of Wensleydale knitted whenever they had their hands free, whatever other occupations they had:
"Simplicity and industry characterize the manners and
occupations of the various humble inhabitants of Wensley Dale. Their wants, it
is true, are few; but to supply these, almost constant labour is required. In
any business where the assistance of the hands is not necessary, they
universally resort to knitting. Young and old, male and female, are all adepts
in this art. Shepherds attending their flocks, men driving cattle, women going
to market, are all thus industriously and doubly employed. A woman of the name
of Slinger, who lived in Cotterdale, was accustomed regularly to walk to the
market at Hawes, a distance of three miles, with the weekly knitting of herself
and family packed in a bag upon her head, knitting all the way. She continued
her knitting while she staid at Hawes, purchasing the little necessaries for
her family, with the addition of worsted for the work of the ensuing week; all
of which she placed upon her head, returning occupied with her needles as
before. She was so expeditious and expert, that the produce of the day's labour
was generally a complete pair of men's stockings."
I love it - it's a great gift for a knitter interested in history.
How lucky you are. Good old pictures of knitters are strangely hard to find.....I know because I have spent quite a time looking for them.
ReplyDeleteThats a lovely picture, what a thoughtful gift. The church appears to be Holy Trinity Church in the village of Wensley.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Gillian - I'll look for photos of Wensley church, and maybe go there to check it out when the weather improves. It would be interesting to see how different it is now.
DeleteI have just unpicked the words above from the back of a print owned by my grandfather (born in Hawes in 1901). A small part of the text was missing, so glad you reproduced it here. Have we any idea who wrote the words? They will soon be on a wall in New Zealand, I would love to be able to name the author (and even date the text...). Probably asking too much here. Tim.
ReplyDeleteHi Tim. I assume that George Walker wrote the text as well as painting the originals of the prints - I've never seen any suggestion that anyone else was the author. He came from Yorkshire and clearly knew the county well. The article here http://theleedslibrarycollections.blogspot.com/2012/12/walkers-costume-of-yorkshire-1814.html has some interesting information - the Leeds Library is a private subscription library that still exists. Barbara
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