There has been a Wintringham Hall in Knaresborough for over
600 years. Family History records tell us that Alice and Joan Wintringham,
daughters of Thomas Wintringham, were born there in 1410 and 1415
respectively. They appear to have married very well into the Plumpton
family. Alice married Godfrey Plumpton and Joan his elder brother
Sir William Plumpton. They were the sons of Sir Robert Plumpton
and his wife Alice. The Plumpton name is well-established, the
family having been in the area since the early 12th century and
giving their name to the village of Plumpton near Spofforth.
The family was well off and well-connected: prior to 1200,
William de Stuteville,
Lord of
Knaresborough, granted to Nigel de Plumpton, and his heirs:
"... for
the
usual services, and one horse of the value of one hundred shillings,
all that part of the Forest of Knaresborough which included Little
Ribston, Plumpton, and Rudfarlington; along with the right of
chasing
the fox and hare throughout the whole forest - reserving to the
superior lord the deer, the hind, and the roebuck."
William was only eighteen when his father died. He fought in the
wars in France and was granted a Knighthood.
Much later when Wintringham Hall became a hotel it had a plaque
on its wall which said
"................It was for centuries in the possession
of the Earl of Wintringham's family, hence the letters E. W.
on the fallpipe with the Earls Coronet overhead. In the reign
of Edward the Fourth (1461-1483) this house was the headquarters
of one of the most celebrated matrimonial tangles of that time.
The Marriage, after long litigation in the Law Courts was finally
legalised by the Consistory Court at York"
This episode relates to Joan's marriage to Sir William Plumpton.
Sir William wished to keep this second
marriage of his a secret, which must have been very awkward for
Joan and their children, especially when it came to the question
of inheritance. Apparently it was said that Joan was being "kept"
by Sir William in his house in Plumpton and "... had begot
on her divers offspring in amplexibus fornicariis, to
the great peril of his soul and grievous scandal of all the faithful...".
On 6 July 1472 depositions were taken from the parish clerk of
Knaresborough and others that the marriage had in fact taken place,
though clandestinely, about twenty one years previously. Plumpton
correspondence By Edward Plumpton, Thomas Stapleton,
Camden Society (Great Britain) includes family tree pages
x-xi and details of the dispute, in particular pages lxxiii-lxxvii.
Though the hotel was demolished in 1957 it is fondly
remembered by Margaret Mary Gillingwater (née Darvill) which
has stimulated the creation of this article.
Drawings of the hotel and cafe by A (Albert?)
Walker, 1948.
The cafe some time before 1950. The petrol
pumps
which used to stand on the corner can
clearly
be
seen on the left of the photograph.In the early twentieth century Wintringham Hall was a hotel on
the High Street in Knaresborough. On the other side of Park Place
was its Cafe and Party Rooms. Park Place led to the old Roxy Cinema
and one can imagine cinema goers enjoying a drink or meal in the
cafe before their evening's entertainment. Mr and Mrs Roberts
owned the hotel and
cafe in the 1940s. There used to be petrol pumps in front of the
hotel on the corner of the High Street and Park Place but Mrs Roberts
had these removed in the late 1940s to make more parking space.
When she was a child Margaret was told that Dick
Turpin had stayed at the hotel on his way to York and this is not
outside the bounds of possibility. Turpin fled to York from London
in 1737 and settled in East Yorkshire. Most of his activities centred
around the eastern side yorkshire, including cattle and horse rustling
from Lincolnshire. He was finally discovered and hanged in
York in 1739. More
information on Dick Turpin
In front of the hotel, 1953.
Left to right:
Mr Charles A Roberts,
Mrs
Richards, Mrs Mack (a
friend of the Roberts),
Vera &
Mrs
Ruth Roberts . The artist A. Walker, who created the drawings shown
above, stayed at the hotel
and did many drawings and paintings of Knaresborough.
Next door to the hotel was a
butcher named Mr Knowles -
he
kept a cow, a horse and a lot of chickens
at the side of the hotel.
The
shop next to the cafe was Mr& Mrs Walker's grocer's shop.
The house was quite substantial having seven bedrooms and three
attic rooms which would almost certainly have been servants' quarters
when the house was a private home. The upper floors were served
by two staircases: the main staircase had a stained glass window
halfway up and the back staircase was for staff use.
One of the bedrooms must have been very strange to sleep in as Margaret
remembers:
"There was one room that had a box mattress placed
over the bath.
I think that this was the old original bathroom,
the room was only about 6ft wide with a washbasin."
The
guest bathroom facilities were not extensive: only one bathroom
with a toilet and one separate toilet. Rainwater was cleverly made
use of:
"A workman had gone up into the attic and
said
above that room there was a wooden water container that was very
cleverly designed to catch the rain water
from the roof for the bath below. I guess it would
be lead lined."
However, the guests did have en suite facilities of sorts, which
Margaret remembers, understandably, none too fondly:
"All the bedrooms had
chamber pots in little
bedside cupboards at the side of the beds.
So guess what - we had to empty them (lovely job)."
The rooms were all carpeted and had hot and cold running
water - as opposed to jugs of water supplied with a basin.
The hotel had a kitchen, of course,
and store rooms, though as Margaret says:
"We didn't need a big pantry as there was enough
shops of all kinds in the town to get anything you wanted."
She goes on to describe the kitchen:
"The kitchen was fairly large.
It
had the old fire range in the centre and we had
to light the fire in winter to keep warm.
It
was the usual black range with the oven and water
boiler.
But
the cooking was done on two gas ovens.
You could walk around the
fire range at both sides to a washing up area which led to another
room
for kitchen equipment.
All
pots and pans were done by hand (no
dishwashers).
One
small gas fridge in the hotel and one on the
cafe side.
We had the kitchen fire and one in the upstairs
visitors' lounge to light in the winter."
There
was no central
heating. All
of the rooms had fireplaces and the
bedrooms all had electric fires.
There was a very small room at the bottom of the stairs which
Margaret describes:
THe hotel in 1953."At the bottom of the stairs, this little
room
was the telephone kiosk, it was only big enough for one person.
What
it was used for when it was a family house I
don't know."
The Public Dining Room, left front, with
impressive
sideboard in the recess at
the back.The whole of the front of the ground floor was taken up by dining rooms
- one on each side of the central hallway.
The photographs of the Public Dining Room show what would once have
been an elegant domestic room, probably a family dining room given
the presence of an impressive sideboard fitted into a curved recess.
The sideboard had a fine brass rail around the back and a wine cooler
in the centre.
On each side of the recess was a plaster cast cameo silhouette,
we think these may have been of the owners of the house
when it was a private home, perhaps the Earl and his wife.
Margaret remembers some of the kinds of food and drink served at the
hotel:
"Breakfast: Cereal & English
breakfast.
Lunch. & Evening
meals: Meat, 2
veg
Yorkshire pudding .
Plaice & chips. Toad in
the Hole.
Soup first & sweet to follow.
Afternoon
Tea: tea with cakes, bread &
butter with jam. or scones.
High
Tea: Egg, Ham, or Salmon salads.
Mixed
Grills , Fish & Chips, Welch Rarebit,
sausage, egg & chips.
Sweets & puddings:
ice cream , Spotted Dick,
Rice Pudding, Queen of Tarts,
all
made in the hotel.
Mrs
Strike used to sit and peel sacks of
potatoes and pod sacks of peas.
The
only things that were brought in were cream,
cakes & bread .
It
was not a licensed hotel so we had to go
out to one of the public houses to obtain the drink the guest
required."
The Visitors' Lounge was on the first floor together with all of the bedrooms,
plentifully supplied with armchairs and ash trays.
In the cellar there were three to four very big rooms. Margaret was not
keen on the darker cellar rooms:
"The cellars were used for storing furniture
and
such like, but at one stage we had our meals down there as it
was lovely and cool in the summer time.
It
was okay in the first room but in the
others it was dark and I was not brave enough to explore.
The
house that is at the top of Park Place on
the left hand side, I was told that a tunnel led from that
house
to Wintringham Hall. That too is a
very old house."
At the back
of the hotel was a large garage which was probably converted from an original
stable and carriage house. It almost faced the
entrance to
the Roxy cinema so must have been quite long.
The Staff of Wintringham Hall
Hotel 1952.
Left to right:
Mrs Strike,
Margaret's mum Marion
Darvill,
Ida Blackburn,
Mrs Sadler, Mrs Mills,
with Margaret at the front The cafe also had bedrooms above and party rooms.The total number of
staff for both the hotel and cafe would be about
10 to 15. Margaret remembers friends and staff: and their duties:
"Mrs Richards worked in the kitchen.
Vera
was one of the waitresses.
Mrs
Ruth Roberts did most of the cooking. Mrs Strike a cleaner.
My
mum she was a waitress and also helped with the
bedrooms.
Ida Blackburn a
waitress, who also helped in the
bedrooms.
Mrs
Sadler in the kitchen and Mrs Mills was on the
cafe side as cook.
Myself I
worked there in the school holidays, then
when I left school at the age of 15 in 1953
I
went to work at the hotel to learn the trade.
Mr and Mrs
Roberts had the hotel and the cafe so it was back and forth to both
.
Her own particular day was long:
"My day started 7.30 in the morning until about
8.00 in the evening .
Sometimes
I started at 10.00 in the morning until
10.00 or 11.00 at night.
It
all depended on how busy we were, so we finished
earlier sometimes. Six
days a week.
We took the guests their early morning tea.
At
night we turned the beds down and placed
their night attire on the beds.
In
the winter time we filled hot water bottles,
and if they wanted a late night drink we always made it
for
them.
They also left their shoes out
to be cleaned, there was only 2 or 3 pairs so it was not too bad.
But
it was a long day for the hotel workers. I
was always told if you could do a job sitting down
do it so that it rested your legs.
The staff all ladies, apart from Mr Roberts,
were always laughing and joking even though it was hard work."
Some of her duties would be unheard of today:
"We had a customer, Mrs Mason, who worked at Nidd
Vale Motors Bond End.
Once
a week in her lunch hour she went to the
hairdresser's at Helen Butler's opposite Barclay's Bank.
Well
I had to carry a big tray with a pot of
tea , roast dinner and a sweet,
and
the High Street full of people.
Can
you imagine what it would look like now,
but that was part and parcel of those times."
If you have memories of the Hall or would like
to comment on this article please email
us.
