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Round Yorkshire With A Knife: The Wizard's Quest Part 19 - Of Car-Boots & Castles...
Background: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/sh...-to-Jack-Black
Recent instalments -
Part 13: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...nife-The-Wizard’s-Quest-Part-13-–-Settle-Down
Part 14: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...-The-Wizard’s-Quest-Part-14-Withering-Heights
Part 15: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...Wizard’s-Quest-Part-15-–-The-Marmalade-Barlow!
Part 16: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...he-Wizard’s-Quest-Part-16-–-The-Week-That-Was
Part 17: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...’s-Quest-Part-17-–-What-A-Way-To-Spend-Easter
Part 18: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...d’s-Quest-Part-18-–-By-the-Banks-of-the-River
It was early Sunday morning, and I was off to a 'car boot' sale at the small North Yorkshire village of Ripley. As you may recall from the last time I passed through the place (see http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...kshire-With-A-Knife-The-Wizard’s-Quest-Part-5) Ripley has a long and rather odd history, but is certainly a picturesque village, complete with a 14th century castle and Yorkshire's only Hotel de Ville. The local cricket club raise money for charity by holding a monthly car boot sale in the spring and summer months. It's usually a bit more up-market than some similar events, with prices to match, but you also tend to get higher quality items on sale, and less tat to wade through.
On my way to Ripley, I passed a car-boot sale in a field next to the Leeds-Harrogate road. This was the one I'd turned up for the other week, only to find that the only evidence of an event were the huge signs advertising it. Since it was actually on today, I thought I might stop off to visit it on my return from Ripley.
It was a very gloomy morning, and it looked like rain was likely, something which had undoubtedly reduced the number of sellers at the Ripley event. Ordinarily the stalls form a large circle in the allocated field, with an inner circle of stalls too. This week there was just the outer circle with maybe a dozen stalls on the inside.
Most of the punters are just looking for general bargains, taking their time over each stall, anxious not to miss anything. I, on the other hand, tend to move from one to the next very rapidly as I'm obviously not going to find any penknives on a stall devoted to clothing or vinyl for example. Generally I know just the sort of stall I'm looking for.
As I walked along, I could see that there was very little for me here on this occasion, but I saw a chap I've bought from before, who I'd hoped would be there. Inside a glass-topped case were about a dozen folders, and I bought the best of them.
In spite of its broken blade, I quite like the small Lewis Barnascone Balloon penknife, a small cutler I'd never heard of before, but whose history makes interesting reading if you look it up. The Richards key knife with the broken blade was thrown in by the stall-holder. If anyone remembers the similar Richards knife with a British farthing coin I picked up a few weeks back, this is where the firm went when the Royal Mint stopped issuing farthings. It's noteworthy that the Richards mark is very clearly a lamp-post here, whereas on earlier knives the symbol is actually a lighthouse.
On leaving the car-boot, I checked my watch, and since there were 30 minutes to the next bus, I thought that I'd better take a few pics for you. The pock-marked church walls are evidence of less tranquil times at Ripley, when defeated Royalists were shot during the English Civil War. To say they were involved in the famous Gunpowder Plot of 1605, as well as on the losing side in the civil war, the Ingilby family, seem to have faired better than their executed foot-soldiers, still owning the village, and still in residence at Ripley Castle.
With my handful of slip joints, I headed back to the other sale I'd passed earlier. Pickings tend to be even slimmer here, but I have had the odd find. I alighted from the bus, only to find a a very small event about a quarter of its usual size. There was nothing even remotely interesting on display, and since I ended up having to wait an hour for another bus, I regretted ever having got off the one I had previously been on.
During the week, I visited both Otley and Knaresborough (also with a castle of course), passing up a badly-worn Equal End in Otley, and an inferior Buck 110 copy in the latter town.
My local market seems to have gone stale on me, and it's been months since I found anything there. One of the traders gave me the penknife above this week, and I also picked up a this interesting lay's travelling companion.
On Saturday of the following weekend, I had intended to visit ancient Grassington in North Yorkshire, returning to Leeds via Skipton, but plans change, and I ended up going for a walk at Sandal Castle near Wakefield. Since today, Sandal is merely a suburb, I hadn't really expected to find any knives here, but a charity shop yielded this funnyl wee thing for the equivalent of about 30 cents. Fancy it Meako?!
Sandal Castle dates back to 1130, when the original motte and bailey was constructed, and throughout the 12th and 13th century it was built up into a huge and impressive stone castle. In 1460, during the War of the Roses, the Battle of Wakefield, during which the Duke of York was mortally wounded, was fought in the fields below the castle, where today rapeseed grows.
Even at the time of the English Civil War, Sandal Castle was falling into ruin, but the remains of the once-great fortification still make for an interesting visit, and there are spectacular views from the tower, of Wakefield and the surrounding countryside. There's also a visitor's centre, where I purchased a small pamphlet entitled 'Walks in Robin Hood's Yorkshire', which with the help of some threadbare references, lays claim to the legendary outlaw as a son of Wakefield.
On Sunday, I rose early, with the intention of visiting a car-boot sale at Wetherby, but as I slipped out of my front door, it began to rain heavily, meaning there was little point in going. What bad luck!
Monday was a bank holiday here, and I headed for York. After a walk round the city's ancient stone walls, I toured round it's antique shops, hoping to find something to satisfy the Wizard's Quest. I came across this Joseph Rodgers' penknife, a find for sure, but not fulfilling the requirements of the Quest. Despite the huge number of knives produced by Rodgers, I only come across examples rarely, and have been after one for another poster since long before the Wizard's Quest began. Hopefully, the fact that search is now over is a good omen, and it won't be much longer until the Wizard too has his prize.
The Hunt Continues!
Jack
Background: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/sh...-to-Jack-Black
Recent instalments -
Part 13: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...nife-The-Wizard’s-Quest-Part-13-–-Settle-Down
Part 14: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...-The-Wizard’s-Quest-Part-14-Withering-Heights
Part 15: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...Wizard’s-Quest-Part-15-–-The-Marmalade-Barlow!
Part 16: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...he-Wizard’s-Quest-Part-16-–-The-Week-That-Was
Part 17: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...’s-Quest-Part-17-–-What-A-Way-To-Spend-Easter
Part 18: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...d’s-Quest-Part-18-–-By-the-Banks-of-the-River
It was early Sunday morning, and I was off to a 'car boot' sale at the small North Yorkshire village of Ripley. As you may recall from the last time I passed through the place (see http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...kshire-With-A-Knife-The-Wizard’s-Quest-Part-5) Ripley has a long and rather odd history, but is certainly a picturesque village, complete with a 14th century castle and Yorkshire's only Hotel de Ville. The local cricket club raise money for charity by holding a monthly car boot sale in the spring and summer months. It's usually a bit more up-market than some similar events, with prices to match, but you also tend to get higher quality items on sale, and less tat to wade through.
On my way to Ripley, I passed a car-boot sale in a field next to the Leeds-Harrogate road. This was the one I'd turned up for the other week, only to find that the only evidence of an event were the huge signs advertising it. Since it was actually on today, I thought I might stop off to visit it on my return from Ripley.
It was a very gloomy morning, and it looked like rain was likely, something which had undoubtedly reduced the number of sellers at the Ripley event. Ordinarily the stalls form a large circle in the allocated field, with an inner circle of stalls too. This week there was just the outer circle with maybe a dozen stalls on the inside.
Most of the punters are just looking for general bargains, taking their time over each stall, anxious not to miss anything. I, on the other hand, tend to move from one to the next very rapidly as I'm obviously not going to find any penknives on a stall devoted to clothing or vinyl for example. Generally I know just the sort of stall I'm looking for.
As I walked along, I could see that there was very little for me here on this occasion, but I saw a chap I've bought from before, who I'd hoped would be there. Inside a glass-topped case were about a dozen folders, and I bought the best of them.
In spite of its broken blade, I quite like the small Lewis Barnascone Balloon penknife, a small cutler I'd never heard of before, but whose history makes interesting reading if you look it up. The Richards key knife with the broken blade was thrown in by the stall-holder. If anyone remembers the similar Richards knife with a British farthing coin I picked up a few weeks back, this is where the firm went when the Royal Mint stopped issuing farthings. It's noteworthy that the Richards mark is very clearly a lamp-post here, whereas on earlier knives the symbol is actually a lighthouse.
On leaving the car-boot, I checked my watch, and since there were 30 minutes to the next bus, I thought that I'd better take a few pics for you. The pock-marked church walls are evidence of less tranquil times at Ripley, when defeated Royalists were shot during the English Civil War. To say they were involved in the famous Gunpowder Plot of 1605, as well as on the losing side in the civil war, the Ingilby family, seem to have faired better than their executed foot-soldiers, still owning the village, and still in residence at Ripley Castle.
With my handful of slip joints, I headed back to the other sale I'd passed earlier. Pickings tend to be even slimmer here, but I have had the odd find. I alighted from the bus, only to find a a very small event about a quarter of its usual size. There was nothing even remotely interesting on display, and since I ended up having to wait an hour for another bus, I regretted ever having got off the one I had previously been on.
During the week, I visited both Otley and Knaresborough (also with a castle of course), passing up a badly-worn Equal End in Otley, and an inferior Buck 110 copy in the latter town.
My local market seems to have gone stale on me, and it's been months since I found anything there. One of the traders gave me the penknife above this week, and I also picked up a this interesting lay's travelling companion.
On Saturday of the following weekend, I had intended to visit ancient Grassington in North Yorkshire, returning to Leeds via Skipton, but plans change, and I ended up going for a walk at Sandal Castle near Wakefield. Since today, Sandal is merely a suburb, I hadn't really expected to find any knives here, but a charity shop yielded this funnyl wee thing for the equivalent of about 30 cents. Fancy it Meako?!
Sandal Castle dates back to 1130, when the original motte and bailey was constructed, and throughout the 12th and 13th century it was built up into a huge and impressive stone castle. In 1460, during the War of the Roses, the Battle of Wakefield, during which the Duke of York was mortally wounded, was fought in the fields below the castle, where today rapeseed grows.
Even at the time of the English Civil War, Sandal Castle was falling into ruin, but the remains of the once-great fortification still make for an interesting visit, and there are spectacular views from the tower, of Wakefield and the surrounding countryside. There's also a visitor's centre, where I purchased a small pamphlet entitled 'Walks in Robin Hood's Yorkshire', which with the help of some threadbare references, lays claim to the legendary outlaw as a son of Wakefield.
On Sunday, I rose early, with the intention of visiting a car-boot sale at Wetherby, but as I slipped out of my front door, it began to rain heavily, meaning there was little point in going. What bad luck!
Monday was a bank holiday here, and I headed for York. After a walk round the city's ancient stone walls, I toured round it's antique shops, hoping to find something to satisfy the Wizard's Quest. I came across this Joseph Rodgers' penknife, a find for sure, but not fulfilling the requirements of the Quest. Despite the huge number of knives produced by Rodgers, I only come across examples rarely, and have been after one for another poster since long before the Wizard's Quest began. Hopefully, the fact that search is now over is a good omen, and it won't be much longer until the Wizard too has his prize.
The Hunt Continues!
Jack
Last edited:
[Non-knife content off]
