Danby Rural Life Collection launches at Little Fryup Dale
The Danby Rural Life Collection at Stonebeck Gate Farm in Little Fryup Dale has been launched and is open to visitors at weekends.
People attending the official opening included North York Moors National Park staff and volunteers who had helped to restore the collection and recorded conversations with members of the farming community.
Warm tributes were paid to Dr Bob Robinson and Rev David Adam whose enthusiasm had given this project its initial impetus some sixty years ago.
As they travelled round upper Eskdale, Dr Bob and Rev David began to acquire surplus farm tools and household utensils that would otherwise have been discarded by their owners.
The GP and vicar had become aware of how rural life was changing, with electricity and increasing mechanisation replacing hand and horsepower as the drivers of farm work.
As the collection grew it was moved to new locations, including Danby Lodge and Danby Mill.
In 2013, with the support of the Dawnay Estate, the collection arrived at its present home.
Since then, the Kelly family at Stonebeck Gate Farm has taken care of it, with Jill Kelly being particularly instrumental in driving the recent project forward.
Housed in the farm’s Victorian stables and hay loft, the collection has undergone a major programme of conservation, been fully catalogued and redisplayed.
Museum-standard interpretation panels describe how families worked the land by hand and horse; this information is complemented by the voices of local farmers telling stories of their own experiences.
Most of the tools and equipment on display haven’t been used for at least fifty years.
They include peat and haystack cutters, pitchforks, butter churns, cheese-making tubs, cobblers’ lasts, pre-electric irons, a hand-cranked early washing machine and implements for hitching horses to a plough.
The objects, information boards and recorded voices together offer a picture of a time when horses provided power in the fields, heating was by peat and turf fires, light provided by candles and oil lamps and households made their own cheese and butter.
Recreation is also represented through displays such as items from the traditional moorland game of knurr and spell.
Host Jill Kelly said: “It’s vital that the legacy of Eskdale’s farming families of the past is made available to visitors.
“We’re so delighted to see the collection become much more accessible, complemented by the voices of local people with related stories.”
The launch was attended by Lady Downe of the Dawnay Estate and Eddie Robinson, son of Dr Bob.
Eddie said: “Having seen my father collect these items and help my mother care for and catalogue them during numerous moves, it’s wonderful to see them in such excellent condition and explained
so clearly.
“My father would be delighted to know the collection is in such good hands.”
The exhibition designer is Bill Bevan who considers it one of his favourite projects to work on: “It’s not every day you can transform a collection like this so that visitors can discover the stories of local families who had to do everything by hand or with horses.”
The project has been supported by the Defra-funded Farming in Protected Landscapes programme, Yorkshire Agricultural Society and the North York Moors Historic Environment Grant. The latter comes from the National Park Authority’s agreement with Anglo-American, associated with their Woodsmith Mine development.
The project is also indebted to the Dawnay Estate for ongoing support.
Danby Rural Life Collection is free to view at Stonebeck Gate Farm, Fryup, YO21 2NS from 10.00am to 4.00pm on Saturdays and Sundays.
You can also arrange to visit at other times by contacting Jill Kelly on 07527 680880, [email protected] or via Facebook or Instagram.
Refreshments can be arranged with Jill, who is also happy to accommodate groups by arrangement.