Handing on the torch in a remote rural parish

When the Rev Michael Hazelton was invited to be the president of the Danby agricultural show last year he was following in another clergyman’s footsteps.

“The show was started by Canon Atkinson who was the first priest to live in this vicarage which was built for him,” says Rev Hazelton.

“The wonderful thing about Danby Show is that it still retains his basic vision of encouraging local farmers to show their best livestock and it has kept its identity as very much an agricultural show.

“Being president last year was certainly the highlight of my six years here so far.”

His Victorian predecessor, the Rev JC Atkinson, had come to the village in 1847 and he found the quiet seclusion of his new parish ideal for observation, reflection and inquiry.

He used some of his time to produce a number of works on antiquarian and other subjects and in 1891 published the book for which he is best known, Forty Years in a Moorland Parish.

He drew on his experience to depict at first-hand the life and traditions of the moorland people of this remote part of north east Yorkshire.

And in the book he gives his insider account of how the agricultural show first came about.

He writes: ‘Forty-four years ago, at the rent dinner given to Lord Downe’s tenants, reference was made to the desirability of something of the nature of a Show of livestock in the district.

‘I took the opportunity of offering, if the farmers were really wishful, to organise such an association, to undertake the secretary’s part; and in no long time I became secretary and treasurer, giving whatever assistance in other directions I could, or as far as my experience and ability permitted; and I remained secretary for 31 years...

‘As to the stock on the farms our farmers have considerable flocks of sheep, a few of them Improved Leicester, but the great bulk are Blackfaced or so-called ‘moors sheep’.

‘I remember at the first, or perhaps second, Show we held being myself in attendance on the judges, recording their decisions and bestowing the premium tickets as they were awarded, hearing one of the judges, as he cast his eye over the lot as they arrived, and noticed a strange looking brindled, breedingless animal, say to the other ‘I say, what breed is this?’ The answer was ‘Well, I don’t know. I should say between a bear and a jackass!’

‘But our show soon altered that; especially as Colonel Duncombe, the owner of most of the land in the adjoining parish of Westerdale, had already interested himself of the improvement of the stock kept in the district, and with an eye to it had introduced some good blood from the Duncombe Park herd of the day...

‘Only half a dozen years ago one of the tenants on the Estate exhibited a Shorthorn bull which not only carried off more than 30 premiums in local and other more important or provincial exhibitions, but took a second at the All-England Show held in York.’

Today the Rev Hazelton believes the relevance of Danby Show, so many years after inception, is as integral to the fabric of rural life around here as it ever was.

“It is still a very important annual event encouraging local farmers and craftsmen to take part. It is a way of showing what we are doing in the countryside and how well we are doing.

“The North York Moors communities have retained their character.

“There is a large percentage who have lived here all their lives and that gives its unique identity.

“We’re a very close-knit community in the parish I serve which includes Danby, Castleton, Commondale, Westerdale and Moorsholm.”

However he also warns of a longer term problem that may change that familiar and cherished identity in the future if it is not addressed fairly soon.

“House prices here are very high. When young people leave home to further their education it’s not easy for them to move back and purchase property of their own.

“The effect is that we have an increasingly ageing population. There are employment possibilities though. Boulby Mines, near the coast, are hoping to sink a new shaft and farmers have diversified into bed and breakfast.

“ But in terms of overall employment it is still farming and the land which provides most work as it always has.”

Outwardly Danby Dale, where the show is held directly opposite the vicarage, does not appear to have changed over the years.

Since the days of foot and mouth however the numbers of sheep in the area have gone into steep decline.

“But the quality of our livestock at Danby Show cannot be underestimated,” adds Rev Hazelton.

“Our farmers who show at Danby in 2011 will once again be upholding the magnificent tradition started by Canon Atkinson.”

There are many Country Week readers who send in traditional Yorkshire sayings and examples of dialect and there seems to be a general impression that these are disappearing.

Funnily enough, Canon Atkinson felt much the same was happening in the Danby district all those years ago and he wrote:

‘There is one change and a great one which I cannot help remarking upon, and in a tone of real regret, which is not lessened because I myself have been ‘art and part’ in it to so great an extent.

I mean the decay of the old pure Yorkshire speech. Time was when I heard it all around me, and from the mouths of all my old parishioners.

Time has been when a southerner, showing more and more perplexity as the dialogue proceeded, would at last break out with a laughing inquiry ‘What language was it we were speaking?’

Canon Atkinson needn’t have worried. My good friend, Farndale farmer and leading sheep showman Andy Fawbert will once again be showing at Danby’s 151st show.

Anyone who wishes to hear ‘moors-speak’ should listen to him. They may be as perplexed as the Canon’s Atkinson’s 19th century southerner.

The show’s organisers took advantage of having a priest as president last year by asking Rev Hazelton was asked to pray for a fine day.

They were blessed with a fine one.

They have asked me to be president this year, so here’s hoping.

Danby Show, Wednesday, August 10.

DANBY DIALECT REMEMBERED

* Some Danby dialect recorded in Forty Years in a Moorland Parish by Canon J C Atkinson in 1891.

* ‘He’s ower mickle a feeal to ken how many beans mak’s five.’ (He’s a skinflint).

* ‘He’s that thin, he’s lahk a ha’porth o’ soap efter a lang day’s weshing.’ (He’s skinny).

* ‘Ay, she’s tied a knot with her tongue she’ll be matched to unloose wiv her teeath.’ (A woman newly-married, but not wisely).

*‘Ay, there’s t’heead an’ t’ hair; but there’s nowght else.’ (No brains or any gumption).