Capturing the Past

Capturing the Past is the project we set up in 2014 to train people and groups from across the Yorkshire Dales to catalogue and digitise their own local history archives. Ten year on it now hosts 5,000 catalogue records from some 34 large collections and 19 individual contributions, accessible as downloadable photos, wills, parish records, deeds, indentures and spoken memories. It also has contributions from individuals who are happy to share their knowledge of the Dales and its impact upon them and their families. And, with continued funding from us, it remains a completely ‘free to use’ online social history archive.

One recent contribution of note is Brayshaw’s ‘Red Book’. Thomas Brayshaw was a solicitor living in Stackhouse, near Giggleswick. Thomas lived from 1854 to 1931 and became the recognized authority in all matters of local historical interest. His ‘Red Book’ is essentially a scrapbook of cuttings from 1905 to 1928 concerning Giggleswick and the surrounding area. The book itself is the property of St Alkelda’s Church in Giggleswick, but is on indefinite loan to the Brayshaw Collection at Giggleswick School to ensure safe storage.

Although most of Brayshaw’s scrapbook is about St Alkelda’s Church, there are photographs and drawings of Giggleswick. He includes a document recording the purchase, through subscription, of a new hearse for the Parish of Giggleswick. £89-8s-0d was collected, including a contribution of two guineas from a ‘Thomas Brayshaw’. We must assume this ‘Thomas Brayshaw’ was the solicitor’s father, as a date of 1856 has been pencilled onto the page.

Thomas also pointed out where there was an attempted break in tradition. He annotated a photo with the comment “Oak bucket, professedly for the purpose of bringing water for the font from the Ebbing and flowing Well, as so bolster up the newly-invented ‘theory’ that it is the old ‘Holy-Well of the place. The original ‘Holy well’ or ‘St Awkeld well’ is situate near the Hostel.”

Please email: dalescommunityarchives@gmail.com, to discuss a contribution to the archives.

dalescommunityarchives.org.uk