OF THE

CITY OF YORK;

AND

The North Riding of Yorkshire;

EMBRACING

A GENERAL REVIEW OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN,
AND A GENERAL HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF

THE COUNTY OF YORK.

By T. Whellan and Co.

IN TWO VOLUMES.-VOL. I.

BEVERLEY:

PRINTED FOR THE PUBLISHERS, BY JOHN GREEN, MARKET PLACE.

1857.

PREFACE.

THE more than usual amount of approval with which the recently published Topographical History of York and the East Riding was received by the general body of the subscribers, as well as by the press of the County, encouraged the publishers to extend their labours to the interesting and highly important district of North Yorkshire; and they now feel a just pride in being in a position to state, that the amount of patronage which has been accorded to them in that locality is perfectly satisfactory, and flattering in the extreme. It, too, must be pleasurable to the inhabitants of the North Riding an almost purely agricultural district-to know that amongst them is a very large number of patrons of antiquarian and topographical literature— exclusive even of the higher classes.

It is proposed to supply a good History and Topography of York and the North Riding of Yorkshire, in two volumes, written in a popular style to suit all classes, and as free as possible of the technical terms, legal verbiage, and classical dicta, by which the compilations of many learned authors are rendered so insufferably dull to the generality of readers; that is, to those who are not deeply versed in antiquarian lore, and whose limited education precludes them revelling in the literary delights of the classic regions.

The learned classes will easily understand why the present work contains so much plain English, and so little of that quaint Saxon dialect, with which historians are wont to crowd their works: in the following pages, the most simple and common phrases and quotations in Latin are rendered in English, so that "those that run may read." This plan was adopted in the abovementioned History of York and the East Riding, and appears to have met with a general approbation. The highly respectable editor of a York newspaper-himself a historian-in a review of that production says, "The work does the authors infinite credit, for nothing of public interest in the

sphere marked out, has escaped their notice." Another reviewer observes"The authors possess a clear and pleasing style of writing, and in a work intended for all classes, have abstained from the controversial discussion of vexed questions, as altogether foreign to the object of this work." A third says of it—“ There is a good deal in these volumes which goes far to remove them from that mere twaddle and compilation which, in nine cases out of ten, is the grand feature in local histories. It is not often that we have to note the appearance of a work like the present." Whilst a fourth reviewer, after declaring that the authors "are deserving of the highest praise," &c., adds, that "a more generally useful and interesting work" than it, "could not occupy the library table of a Yorkshire country gentleman, or the fireside shelves of a farmer, fond of local reminiscences."

If the History, &c., of York and the East Riding, merited such encomiums as these, the first volume of the present work (which is now submitted with much deference) must be worthy of some consideration, seeing that it is (necessarily) in great part at least, a revised and corrected edition of the first volume of that history. And here it may be proper to observe that though the title of the publishers firm has been changed since the publication of the work for the East Riding, from "J. J. Sheahan and T. Whellan," to "T. Whellan and Co.," yet no change whatever has taken place in the modus operandi-the staff employed on both works being the same.

The arrangement of the first volume embraces a general review of the early history of Great Britain, and the ancient Kindom of Northumbria; a general history and description of the County of York; a history of the venerable City of York, with its magnificent Cathedral, and numerous antiquities; and a history of the time honoured Borough of Scarborough," the Queen of English Watering places."

The second volume will contain concise histories of all the Market Towns, and a topographical survey of all the parishes, villages, &c., in the North. Riding of the County.

Beverley, 1857.

Index to Vol. I.