Thursday, July 1, 2004

100 years ago: Further to the recent near-drownings reported, a letter was printed calling the attention "of those responsible" to the dangerous and unprotected state of that part of the river Foss named Wormalds Cut, at the lower end of Navigation Road. For some time past there had been a sunken vessel there, but during the time the water was drawn off it was removed, and the bed where it had lain was a "veritable death-trap" for children there. On one day alone no fewer than eight children had to be rescued, three the writer had seen himself in just three and a half hours, and he was now hoping that somebody would prevent the "inevitable" drowning fatality which he expected to happen.

50 years ago: Most of the bombs dropped on York during the 1942 blitz were recorded for posterity on the mahogany dining table in the Mansion House, for while that disastrous raid was at its height, ARP wardens set up temporary headquarters there, and in plotting the location of each bomb dropped scored their maps so heavily that the table still carried the indentations. Visitors to the Mansion House sometimes heard about this when they are being show round by the butler, who also said that the raid did some good too. The "large, ugly windows" overlooking St Helen's Square were blown out, and it was decided to replace them with Georgian frames in keeping with the rest of the house, which in his opinion was an improvement.

25 years ago: Visitors to The Lodge at Malton would have a rare chance to see a haunted room, and a secret stairway and room where Roman Catholic priests hid to escape persecution from the Protestants in the early 17th century. The central part of The Lodge and the large wall that hid it, along Old Maltongate, were built in the early 17th century by Ralph, Lord Eure. He was a Catholic, and so he had built a secret staircase leading to an apartment where mass could be said in the roof, and a priest hole in one of the bedrooms.

Updated: 08:42 Thursday, July 01, 2004