Uncovering our community history

Our past comes alive in the small details as well as the events of the history books. Today we welcomed a detectorist to our hay meadow. Just like the enthusiasts in the television series, he had a wealth of information to share about what he had found and the insight it gives into the people who lived here generations ago.

This shoe buckle fell off in our hay meadow in the late 1700s or early 1800s. It might have belonged to a farm labourer or it might have belonged to someone working at the rope mill just next to our farm. The path that cuts diagonally through the meadow will have been worn by workers making their daily treck from Pateley to work, cutting the corner of the river, and you can imagine it falling as they did so.

On the other hand, the buckle could have fallen off the well heeled Heirs of Grassfield Hall, who claimed hunting and fishing rights on the land. Whichever the shoe, little treasures like this point to community history in the local area.

River View Pateley holiday cottages are part of the long history of Nidderdale. Iron Age roundhouses at Gouthwaite, Roman camps at Bewerley, battles, industry and innovation are all part of what made the land the way it is today. Driving all this were the activities of the people who lived here.

Visitors come to us for the beautiful walks and the peaceful scenery. There is a wealth of history underneath. Shillings that might have been weekly wages, weights to keep flowing skirts under control… We will be sharing more news on the everyday treasures found under the soil over the next few weeks.

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