Whashton Parish Meeting Committee,
Please read the following carefully as it contains some important information for the Parish.
QUEENS JUBILEE TEA PARTY – Sunday 5th June 3pm -– just bring yourselves, nice weather and a picnic!
Financial position – quick summary:
The net profit of the inaugural 100 Club (£536) will be sufficient to meet the budgeted costs in 2022/23 of the 'must do' items (e.g. insurance ,website, venue hire) whilst the c/fwd balance (£363) will help meet any unanticipated costs (e.g. extra meeting to consider major planning app .To maintain this approach the 100 Club will need to be repeated in January 2023 with a similar level of take up (i.e. 57 out of 100 balls). Any proposal to apply for a Parish Precept will be submitted at the WPM on 5th October 2022 to which you will all be invited and reminded by email and on the website. The various contributions made for the purposes of maintaining/improving The Green will be earmarked for that purpose and expenditure recorded accordingly. No funds raised via the 100 Club will be used to maintain The Green (£160). We are very short of money to upkeep the green due to essential repairs and spares that have been bought and the rising cost of fuel. The grass cutting fund (re fuel) is likely to run out in June. We seem to have plenty of willing grass cutters so it would be an irony if we had no fuel! Please send any cash donations to John Moore or by bank transfer using: Bank details are: Whashton Parish Meeting, 20 25 29, 10141038
100 Club update:
We still have some numbers available for purchase
Anyone interested in purchasing a number for the monthly 100 club draw can do so by contacting:
Richard Osborne (rg.osborne777@gmail.com)
Richie Smith (rdspainting@btinternet.com)
Sally Zaranko (sally.zaranko@gmail.com)
2022 winners of 100 club: - well done and thank you for supporting the parish!
January draw: Robbie MacDonald , Pam Braithwaite, Paul Bernard
February Draw: Jane Connors, Graham & Hazel Dickinson, Hazel Leah
March Draw: Kevin Brenkley, Sue Amery, Steven Braithwaite
April Draw: Ady MacDonald, Graham and Hazel Dickinson, Jane Connors
May draw: Sue Amery, Guy & Suzann Hird, Tad Zaranko.
Road Safety:
You are more likely to be seriously injured or killed on rural roads than urban roads. Anyone interested in knowing more please see the following website:
We do have so wheelie bin stickers available for those who wish to promote this initiative. The next 20s Plenty for North Yorkshire County zoom meeting is Thursday 12th May 2022 at 7.30pm. To join the meeting, Please click on this link.
I would appreciate someone who feels strongly about this to take the lead to support this - please let me know if that person is you!
New Website:
We have a new website www.whashtonparish.co.uk We hope that it is easy to navigate and that all residents can find their way around the site, and it is a one stop shop for information relating to the Parish. All newsletters, minutes and updates will be available on there from Jan 2022. You will notice the quarterly publication of the newsletters and the 4 meetings per year of the committee which will start in January 2022.
Meeting dates; Wednesdays at 7.00pm Ravensworth Village hall
Q1. January - 5th January - minutes circulated and on website
Q2. April AGM – election of key officers – 6th April – minutes circulated and on the website
Q3. June AGAR – 29th June
Q4. October PRECEPT – 5th October
Newsletters to be released quarterly to include minutes;
Q1 Feb – Winter
Q2 May – Spring
Q3 August -Summer
Q4 November – Autumn
If you see any motorbikes or quads actually on our bridlepath – please phone it in to the police on 999 as it is classed as a crime in action. Failing that 101 it , especially if you have any details on the vehicles or drivers/riders.
Footpath response from NYCC
Thursday 7th April – after the AGM meeting.
Dear Sally,
Thank you for your enquiry. As I think I may have mentioned previously the County Council is only required to maintain a ford at this location suitable for bridleway traffic. While it certainly would very much improve the route to install a footbridge for pedestrians, we could only look to fund this once all the outstanding maintenance on bridges we are required to maintain has been completed. While we are making some progress on these it will be some time before we are on top of this backlog. We no longer install steppingstones due to the impact they have on water flow and the resulting increased risk of flooding. However, if alternative sources of funding could be found for a new footbridge, the County Council would be happy to lend its expertise to installing the bridge and may be willing to take on its maintenance. To supply and install a footbridge at this location would cost in the region of £50,000.
Kind regards
Andy Brown
Public Rights of Way Officer, Hambleton and Richmondshire
North Yorkshire County Council
I will look and see if we can get any finding from anywhere…….I can feel a petition coming on!! If anyone has ideas for funding let me know.
Whashton Parish - Net Zero Carbon Footprint Project: here are the links to our own Climate change action page and also that of Richmondshire council and Green energy Dr with useful links for those of you interested.
PEAT FREE Compost Why Use Peat-Free Compost?
In Britain peatlands are found in upland areas as blanket bogs and in the lowlands as lowland raised mires. They are complex habitats, each type supporting many rare and specialised species of plants and insects. Peat is formed by Spahgnum mosses which grow very slowly and then only partially decay when they die due to the wet, acidic conditions, thus storing their carbon.
Peat bogs are the largest and most efficient carbon store on earth (10 times more carbon per hectare than any other ecosystem, including forests) and they hold nearly 30% of all the carbon stored on land, so they are an important defence against climate change. Peat is the UK’s largest carbon store and in England it is estimated to be storing 580 million tonnes of carbon. has been extensively dug up in the UK for horticultural purposes, such as for growing media. Bagged retail growing media accounts for 70% of the peat sold in the UK. Currently, nearly three million cubic metres of peat are sold for horticultural use every year in the UK, one third of which comes from UK peatlands. When this extraction takes place, the carbon stored inside the bog is released as carbon dioxide, contributing to climate change.
As gardeners we can make a real difference to the protection and enhancement of these vital peat bogs by not using peat-based composts. Peat-free alternatives are becoming more widely available at local garden centres and the quality has improved enormously. Recommended brands include Melcourt Sylvagrow (based on by-products of sustainably managed British forests, Dalefoot (produced in Cumbria from bracken and wool) and Fertile Fibre (based on coir, a bye-product from coconuts). B+Q and Wilko own brand peat-free composts are also recommended by Which.
For further information see:
Jenny and Paul on their woodland project
In December 2021, about 4,000 small saplings were planted in a couple of fields at the lower end of the village. The trees are a native mix including Alder, Aspen, Beech, Birch, Cherry, Hornbeam, Oak, Scots Pine, Holly, Hazel and Rowan. Our hope is that the planting will one day be worthy of the title Whashton Wood but currently, that name sounds a bit grand for such tiny specimens!
One tree stands head and shoulders above the rest: a lovely Beech planted in memory of Peter Stanwix who farmed the local land, together with his brother Neil, until a few years ago – as did their father and grandfather before them. The origins of field names are often rather mysterious, and these ones are called The Borrowings. We were drawn to the idea of planting some woodland this wouldn’t have become a reality without financial and other kinds of support from the wonderful Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust. Shaun Purkiss supplied the trees and the heroic Barry planted most of them – toiling on through blizzards and wintry blasts. We wanted to minimize the use of plastic and so we opted for rabbit and deer fencing installed by Len Porter’s team. Each tree has a bamboo stake and a biodegradable vole guard. Boxes for kestrels and owls will soon be installed as another way to keep the voles at bay. We hope you enjoy seeing the trees grow over the coming years.
Whashton Womens Walking Group – this has seen some lovely recent group outings with various combinations of Whashton women being able to participate. It is lovely to see it back up and running again. There is now a WhatsApp group for ease of communication, so if you are not already on it – and would like to be – please contact Sue Amery and she will add you on to it.
Whashton Wildlife updates:
RSPB Great Garden Birdwatch results are in!
Help with research into garden wildlife by joining our Garden BirdWatch community
BTO has run the year-round Garden BirdWatch scheme since 1995, and thousands of people across the UK contribute their sightings each week.
Gardens are really important habitats for wildlife, but we need to understand how and why populations of garden birds and other wildlife are changing, and how we can help them.
You can help by keeping a simple list and telling us which species visit each week, helping us learn about how wildlife uses the food, shelter and other resources in our gardens.
The more we can understand about how birds and animals use our gardens, the more we can improve our cities, towns, villages and individual gardens for wildlife.
https://www.bto.org/our-science/projects/gbw
Village improvements:
I am in the process of applying to the Yorkshire Dales Millenium Trust for a Roger Stott Community Grants. I have corresponded with Mike Appleton, Roger Stott Community Grants Project Officer who seemed quite positive that we might be successful – so fingers crossed. John and I are finalising details on it so it should be in by the time you read this.
I hope you enjoy the photos of the ‘team’ tidying Bobby’s Bank and litter picking – they do a great job! Thanks boys!
Whashton History;
18th century copper mill 80m north west of Copper Mill Bridge - Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:1020321. Date first listed:20-Jul-2001 Location
Parish: Whashton National Grid Reference: NZ 14357 05514
The monument includes earthwork and buried remains of the 17th and 18th century copper smelt mill near Whashton. The monument is located on the west bank of the beck, 50m upstream from Copper Mill Bridge, and includes the buried remains of the smelt mill, wheelpit and areas of waste debris. The monument lies at the eastern end of the Feldom Moor copper field, 5km north west of Richmond. Copper has been extracted in the Richmond region since the 15th century; a charter of Edward IV in 1454 refers to a `copper mine of Richmond'. This area lies to the east of the Swaledale Mineral Belt in the north eastern part of Northern Pennine orefield. On Feldom Moor a vein of copper and lead, which extended for 1km, was worked by bell pits to extract copper pyrite. This was then smelted at the mill located at the eastern end of the vein. A mill known as Whashton High Mill was in existence in 1675. There was still a mill at the site in 1728 when it belonged to John Ward and John Appleby, who also held the lease for Feldom Mines. Based on the level of technology at the Feldom mines their period of working, and consequently that of the smelt mill, was probably late 17th to mid-18th century. It has been estimated that the production of copper concentrate from the Feldom mines was in excess of 400 long tons. The remains of the smelt mill are located alongside the southern side of the beck, in the lee of a natural bluff. The remains of the mill are centred on a level terrace measuring approximately 15m by 20m, lying 15m south of the beck. Between the terrace and the beck there is a circular hollow surrounded by an earthwork. This has been interpreted as the wheel pit, which contained a water wheel to provide power for the smelting furnaces. The wheel was powered by water probably brought along wooden channels, known as launders, from further up the beck. To the east of the terrace there are further earthwork remains of the mill complex. The precise nature of these is currently unclear. On the slope to the south of the terrace there are areas of waste from the milling process, which will retain important technological information about the smelting on the site. The visible waste includes slag and fragments of malachite and covers an area of approximately 10 sq m.( https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1020321?section=official-list-entry)
This was near Copper Mill Bridge, on Sturdy House Lane, and is in the manor of Ravensworth, which Sir Thomas Wharton bought from Leonard Robinson in April 1675. Within days of his purchase, Wharton leased the lead and coal mines in the liberties of Feldom, Whashton, Applegarth, Thorpe and Thorpe Edge, all in the manor of Ravensworth, to Philip Swale and Adam Barker for thirteen years. The lessors formed a partnership with a joint stock; which in the case of the company they formed to work the mines leased from Lord Wharton, in Muker, Nateby and Wharton was £300. After working for ten years, Philip Swale remarked that the mines in Thomas Wharton’s estates “have lost much money in tryall and given yet no encouragement” and that the joint stock was reduced to around £30.
What little ore was raised at the above trials was smelted at the Whashton mill but, in May 1685, soon after Thomas Wharton’s death, Swale advised Lord Wharton that “what benefit it (the mill) made, it was by thy favour, for there was no oare but from thy work to imploy it, and without imploy it was worth nothing, but would require charge to keepe it in repayre.”
The location of Thomas Wharton’s mill is confirmed by a list of Wharton’s tennants, made in 1686, which records that “There is a peece of bad way in the pasture neare the smelt mill cald the Spring Pasture in Robert Reeveley’s farming …”. The same document also tells us that Reeveley’s farm was in Whashton, where three other tennants were smelters. The latter men may, however, just as easily have worked at Gilling mill.
Smelting had been delayed by lack of water in July 1685, but a slag-hearth was being prepared to smelt ” … the quantity of slag about the mill, which must be smelted there because the oare hath beene smelted there that afforded that slag, and made Sir Thomas more profit then if the slag had beene smelted in his time would have beene …”.
Nevertheless, the mill was unviable because it relied on distant mines, which increasingly had their own mills. In the early eighteenth century, however, it was used for smelting copper ore from a vein in Feldom and, in June 1728, Matthew Blackburne of Gales, in Kirkby Ravensworth, blacksmith, was indicted with breaking into the copper smelting mill at Whashton belonging to John Ward and John Appleby and stealing 4 iron bars worth 11d. The mill probably closed soon afterwards.
Further information and references can be found in: Gill, M.C. Yorkshire Smelting Mills Part 1, Northern Mine Research Society Memoirs 1992, British Mining No 45, pp 111-150
Call for parishioners/interested historians - if you have any information/photographs which I can include in my Whashton Historical gatherings for future newsletters/the website please let me know. It is my intention to develop a local history page of the website over the coming months.
PROPOSED REOPENING OF GAYLES QUARRY
There is a working group of myself, Cath Gill, Richie Smith and Chris Taylor – collecting views. I am coordinating the report – lots of emails regarding this as you can imagine! If you have a strong view which you would like represented, please email it to me for inclusion. I am liaising closely with Kirby Hill, Gayles and Ravensworth Clerks, in case we need to do a joint response from our individual perspectives when the actual planning is submitted.
UPDATE ON WHASHTON FARM DEVELOPMENT – no news as yet. Sally and Ian to arrange meeting with Sir J Gore-Booth in relation to section 106 potential projects in the village eg triangle resurfacing and passing place on the way in.
UPDATE ON BROADBAND
Good News
I’ve checked with my colleagues and the postcodes of DL11 7JP and DL11 7JR is in our plans to be upgraded to full fibre broadband(Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) technology) this is under our Rural Exchange Programme and is entirely funded by Openreach. FTTP will give you ultrafast speeds by providing a direct fibre connection between our exchange and your home. So this means once it’s up and running you’ll be to use multiple devices to work from home, stream TV or surf the web all with no drop in quality.
Over the course of the next few months we’ll be starting the work to install our fibre equipment and cables and carrying out tests in our network to make sure everything works as it should. When FTTP is ready to be ordered, we’ll update our website to reflect this you and the community are also able to register their details to be kept up to date as well. You will then just need to place an order with a Service Provider (SP) that sells FTTP products. A list of which SPs sell FTTP can also be found on our website.
If everything goes as planned and we don’t come across any glitches or snags, FTTP could be available by end of June to Early July 2022.
Quiz night - postponement – to be reviewed in 2022
Social events in general – call for ideas as we are now responsible as a Parish for raising our own funds if anyone has any Covid appropriate (as I don’t think this is going away any time soon) suggestions of further fund-raising events or activities please let any member of the committee know and we will then circulate ideas in newsletters and online.
Ideas received to date: two offers of open garden- house -tours /tea parties received from parishioners.
01748 824185 house phone with answer machine
07754436927 - mobile
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