Eskdaleside cum Ugglebarnby is a civil parish in the

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

district of

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, comprising the two villages of Sleights and Ugglebarnby. According to the

2011 UK census A census of the population of the United Kingdom is taken every ten years. The 2011 census was held in all countries of the UK on 27 March 2011. It was the first UK census which could be completed online via the Internet. The Office for National ...

, Eskdaleside cum Ugglebarnby parish had a population of 2,238, a reduction on the

2001 UK census A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194. The 2001 UK census was organised by the Office for National ...

figure of 2,252. All Saints Church Ugglebarnby 1 (Nigel Coates)

The village has a church dedicated to All Saints.

Eskdaleside murder (1841)

In 1841 the murder of Mrs Jane Robinson (née Wilson 1777) was one of the first cases in which an officer from

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...

was sent to investigate a serious crime in the provinces. A miller, William Hill, had been charged with the murder and acquitted, but Nicholas Pearce traced a Thomas Redhead who had almost certainly committed the offence, but had died of smallpox shortly before Pearce traced him. Jane Robinson (née Wilson) was the daughter of John Wilson of Eskdalegate (1725–1794) and Mary Hall (1743–1832). She was murdered at Eskdalegate.

Venerable Nicholas Postgate's arrest (1679)

Eskdaleside was host to other events in its history, one being the arrest and later execution in York of an 82-year-old man. His only crime was that of being a Catholic priest. In 1596 the Venerable

Nicholas Postgate Nicholas Postgate (1596 or 1597 – 7 August 1679) was an English Catholic priest who was executed for treason on the Knavesmire in York on 6 August 1679 as part of the anti-Catholic persecution that was sweeping England at that time. He is on ...

, a Catholic priest and martyr, was born and lived in a humble home, now called The Hermitage, at Ugthorpe. He studied at Douay College, France, becoming a priest in 1628. He worked secretly as a priest in a wide area of Yorkshire, finally settling back to Ugthorpe in the 1660s. Although anti-Catholic feeling had subsided a good deal, it flared up again due to the fake Popish Plot of 1678; this followed a false testimony from

Titus Oates Titus Oates (15 September 1649 – 12/13 July 1705) was an English priest who fabricated the " Popish Plot", a supposed Catholic conspiracy to kill King Charles II. Early life Titus Oates was born at Oakham in Rutland. His father Samuel (1610� ...

in which he claimed there was a conspiracy to install a Catholic king, and he fomented a renewed and fierce persecution of English Catholics. It was to be the last time that Catholics were put to death in England for their faith; one of the last victims – but not the very last – was Nicholas Postgate. During the panic engineered by Oates, a prominent Protestant magistrate in London,

Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey (23 December 1621 – 12 October 1678) was an England, English magistrate whose mysterious death caused anti-Catholicism, anti-Catholic uproar in England. Contemporary documents also spell the name Edmundbury Godfrey. E ...

, was murdered and Oates loudly blamed the Catholics; Sir Edmund's manservant, John Reeves, set out to get his revenge. For reasons which are not clear, he decided to base his actions in the

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Clif ...

area, possibly because he knew that priests arrived there from France. Nicholas Postgate was arrested at Redbarns Farm, Ugglebarnby, where he was to carry out a baptism. The family had apparently spoken publicly about the ceremony, thus alerting the authorities to Postgate's presence. Reeves, with a colleague called William Cockerill, raided the house during the ceremony and caught the priest, then aged 82. On 7 August 1679, he was tried for treason in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

and then hanged, disembowelled and quartered. Every year since 1974 an open-air service has been held – alternately in Egton Bridge and Ugthorpe – in honour of Fr Postgate.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eskdaleside Cum Ugglebarnby Civil parishes in North Yorkshire Borough of Scarborough