Rokeby, Ontario was the Government townsite located on the mainland at
Bobcaygeon
Bobcaygeon is a community on the Trent–Severn Waterway in the City of Kawartha Lakes, east-central Ontario, Canada.
Bobcaygeon was incorporated as a village in 1876, and became known as the "Hub of the Kawarthas". Its recorded name ''bob-c ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, by the Lieutenant-Governor of
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the ...
, Sir
John Colborne
Field Marshal John Colborne, 1st Baron Seaton, (16 February 1778 – 17 April 1863) was a British Army officer and colonial governor. After taking part as a junior officer in the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland, Sir Ralph Abercromby's expedi ...
. Through common usage and the establishment of a Post Office in 1838, the name Bobcaygeon came to describe the entire town. The name has effectively been lost, with the bankruptcy of Rokeby Lumber in 2002.
Rokeby Park was the home of
John Morritt
John Bacon Sawrey Morritt (1772? – 1843) was an English traveller, politician and classical scholar.
Early life
Born about 1772, he was son and heir of John Sawrey Morritt, who died at Rokeby Park in Yorkshire on 3 August 1791, by his wife An ...
, in County Durham, England. This was close to the confluence of the River Greta and the River Tees. This area inspired the painting 'Rokeby', by Turner, which depicts the waterfall and rocks at the 'meeting of the waters'. It seems likely that both Colborne and Thomas Need would have been familiar with this part of England, and possibly with the painting. They would certainly have been familiar with the epic poem ''
Rokeby'', by Sir
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...
, which was written, and set, in that locality. Rokeby would have been a natural choice for this place of rapids, rocks, and waterfalls - which we now know as Bobcaygeon.
Communities in Kawartha Lakes
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