29 March, 2024

B1257

The B1257 Malton to Helmsley road was once a narrow, winding road as it went past Broughton.  In the 1930s it was straightened, widened and lowered.   Initially banking on one side between Broughton and Swinton was removed. Later the steep banking between The Plantation and Malton was reduced.

Old parish minutes tell us that the North Riding County Council was approached with “regard to the dangerous corners at Broughton”. In 1934 North Riding was offering to buy a strip of land of 93 sq yds which the parish agreed to sell at 1s 6d per sq yd subject to the approval of the Ministry of Health (sic). The meeting felt it was no use refusing as North Riding needed the land for road widening purposes. In 1935 the minutes record the sale of the land for £6.19s 6d.

In the 21stC there are only two houses on the north side but several on the south in 21st C. Both sides of this road were once quarries according to the old maps with a limekiln on either side of the road. The 1854 map notes the discovery of numerous sepulchre urns. 

THE RYEDALE STORY BY JOHN RUSHTON tells us that Broughton yielded burials and pottery and 3rd century coins and an early pagan settlement.  Among the finds were bronze bridle bits, combs, pins jet rings earrings armlets and lamps.  It is also thought that some of the burials were cist burials.

The only other building noted, just inside Malton parish, is the site of St Mary Magdalene Hospital .

From the left at the back, Zoe Crome, Miss Hicks and Mrs Davison (No 1 Flowery Hill) and her son's adopted daughter Violet Crome.

Mrs Davison (left) of 1 Flowery Bank and Mrs Eliza Paulin of 4 Flowery Hill. Note the telephone pot on the roof.

Flowery Bank, formerly known as Flowery Hill, is clearly shown on the 1854 and 1892 maps.  These mark the long gardens behind the four  cottages which had one room downstairs with one room upstairs. Perhaps these were originally quarry workers cottages?

 Also on this map are the two cottages which became the parish cottages looking down towards the main part of the village.

In the earlier part of the 20thC Flowery Bank housed:

No 1: Mrs Davison had a sweets/soft drinks and cigarettes shop in the front room from about 1930-1950.  She also sold paraffin for oil lamps and stoves. She had two sons living with her, one Walter was blinded while working on a farm but managed to make a living selling tea and keeping pigs. His brother Tom was also a farm worker.

No 2: Arthur Ford, Chairman, secretary and Treasurer of the parish meeting 1922 – 1968.  His daughter Rene shared her home with an evacuee during the Second World War.

No 3: Wilf and Frances Paulin .

No 4: John and Eliza Paulin and later Jeff and Margaret Paulin.

White Cottages – named because they were lime washed, sat on the bank looking down Main Street. They came into the possession of the parish some time in the 19thC.  They were sold for demolition in 1989.  The actual site of the cottages has been extended with a detached house built overlooking the village.

Quarry Farm Once called Cliff Farm it was built for £400 early 20thC.  Once farmed by Charlie Monkman, it is  now owned and worked by Donny Townsend and his family.

Both Hill Top and Boswell House were built in the 1930s.  Hill Top was built for £800 in 1931 for Thomas and Ada Lund who moved there with their son Norman. With its paddock running alongside the B1257 down to Breedycroft Lane, the set-up also had a garage selling petrol. Boswell House was built by Boswell Banks.

Gayle House is also mentioned in Kelly’s Trade Directories when it was the home of Walter Blanchard in the 1930s and later solicitor George Frederick Arthur Newey.

Plantation Farm had no house but between this land and Braygate (Castle Howard Road) was Woodhouse Farm.  This 70 acres farm with its brick house and tin roof was owned by the Edmunds. Mrs Edmund ran the farm before it was taken on by her sons.  They had a sister who was a professional ice skater. It was later bought by Ian Hamilton who with his family lived in it for 18 months before selling the land to Broughton farmer Guy Raines and moving to Wath Hall in Marishes.

There have been numerous road accidents, some of them fatal on the B1257.  Two young girls were killed, one by a bus in The Dip, the other by a pick-up with trailer by the old cricket field. Many accidents involved cars turning into and out of the two junctions into the main part of the village.

AGW 2011

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