Guestbook

Does anyone remember a Whitley bomber crashing in October 1941 across the Ure near to Ox Close? Apparently it hit a cable which crossed the river near there. Can anyone pinpoint the location?

Re the query a couple of years back about Woodbine Cottage - in my family researches, one of my forebears lived there at the time of the 1901 census, name John Thompson. My grandmother may have been married from here, but I never heard it was a post office. did this perhaps come later?

hi i am a 13 year old boy who lives in little thorpe and i was wondering if a skatepark or some dirtjumps because we all have to bike very far to get somewhere to ride

In my search for a great uncle, who lived at Littlethorpe Villa in the 1930s, I found your delightful website. Now I know where you are, I hope to attend the service at Saint Michael's on October 28th and see something of the village, etc. on my way down from Scotland.
Here in Canada we have just celebrated our own Thanksgiving Day, and I was surprised to discover from your website that your own Harvest Festival was held on the same day (October 7th.) I always remember it as being earlier when I was a child. I expect we were singing the same hymns too, such as "We Plough the Fields and Scattered the Good Seed on the Ground"!

You will be most welcome. Ed.

Completely on a whim this morning, I sat down at my work computer and googled "Littlethorpe". Imagine my suprise when this wonderful website popped up! I grew up in Littlethorpe, and my parents still own a home there, though we moved to Kalamazoo Michigan, in the US 8 years ago. Now in my early twenties, there is not a day goes by that I do not think about my childhood home, and I very much look forward to completing my university degree so that I can come back.

With fondest memories.
Katie Armstrong

Delighted that you have found and enjoyed the site. Keep watching for Village events and looking forward to meeting you when you visit. Ed

Hello there from New Zealand. Well what a lovely surprise it is to find this webpage. My mothers best friend in life and a very close friend of our family lives in Littlethorpe, hence my looking it up. And what a great treat to see her in the photos and see all the lovely village activities, we are envious.. Hello to Florence Mitchell, from Gail and Audrey in NZ... Audrey originally comes from Ripon

Delighted that you like the website. Florence says she can have no secrets now that you can view Littlethorpe from New Zealand. Ed

After having spent about 25 years tracing my father's family tree, I decided to have a quick look at my Mum's. I discovered that my Great Aunt Maggie (Margaret Ann Richmond) was born in Littlethorpe in 1890 but by the 1891 census the family had moved to Grantley. Her parents were William and Emma (nee Fryer) and I would love to know which house thay all lived in. If anyone has any information please get in touch.

Sandra Roberts, The Hollies

Dear Sir or Madam,

I would firstly like to congratulate you on your wonderful website.

I,m actually in a state of awe, because just today I attended my first class at genealogy in Brough, East Riding and managed to trace some of my ancestors, one of whom the ladies previously had enquired about, Christopher Cass , he was my great, great grandfather, his sons were Thomas and George Cass.( my great grandfather )
He ( Christopher ) was a coachman for the Oxley family in Oxley House, Bedern Bank, I would be more than grateful if you could put me in touch with Amy and Liz Lovatt because somewhere along the line we are related...

Kind regards,

Sylvia Worth

Many thanks, I have forwarded your e mail to our previous correspondents, so hope that they will contact you. We would love to hear any further history that you discover. Ed

A great big thank you to all the lovely people in Littlethorpe who so generously gave gifts, cakes and donations or attended my Coffee Morning in support of Herriot Hospice Homecare last Saturday morning, 25th November, 2006. We made an astonishing £900 which will go a long way to assist the Charity in its work

It really is a blessing to be part of this kind and caring community here in Littlethorpe.
Again many thanks.
Judith (Steele)

My first job after leaving school was @ LEON SMALLWOODS camera shop in Kirkgate, Ripon. (I am now 47 years old) I worked with two lovely ladies, Sandy (Brett) and Pauline. Sadly, Sandy is no longer with us. I believe she is resting in Littlethorpe churchyard. I am still in touch with Pauline, and bumped into her just a few weeks ago.

Hello, Could someone could answer a question I have wondered about for many years.....Why are there so many large country houses in and around Littlethorpe? I suppose you could include Hollins Hall, Thorpe Lodge on the outskirts. The only thing I can think of is that they were for successful business families in Ripon. I am originally from Bishop Monkton and my Gran lived on Littlethorpe Road. One of my school friends used to live at The Mount, therefore with being such a regular visitor I have always wondered why such grand houses in Littlethorpe?

Hello Doug and Mo from Ece.Thanks for sharing your lovely neighbours with us.
XXX

This message came from a small, pedestrian only, island in the Bay of Fethiye, Turkey. Angela and Ian, Stud Cottage are staying with them at the moment. Lovely to hear from you, Handan and Erdogan. Greetings from Littlethorpe to you all. Ed

Just wanted to say thanks for the terrific web site you put out. I really enjoyed it, particularly this one as it told of Canon Batey's farewell and showed beautiful pictures of the church. My sister lives in Ripon and my husband and I came over from America (before we were married) and were married at St. Michael's where Canon Batey held the very small service. Kathleen


Thank you for your comments, and so glad you can enjoy Littlethorpe and your memories of it from across the world. Keep watching ! - Ed

Beautiful. Peaceful. Charming. Some words that describe Littlethorpe perfectly. However - I'd like to add one more. Dangerous. Dangerous due to the habit people have of driving too fast in the middle of the road, particularly in the series of right-angle bends and the t-junction in the area around the church. Near-misses are a daily occurence. It won't be long until the emergency services get a chance to see what a lovely place we live in.

Does anyone have comments on this? - Ed

I am writing to congratulate the villagers and gardeners of Littlethorpe. We had a wonderful time looking at the delightful gardens and chatting to the passionate and informed owners. It was a lovely experience and we were pleased to see so many families walking around the village looking so relaxed and happy. It is so rare these days to see people abandoning cars in favour of walking. Please pass on our good wishes and thanks to all concerned and we do hope you have raised a large sum of money to match your considerable efforts.

Hello:

You will be pleased to hear that Bishop Monkton has been shortlisted as Village of the Year.
Judges will visit the Bishop Monkton on August 30, receive a presentation and go on a tour of the village. Full details are now on the website (www.bishopmonktontoday.ik.com)

Fingers crossed!
Richard

Dear Sir

Please would it be possible to tell me whether you have a historical society in Littlethorpe.

We have discovered that one of our ancestors (Christopher Cass b. 1807) was a coachman at what can only be a very large house or farm in Littlethorpe in 1851.

Are you aware of any Manor Houses or wealthy farmers that lived in the area at the time?

If so could you let us know or put us in touch with a local historian.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards

Liz / Amy Lovatt

I have to say the image of the sun rising at 5.38 almost brought tears to my eyes. It reminds me of whe I used to get up early and go harvesting with the Nicholsons at Stud farm back in the late 90's.
It's really nice to see a website which I guess brings the community closer together. Although it's only my mum and dad (sandra & steve) who live there now as I have moved to Harrogate, I still feel attached as it's where I grew up and learned about the world.
Credit to Mo (superb website!), credit to all the residents of Littlethorpe (Nice choice of location on where to live), but most of all... credit to Littlethorpe for being such a beautiful, peaceful and memorable village.
Regards, Paul Roberts.

Hello,

My great-grandmother was born in Littlethorpe in 1869. Are there any extant birth registries for the area? If so, where would they be kept?

Thank-you.



Robert G. Tyrrell

Vice President, Survey Programming

GfK NOP

Your website has brought back some very happy memories, to both myself and my dad (Alec Allen). My dad especially likes the christmas party villiage hall photo as he is in right in the middle with his mum and older brother peter.

Thank you again
Lindsey Cawood
What a wonderful momento!

Thank you for the photographs of the Hog Roast. Looks like everybody enjoyed the day and Mum and Dad were having a good time.

Many thanks to all the Littlethorpe villagers who made my two children and I most welcome at the village hog roast last Saturday. We had a lovely day, and were all sad to leave. Congratulations to the master in charge of hog roasts as he managed to covince my 5 year old fussy faddy eater of a daughter, life did exist beyond feta cheese and salami (her usual staple diet)!
It was lovely to meet so many of mum and dad's friends and I am more convinced than ever of the idyllic location of the village.
260 miles is a long way to travel for a village fete, but my two children are already insisting we return next year, and even stay for the disco!! High praise indeed!
Rachel Hadley (daughter of Mo, the editor...written without backhanders or blackmail))!

Thank you for your comment. Watch out for the next set of Pics following the Hog Roast on 24th June - I hope to have them on the site the following day - Ed

Nice website, now I can see what my Dad and Mum, Cliff and Marion
Stainthopre, get upto on nights out at the Village Hall.

Greetings to you all from Cape Town. Folks are very impressed with the sight and had to check up on the NGS dates for Littlethorpe to make sure Tites aren't slacking there.... Keep up the lovely pics.

I just wanted to say that my wife and I have just
moved to the States from Littlethorpe, we lived in the
old Dairy and I was very happy to see the website. We
loved living there and will greatly miss it. It is
nice to see the pictures and local events. Thanks for
the site.


Eric Valdez

Congratulations on a brilliant website. It must be a great means of commnication and sharing; good luck into the future . Blessings and prayers

Dear Editor,
Three cars along Littlethorpe Lane had their rear car windows completely smashed during Wednesday night, after nine and before 5.30 of Thursday morning. If anyone saw any strange vehicles in the village during those hours, please contact Ripon police. We know of three more similar events, including apparently streets in Ripon.
In appreciation of any help.
Thanks. Susy and Neil

I am enclosing some photos for the web site. Myself and family are on most of the photos and I send my best wishes to anyone who remembers the 'Cockerills' - I should love to hear from you!
I would also like to know if MOUNT COTTAGE does come up for Sale - we lived there!
Best Wishes, John Cockerill.
(Photos on link from Home page and Church info page).

The following correspondence was sent from Australia to the Bishop Monkton website, but it's editor Richard Field, felt that 'Park Hill' may be more applicable to Littlethorpe. Can anyone help with this? Ed Littlethorpe.

Sally Erwood-Carryer 21 February 2006 02:50:32
I have just discovered your website as part of research into my ancestors, the LEAF family of Bishop Monkton, and am most impressed. My research is still very much a work in progress but I believe that the family of William Leaf may have lived at Park Hill in the 1700s and early 1800s and perhaps even earlier. One of the Leaf sons moved to Streatham, Surrey in about 1829 and named his home Park Hill which tends to indicate that Park Hill, Bishop Monkton may have been his childhood home. I intend to do the necessary search of the Parish and other records myself but am interested to know if anyone in the village has knowledge of the history of Park Hill or can direct me to someone with an interest in this area.
Many thanks.
Sally Erwood-Carryer
Perth, Western Australia

Delighted to see that Littlethorpe has joined the club. The site is a pleasure to view and congratulations to all those involved in building up the site. Why not pioneer a "FLOG IT" type site for example MOUNT COTTAGE will be up for sale this spring.
Well done again to those involved in building up this site.
JIM WILLIAMS

Thank you for your comments, below, and glad that you like the website.
The software for the site is provided free for registered charities and as such we cannot include commercial items. We can advertise charity events, but not the actual articles for sale. However, you could enter the conversation above! Ed.

Hi, like the website my grandma told me about it. I have showed people at my school Ripon Grammar and loads of people like it.

I'm really glad we got a new website - after reading it I have learnt many things about the village that are very interesting. I look forward to learning more about Littlethorpe later! My friends are going to be so jealous when I tell them we've got a website! Well done! :-)

A VILLAGE NIGHT OUT..........

RIPON COMMUNITY HOSPITAL LEAGUE OF FRIENDS are having a charity BALL on Saturday 18th March at the Officers Mess - Claro Barracks - Ripon @ £35.00 per person (Includes dinner, entertainment and reasonable bar prices)

A number of villagers have already booked tickets for the event and if anyone is interested in joining us for a night out or further information then please contact me ASAP as tickets are limited on Ripon 600996

Congratulations of your excellent new website.
Our community site in Bishop Monkton has just celebrated its first birthday - and we are are told it is proving a very useful service to our village.
Perhaps, at a later stage, we can organise some form of competition between the readers of our two websites!
Best wishes,
Richard Field

Re letter below. I think house the numbers may have changed. The lady in the village who was born in Woodbine Cottage is clear that she was born nearest to the church - furthest from 'The Barn' and she remembers this as No 1. Whereas, you are next to 'The Barn' and are No 1. Perhaps this explains why both cottages are allegedly the previous Post Office. Any other ideas please, Ed

Help! I live at 1 Woodbine Cottage. I have been told - and given evidence to prove it - that my cottage used to be the post office. My neighbour at no 2 has also been told - with equally valid evidence - that no 2 was the post office. Who is right? Anybody know?
Also, when I first viewed the cottage the previous owners told me the name "Woodbine" arose from the old Woodbine cigarettes sign which used to hang over the front door - in the days when no 1 was the post office-cum-shop! Curiouser and curiouser! The 1856 map show the name large and clear - did the shop exist in 1856? Come to that, did Woodbines?
I understand the cottages started life as one house and have been variously three cottages, two cottages plus the post office and, at some time, three holiday cottages. There is obviously a history to be ferreted out somewhere. Does anyone have any further information?
Oh yes - and I was also told by the previous owners, who clearly loved their home as much as I do - that some of the beams are recycled ship's timbers, which seems very likely; they are oddly shaped. Would this type of material have been transported via the canal? If I knew that, it would help to put a date on the house.
I would be so grateful for any information.
Thank you. And, by the way, congratulations on a superb website. I'm going to pass its address on to all my friends. - Kate

Well done Littlethorpe! I wish you good luck with your new website.
Does anybody remember Mr Coombs, the former railway signalman at your old level crossing? Long since gone of course. Best Wishes from a former Monktoner!