in the village of Great Habton. They are dated 1741 and 1784, and
are much less picturesque than those of the seventeenth century, though
village architecture had not then reached the gaunt ugliness of the early
Victorian Age.

The parish registers throughout the district were regularly kept, and as a
rule contain nothing of interest beyond the bare records of births, deaths
and marriages. The great proportion of villagers, however, who at this
time signed their names with a mark, shows that the art of writing was
still a rare thing among the peasantry. The church account books of the
period reveal many curious items such as the frequent repairs of the
_thatch_ on the vestry at Middleton (thatched churches are still to be
seen in Norfolk and Suffolk), and "L5, 19s. 6d. in all for the Violin or
Base Musick" of the same church.

Churchwarden architecture of the deal boards and whitewash order made
hideous many of the village churches that required repairs at this time,
and if one discovers a ramshackle little porch such as that just removed
at Ellerburne, or a big window with decayed wooden mullions cut in a wall,
regardless of symmetry, one may be quite safe in attributing it to the
early years of the nineteenth century. One of the staple industries of
Pickering and the adjoining villages at this time was weaving, and a great
number of the cottages had the room on the opposite side of the passage to
the parlour fitted up with a loom.

We have now seen many aspects of the daily life in and near Pickering
during the Georgian period. We know something of sports and amusements of
the people, of their religious beliefs, their work, their customs at
marriages and deaths, and we also have some idea of the dreadful beings
that these country folk trembled at during the hours of darkness. We have
discovered more than one remarkable man who was born and bred in these
primitive surroundings, and we have learnt something of one of the trades
that helped to make Pickering prosperous.

CHAPTER XII

_The Forest and Vale from Early Victorian Times to the Present Day_

A.D. 1837 to 1905

This most recent stage in the development of Pickering is marked by the
extinction of the few remaining customs that had continued to exist since
mediaeval times. One of the most hardy of these survivals was the custom of
"Riding t' fair," as it was generally called. It only died out about
twenty years ago when the Pickering Local Board purch