The Gateway Walk

These pages were contributed my Malcolm Hanson, who runs the Skipton Experience guided walks

Part 3

Skipton High Street

Moving north, we come to No 36 High Street, which these days are the premises of 'Next' fashion stores.

Many years ago this was the premises of Laycock's Antiques who were widely regarded as the best dealers in the area; a claim borne out by the fact that Queen Mary, whenever she visited the estates of the Duke of Devonshire, would make a point of calling in. This was, of course, all good publicity for a smiling Mr Laycock, often photographed outside his premises with the queen, and surrounded by a large group of onlookers. However, you might be forgiven for perhaps thinking that Mr Laycock's smile appears just a little bit forced? Was this because Queen Mary (who was the grandmother of our current Queen Elizabeth) was alleged to have never actually paid for anything? Locals say that they used to see the queen's footmen draw up again later in the day, returning all the objects they had earlier removed from the shop.

Just a few steps from here stands the proud statue of Sir Mathew Wilson, bart., holder of the title of longest serving magistrate in Skipton's history, making his mark at the tender age of 22, and still holding the post at the time of his death in 1891, when he was 89 years of age. Apart from local government, Sir Mathew struck a dashing figure in national politics too, being elected twice to parliament, and on both times being thrown out for what appears to be vote-rigging! However, back he came, at the grand old age of 83, to be elected MP for the Skipton Division in 1885.

Sir Mathew's statue was erected in 1888, at the top of the High Street where now stands the War Memorial, and at the time of it's unveiling there was huge controversy as to whether the statue should ever have been contemplated at all. It seems Sir Mathew's friends wanted to mark his life-long service to the Liberal cause by having a statue of the prominent politician placed within the High Street. Very commendable, except that many in the town - while perhaps not adverse to the idea were certainly 'agin' paying for it. To get around this problem, the statue was paid for by his Bradfordian cronies and with no cost going to the local taxpayers the statue duly arrived. At the time there were two rival newspapers in the High Street - the Pioneer and the Herald (later to amalgamate). On its unveiling, the Pioneer, a Liberal supporter, described the statue as a beautiful ornament, a work of art fit to grace any street or square in the land", while the Herald, which loathed the whole idea, said that the statue was a passable likeness of the old" gentleman, but he seemed to be perched atop an over-sized gravestone. Stinging words indeed!

One would have thought that with all this kerfuffle our gallant Sir Mathew would have kept well away from the unveiling. Not a bit of it! On that great day, Skipton's finest politician stood with the assembled crowd of 'the Great and the Good' and with them admired this striking monument to himself - another unique event for Skipton!

We move now to the Black Horse public house where immediately we see a flight of stone mounting-steps beside the entrance that once led to the courtyard.

Mounted on the wall above these steps is a plaque which states:
'Tradition says that this ancient hostelry was formerly the Royal Mews, of Richard III, 1483-85, when he was Lord of the Honour of Skipton.' Some historians claim that Richard spent a considerable amount of time here and that the steps were made personally for him. Others say there was little reason for him to visit Skipton and that he probably never set foot in Craven. I'll stick my neck out and go with the first claim, and I intend to present my evidence to you. In order to do this we must return to the mid-fifteenth century, to a time when the land was embroiled in a series of battkles called The Wars of the Roses'.

This 30-year skirmish grew from the squabbling of the Houses of York and Lancaster. Each lay claim to the crown of England and felt the stakes high enough to go to war over.

(Incidentally, before we go any further, let's be clear: this was nothing to do with Yorkshire or Lancashire, nor did it involve the ordinary folk of the land. The names were merely titles bestowed on the two dynasties. In fact, the Yorkshire nobility were mostly for the House of Lancaster, with the House of York holding its strongholds in the Midlands.

As far as we are concerned, the game kicked off in 1455 when Royalist forces led by our very own Lord Thomas Clifford of Skipton Castle took on forces led by the Duke of York at the battle of St Albans. 'T'other lot'won the day, and our Tom was killed in battle, bringing forth this response from his furious 19-year-old son and heir, John: 'I will have my revenge on York - this I swear over my father's corpse!", and so it was to prove. The deadly dangerous - and some might say unstable - new Lord of the Honour of Skipton would now stalk his sworn enemy for five years, finally releasing, in 1460, an almighty and unmerciful fury against a besieged Duke of York at Sandal Castle. On that day John would gorge himself on the blood of his enemies; receiving his revenge in a truly terrifying manner that would oblige history to forever bestow on him a terrible new title: 'The Black-faced Butcher Clifford'.

York was duly slain that day, and John should have been conternt bathing in the triumph he had sought, and won, over his adversary. But he was not.

It seems the Duke of York's son, the Earl of Rutland, had witnessed the battle from Wakefield Bridge and was now in the hands of Clifford's men. On word reaching him, John left the battlefield and confronted the young lad. Being only a boy, the earl threw himself at the feet of what he must have thought was a raging madman, begging for mercy; but our gallant lord would have none of it, and with one thrust he plunged a dagger into the boy's heart, shouting, "....as thy father slew mine, 1 now slay thee!" To top it all he then rode back onto the battlefield where he sought out the Duke of York's body, hacked off the head, stuck it on a pole, and had it sent to the gates of York where it was unceremoniously placed atop the gatepost - a paper crown upon its pate. Clearly not a rnan to be trifled with, our 'Black -face'!

We must, however, be careful here. History often paints false scenarios, and there is evidence to show that perhaps John was not quite the monster portrayed. That he killed the young earl is beyond doubt, but 'n it is far more likely that he slew the lad on the battlefield rather than in cold blood. Many historians now believe the Earl of Rutland was at leasl 17 - which would undoubtedly make him a legitimate target since from, the age of 12, all boys were allowed to fight in the field. There would have been no shame in what John did - provided it was on the battlefield. Whatever the circumstances behind the youth's violent demise, Lord John Clifford certainly earned his new title that day.

Still, John quite literally got it in the neck himself just three months later in a skirmish at Ferrybridge, close by where two-thirds of England's nobility would on the following day be slaughtered at the great battle of Towton. The 'Black-face Butcher' would not see that day since he met his end on the battle's eve - shot in the throat by an arrow from an enemy's bow. What a way to go!

Back home, fearful of reprisals, John's eldest son and heir Henry was spirited away north into Westmoreland, there to be brought up as a shepherd in the safety of the hills, and where we will leave him for the moment. The Cliffords were now dispossessed, and Skipton Castle and its lands fell into the hands of the Yorkist, Sir William Stanley. He was Lord of the Honour of Skipton until 1475, when the castle was given over to Richard, Duke of Gloucester, in exchange for Chirk castle, and this is where (as they say) he came in.

Richard was sent to the north by Edward IV for several reasons: he had been reared as a youth at Richmond and Middleharn and was regarded by those who loved him as a full-blooded Yorkshireman. He was also a formidable soldier, and although the Lancastrian armies had been hugely diminished at Towton, trouble was still brewing within the likes of the powerful Percy family, and there was also the ever-present threat of the Scots continuing incursions into the north of England. Indeed, they had plagued Craven and other areas for so many years that most able-bodied northerners were exempt from taxes so they could afford to rebuild their lands. In return, they trained as soldiers and remained at the beck and call of the king, and he knew that someone would be needed to hold command over all those northern counties. There could be only one man for the job - the young Gloucester.

But later, as the king, would he have visited the Black Horse at Skipton, and if so, why? Well I believe the answer lies in the role of the previous king and of Richard's role as a soldier. Were hostilities to break out in the north while being elsewhere, the command of the northern armies would nevertheless still fall to the young Gloucester obliging him to make swift return. But news travelled relatively slowly in those days, and so Edward IV devised a new system of despatches that would involve the setting up of staging posts stretching north to south, each housing 'post-men' ready to ride day-and-night with news of hostilities. When Richard became king he maintained this new system and set up a headquarters to serve the northern territories which include a base for the gathering of the best horses. This would have been an important undertaking and I believe Richard would have inspected his new base, which according to Winifred I. Howard's book: 'Yorkshire and the Wars of the Roses', was 'Ye Black Horse , Skipton'. - M'lud, I rest my case. 'But were the steps made for him?' you ask. Well that we might never know!

The story of how Richard was to usurp the throne is well known, and need not be gone into other than to say that the picture history has painted of him as a cold-blooded murderer would certainly not have been recognised by his northern subjects.

The Wars of the Roses would continue intermittently, until the final battle in 1485, when Richard clashed head to head with Henry Tudor on Bosworth Field, and Tudor won the day. The last of the Plantagenets was slain and a new Royal dynasty began. This might have been bad news for Richard's northern subjects, but it was great news for the Cliffords: they were back in favour.

But who would become the new Lord of the Honour of Skipton now that Henry VII was to restore the lands to them? Were there any legitimate Cliffords still living? You bet! Step forward our Henry, he who, as a boy all those years before, had been snatched from the clutch of the Yorkists and delivered into the safety of the wilderness of Westmoreland. It may be that twenty five years of living the life of a lowly shepherd may have made him something of an ignoramus, yet he nevertheless walked to London - shepherd's crook and all; claimed his inheritance, and after which - though he could not read nor write - took possession of his lands where he would become known as the 'Shepherd Lord'.

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