The Gateway Walk

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

Part 8

We arrive at our ultimate destination on the Gateway Walk; the little 'pocket park' by Coach Street Bridge - recently named 'Cresap Gardens' in honour of locally born American pioneer, Thomas Cresap.

Before we look into the colourful life of this until recently 'forgotten son' of Skipton, it is worth reflecting on the fact that there was once a pool here, and perhaps we should spare a thought for all those hags, witches, and 'unquiet women' of whom, 300 years ago, were dragged here to face the torment of the 'Ducking Stool'. This was a contraption not unlike a child's 'seesaw', though only on one end was fixed a chair or 'stool'. The unfortunate female, probably found guilty on trumped up charges of witchcraft or of 'henpecking', would be tied into the chair, then swivelled out over the pool, before being unceremoniously lowered - or 'ducked' into the murky waters. Those who continued to protest their innocence were immediately plunged in a second time; thus it continued until the poor, bedraggled women made a pledge never to henpeck their husbands again. More ominously, those poor unfortunates accused of witchcraft were rarely given any chance to protest; and the punishment awaiting them - after the torment of the 'stool' was far more drastic and final.

Thomas Cresap

And so to Skipton's forgotten hero, Thomas Cresap, known once on a day in the formative years of that great country of America as 'The Maryland Monster'. Now before you go saying "Oh 'eck - another grisly story!" fear not. This illustrious title was bestowed on him by the Pennites of Pennsylvania, of which he was personally obliged to fight over borderland rights for many years.

It went like this: At the tender age of 15, young Thomas found himself plunged into the bubbling cauldron of a dispute between Pennsylvania and Maryland when he left Skipton to embark on a new life in the 'New World'. In 1729 he bought a farm on the state borders - known as 'Pleasant Garden' - yet if anything it was the exact opposite. it was slap bang in the middle of disputed territory between The Penns and the Calverts - prominent families of the two fledgling states. Cresap became a prime target having his home attacked by gangs of 'Pennites' when he was made a Justice of the Peace and Captain of Militia by the Maryland Government.

Captain Cresap's first orders were to build a ferry near to Pleasant Garden and close by one operated by Pennsylvanians. This enraged the Pennites; a fight broke out and in the ensuing fracas a Penn supporter was killed. This obliged the Penns to issue a warrant against the JP for murder, but due to a certain amount of addling, things ended up with the captain being tried by his own authorities who promptly found him not guilty! Next, the tables were turned when Magistrate Cresap was called upon to try a Pennsylvanian sheriff who had attacked the wife of a neighbour. There was to be no addling this time and Cresap spent no time in finding the luckless man guilty - thereby adding fuel to an already raging fire. Things eventually came to a head in 1736 when the Penns raided Cresap's stockade; dragging him off to Philadelphia to spend several weeks in prison, effectively triggering the intervention of King George II.

Thomas Cresap was now to embark on a new but no less adventurous life; first as a trader, and then later, after bankruptcy, resurfacing as a go-between for the native Indians - who were to give him the honoured title of 'Big Spoon'. He built a new home on the banks of the Potomac River, which he called 'Skipton', and soon after joined the Ohio Company, pioneering a road known as The National Pike. It was on this very road - and passing this very place of Skipton - that thousands of pioneers crossed from east to west in their wagon trains. It was an era when the men and women who tamed the 'Wild West' became the stuff of legends, and those too who became 'Kings of the Wild Frontier' such as Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie. To these we should add one more name - that of a 'King of the Wild Frontier' we never knew we had - Captain Thomas Cresap JP.

*Author's footnote: today there is a Cresap Society of America - which represents all descendants of Thomas Cresap - numbering some 11,000 members. Also, in the Second World War an American Liberty ship was named 'Thomas Cresap', thereby paying tribute to the importance of this man's involvement in the founding of that great nation. Here in Skipton, a plaque commemorates our hopefully no-longer-forgotten hero in Craven Museum, and there are plans for another plaque to be erected in Cresap Gardens to mark the outstanding achievements of this former son of Skipton.

For this I believe thanks should go to Mr Geoff Thomas of Thomas's Jewellers, who has championed the cause of bringing the name of Thomas Cresap to the attention of the people of Skipton, and I hope, in some small way, that the above narrative - which is only a small part of the Thomas Cresap story - will help Mr Thomas achieve that goal.

We are finally at the end of The Historic Gateway Walk, and I hope you have enjoyed the experience. If you have had half as much pleasure in reading about our unique little town as I have had in writing about it, then it has been a worthwhile exercise for all.

Of course, this is not all the history that this beautiful little 'barony'-set like a jewel in the crown of theYorkshire Dales- has to offer. There is much, much more.

No, dear reader; this is not the end of our history - it is merely the
beginning!

Acknowledgements

My thanks go to Geoff Thomas, Chairman of the Millenium Walk
Committee. Also to Ian Lockwood, the editor of the Craven Herald and Pioneer, who has graciously allowed me to present my own accounts based on certain stories that appear in his book: Skipton 2000, the Millenium Walk. Also to Roger Pyrah, for allowing in to reproduce from his book: A History and Guide to the Parish Church of the Holy Trinity, Skipton, the inscription dedicated to George Clifford, Third Earl of
Cumberland. Also to the staff of Ellesmere Press for going beyond the call of duty in proof-reading the original MS.

And finally, my thanks go to the people of Skipton who often stop me in the street to give me a little titbit of historical 'gossip' or just cheer me up on a dismal winter's day!

Bibliography

Binns, Donald: Railways around Skipton
Binns, Donald: Railways of Skipton
Binns, Donald: Skipton in Craven in the 20th Century
Caine, Michael: Not Many People Know That
Clark, David: Battlefield Walks
Cheetham, Anthony: Richard III
Clifford, Arthur: Collectanea Cliffordia
Clifford DJH: Diaries of Lady Anne Clifford
Clifford, Hugh: The House of Clifford
Dawson, W Harbutt: History of Skipton
Ellwood, JK Life in old Skipton
Exhibition Copy: Lady Anne's Way
Gordon, Sheila: Lady Anne's Way
Haward, Winifrid I: Yorkshire and the Wars of the Roses
Holmes, Martin: Proud Northern Lady
Lancaster, Margaret: Looking Back at Skipton
Lockwood, Ian: Skipton 2000 The Millennium Walk
Mitchell, WR: Yorkshire Ghosts
Pyrah, Roger: The Parish Church of the Holy Trinity a history and guide
Rawley, Geoffrey: Book of Skipton
Spence Richard T: The Shepherd Lord
Walker, Peter N: Folk Stories from the Yorkshire Dales
Warren, Elizabeth: Parish Church School - 200 years of Education
Williams, David: Mediaeval Skipton
Weir, Alison: Lancaster and York: the Wars of the Roses

Front cover montage reprinted by kind permission of Geoff Thomas