The confluence of the rivers Foss and Ouse
The industries of the River Foss in York gave Timothy Wynn-Werninck the confidence to write a history book about York’s other river...
Where history flows
M
uch written history is academic but this does not have to be the case. My quest to write history became an adventure that threw up many challenges. My hope is others will be inspired to try something they find tough. It became a personal challenge to keep believing I could write a history book. Here are extracts of the book I wrote. Arriving in York in 1987, I needed more qualifications and enrolled for a GCSE in geography. I had to do a project and stumbled across the River Foss. The project went down well and my tutor suggested it would make a good book. There have been a few books on the Foss but nothing new since 1982 City of York Council over the years has had to clear areas of industrial wasteland and come up with a plan of how the city and the river should look. The Foss still contributes to the welfare of the city. It has also acted as an economic barometer showing how the city was doing through its history. What slowed the development of industries was that the River Foss was away from York’s old industrial sites. Many potential sites for needed to be changed from marsh land. The development of the river was further slowed due to much of the river being on the edge of the city’s first markets. Stillington Mill The mill was a family operation and you can still see the arved initials of mill-
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ers through the ages. In 1919, the last miller, Ned Gibson, had no one to carry on the business and the mill was taken over by Arthur and Dora Shepherd, who kept going till 1935. The mill did suffer from the lack of water in the Foss. At times a stationary flywheel had to call on an alternative source of power. The mill was converted into a house in 1968. In 2005 the mill became a self-catering holiday let with a hard tennis court and a solar-powered heated swimming pool. As the mill changed its role, that part of the river started to silt up. Strensall Tannery Located eight miles from York. The Village Street Directory of 1844 shows there were small cottage industries such as joiners who worked in local agriculture and construction. It also gives details of the tannery which was opened in 1806, taking advantage of the River Foss navigation system to dispatch local lime and bark lime and finished goods. When the tannery got into trouble, it still had unsold bags and shoes. A boiler house had a Byworth 6000lb ph. of steam engine. There were three gas boilers. The last one came in 1976 from the Ripon leather works that arrived by horse and cart. There were attempts to save the tannery with smaller specialised orders with more modern machinery and attempts to cut expenditure. It was first discovered that the navigation would struggle to survive as early
as 1809. The Victoria County History outlines that the company accounts were full of high amounts of the mismanagement of money and general overspending. Layerthorpe Straight over the river running east you can see Layerthorpe with all the industries involved with the motor trade, everything from scrapyards and exhaust centers to showrooms with new cars. Another famous site on this stretch of the river was J.H Walker Building Merchants that used the river to dig out river sand from the River Ouse. The Recklaw sailed to the builders’ merchants which is now Travis Perkins, where it was unloaded by crane. There was an art then as today to find the right balance of products to sell. Though J.H Walker continued to dredge for river sand in the Ouse, in 1965 dredging 65 tons. Old industry needed updating and, in most cases, it was cheaper to relocate to purpose-built sites on the edge of the city, and being located close to major roads. Successful companies took advantage of the canalisation and the profitable section of the River Foss from the city boundary. These companies boosted the economy and added wealth to the city. Vickers Instruments The original company was called Cooke, Troughton & Simms and they made scientific instruments in Bishophill from
