History Page Two

There used to be a chain ferry across the river near the present sewerage works. Pinfolds in Asenby Picture of a CowA pinfold is a pound with high walls in which stray animals were confined Pinfolds were usually located on the edges of villages, near smithies or inns so that drovers could secure their animals there overnight. Villages were obliged to have pinfolds and in 1675 the residents of Asenby were fined for not having a pinfold! There used to be 2 pinfolds in Asenby:- 1. At the Rainton crossroads near The Forge and The Shoulder of Mutton. 2. Next to the smithy which used to be to the rear of where Pear Tree House is now. All that remains is part of the high wall but the bungalow named ‘Pinfold’ commemorates the place.

The latter was based in The Forge by the Rainton cross-roads and the beer seller was Margaret Yeats. In 1865 James Halliday rented the inn and blacksmith’s shops from landowner Lord Leconfield. James named the house Byland House and, being a great Wesleyan, did away with the inn. He started business as a joiner, blacksmith, agricultural engineer, undertaker and timber merchant.

The Shoulder of Mutton dates back to the mid 18th Century and used to have a butcher’s shop next door. The hill where the car-park is now was used for staking out animal skins to dry them. One of the first licensees was butcher Thomas Johnson in 1755.

The pub seems to have stayed in the family, for in the Victorian era, a remarkable character, Bobby Johnson, is reported to have said to the visiting Prince of Wales (later Edward VII)
“Hoo’s yer mother? Ye mun tell her ye hev shekken hands wi owd Bobby Johnson of Asenby.”

Guy and Eric Reed, poultry farmers, rebuilt the Shoulder of Mutton in 1961. Bulldozers flattened the hill to make the car-park and are said to have removed 5000 tons of earth. Among the rubble were several old hitching posts and lots of animal bones.
Fortunately the plan to incorporate a bowling alley into the pub never materialised!

Skeletons in Asenby’s Cupboard

There have been at least 2 witches in Asenby’s past:-

1. Mary Harker  was born here in 1768 and baptised at St Columba’s, the daughter of farmer Ben Harker.

1. She progressed from being a child of ‘low cunning’, to being a thief, a fraudster and eventually a murderess.

1. She poisoned at least four people in Leeds

1. She was hanged at York in 1809. Her skin was tanned and distributed to applicants who had been wronged by her.

  Her skeleton can still be seen in the Thackray Medical Museum in Leeds.

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