Whitby was a jumping off point for traversing the northeast of Yorkshire. Robert de Boynton [the mystery monk] was a Whitby person. But Roxby, just down the road a bit, was a Boynton haunt. Farther afield Scarborough was Boynton territory -- as was Snainton. So we jumped off.

First to Scarborough. Scarborough is another seaport. It is a larger town than Whitby and has a bigger port. Fishing is not as important to the local economy as it is in Whitby; they do more importing and exporting in their harbor as well as the fishing. Both depend heavily on tourists, however. Tourism in Scarborough starts with the beaches and the castle. To those two has been added a whole industry to feed and excite the tourists [bingo, for example].

We were there to look at the castle and to ride the donkeys. Matthew Boynton and his son, also Matthew, were heavily involved in taking and defending the castle during the civil war. Matthew was one of the largest land holders in the East Riding, and that made him a prime candidate to lead the troops as it was still the age of amateur soldiering. His mission was to take the castle for parliament and hold it, which he did. He was, for a period, the governor of the castle. Eventually, he changed his sympathies -- apparently the Cromwells were too much for him. After the civil war was over he represented Scarborough in parliament.

The castle is a very impressive fort. This is not a castle for fine living. It was about the defense of the realm. It is located on a point of land extending far out into the sea. From there any incoming ship could be spotted. It had cannons to fire at enemy ships and it could send messages to the town when it spied them. Its most impressive feature is its size; it is a huge walled space. The walls form two sides, and the other two sides are cliffs falling down to the sea. Climbing the cliffs is more than difficult than the walls, and the walls on the other two sides are tall and thick. But it is not impervious to siege.

It is the castle to which the Duke of Lancaster [accompanied by Robert, John and Edmund Boynton] chased Piers Gaveston. Once cornered he surrendered and they summarily executed him. That was 1310, and the Boyntons were Boynton-of-Boynton Boyntons. Robert and his son John held land in Boynton, Hunmanby, and other spots in the East Riding. Edmund lived in Beverley.

Matthew was fighting the civil war of the 1640s and 1650s -- more than 300 years later. And they used the same military strategy. They chased the royalist troops into the castle and sat outside until the troops inside surrendered. It was not exactly "glorious" knightly hand to hand combat. But it was a lot safer and easier than combat. And very effective -- if you were not in too big a hurry. You had to outlast their food supplies.

We approached the castle up a steep road. First, we encountered a large gate that would have been most difficult to go through, over or around -- except for the English Heritage that was waiting for us on the other side. The wall on the right was atop a bank that was even steeper than the road we climbed. The wall to the left was at the top of the cliff -- even steeper and falling to the pounding waves hundreds of feet below. It was still more than 100 yards to a building of the castle. Anna charged ahead, of course -- here are the cannons, she called back to us. She saw the castle two years ago, and there is a pleasant feeling of familiarity about returning and remembering.

Up into the keep. The keep is more than a hundred feet high. Parliament ordered the destruction of the west wall -- so it is only three sided, which gives it a terrific view of the north bay and out to sea. John Robert speculated that they had destroyed only one side because they knew that in future centuries tourists would pay many pounds to visit it -- and because destroying one side was as good, where defense is concerned, as tearing down the whole thing. Anna climbed into one of the rooms to spy through the window that is a slit. It was almost big enough for her to stand in. She had her castle quiz out, and was checking off information as she went along. That inhibits the climbing a bit, but it does focus attention on castle details.

As big as the keep is, the grounds are even grander. The keep is surrounded by a trench. Just beyond the trench is a moat -- still sharply etched into the ground. Soil erosion does not seem to work in England. They seem to be able to keep these ditches around for centuries; the Castle Leavington ditch is also around, without the aid of the English Heritage, eight centuries later, for example. From the moat it stretches out to the point and the cliffs. It is large enough to put a village in, which was what they did at various points in the castle history. At present it is a village of brightly blooming yellow flowers. They were busy mowing certain parts of the landscape -- including along the paths. But the central field was unmowed and in full bloom.

After the castle we ate our picnic lunch just down the hill -- overlooking the south bay. We had purchased lunch in Whitby at the grocery in the front of our inn. And we sat in our rented car on the side of the "mountain" looking out at the bay and the people on holiday below.

Then we headed for the donkeys. This was the long awaited "high point" of the visit to Scarborough. Anna had been able to ride the donkeys when we visited 2 years ago, but only just barely. It had been closing time and the proprietor was generous enough to give Anna a brief ride. Two years later the discontinued ride was to continue. It seemed just as exciting and pleasing this time as last time. Anna rode twice. Then we were ready to go -- mission accomplished!

Off to Snainton:  The major land holdings of the Boynton-triangle Boyntons were Acklam, Boynton and Roxby. They also held land in Snainton. Walter had received it as a "gift" from Inggendaldus and wife Matilda in the late 12th century for 14s. 8d. Snainton was a small holding [in one document described as 40 acres], but it was a piece of the beginning of the family fortune. They continued to hold land in Snainton for centuries -- at least into the 16th century.

For us it was only a few miles out of the way on our return to Whitby so we detoured to Snainton. It is still a small farming village. The land and the gate to the church seemed the only parts of the village that had been there for centuries. All else that we saw seemed of more recent origin than when the Boyntons left. The current church building seemed relatively recent [as "recent" goes in England]. But the front of the gate to the church seemed older. It had the weathered look. It had carvings in the gate frame that seemed of older origin. And it had funny faces carved into the frame around the top of the gate. Not quite up to the gargoyles we would encounter at York, but miniature smiles today -- perhaps miniature threats in an earlier age.

It was a brief detour. But it did produce a gate Boyntons might have walked through.

The next day was Roxby. Roxby is only about 10 miles from Whitby back down the road to Acklam -- returning through the moors. The last two miles is a very narrow road off the main highway. You can see the sea, and Staiths, on the horizon. The land falls away from Roxby to sea level. It was one of the three points in the Boynton triangle from 1230 on.

At least two Boyntons seemed to particularly favor Roxby. Thomas, son of Margaret del See Boynton, built the church in Roxby and in 1523 was the first person to be buried in the church. He might have been buried at Acklam with his Boynton ancestors or at Barmston with his del See ancestors, but he chose Roxby as his final resting place. There is a large plate in the floor, with his image carved into it, commemorating what he had done for the church. A hundred years later Matthew carved a stone in honor of his wife Francis and placed it on a crypt in the Roxby church. His second wife was from the area around Roxby; she outlived Matthew but is buried in the church at Roxby, as well. And two pictures of the two Matthew Boynton families adorn a side window in the church -- still.

One more Boynton particularly favored Roxby. It started with the goats. Mature and baby goats were busy "mowing" the church lawn. Anna dashed up to view the baby goats -- restrained only by the fence separating them from us. They would not eat from her hand, but they were cute grazing across the yard. But no pursuing them on the grass; this is hoof and mouth country, and we did not want to contribute to its spread.

You first arrive at upper Roxby when you drive in from the highway. Upper Roxby is somewhat more populated than is lower Roxby. It has a number of tenement houses built in the middle of the 19th century -- along the road. There is even the Red Fox Inn. The sign for the inn on the highway is most impressive, but as soon as you saw it you would surely turn and run. Down the hill to lower Roxby, which is where the church is. Pull into the "parking lot," and you are in Boynton country.

The church is a small, rural church that is still being used for worship. It contains almost all of the remnants of the Boynton lords of the manor that remain. Just beyond the church is what is left of the manor -- one corner of the manor standing in a field 300 years after the manor fell into disuse. When they say, "oh, it is only a ruins" they seem to mean -- there is a ruins about every 2.5 miles in every direction. It is hard to get excited about ruins when they are available in profusion. But this ruins holds special meaning because it is a Boynton ruins. And that was the second way Roxby was particularly favored by the youngest Boynton. On the way over she said she loved to visit the places in which her ancestors lived. This was a picturesque place with carvings in the floor, pictures in the window, the hushed atmosphere of a church, a place where you can commemorate your visit by signing the guest book -- and a price list on the wall. A burial is quite a bargain relative to a wedding -- just in case you want to hire the church for either.

Roxby is a small place; a small store of Boynton memories. So we were pretty quickly headed back to Whitby.