Goodbye Whitby! Hello York!

We had "done" the northeast and we were off for York, which is more or less in the center of Yorkshire. However, we decided to do the "b"s along the way -- Hunmanby, Boynton, and Burton Agnes. Well, there is no "b" in Hunmanby until the word is almost finished, but it is a "b" for Boynton place.

Land at Hunmanby was held by the Boyntons-of-Boynton for more than a century -- the 14th century. Robert held the land. His son John held the land. His brother Walter held the land. His brother Roger held the land. The only brother who did not hold the land was Lambert who was a canon at Newburgh. Roger's son Robert held the land. Robert's son John held the land. And John's daughter Elizabeth inherited the land, which then became Newport land when she married Thomas Newport. We do not know how they first got the land so Robert may have inherited it from his father, but that just pushes the puzzle back one more generation. It was an important part of the family fortune -- a fortune that was sufficient to make knights of all the surviving males. And Robert and his grandson Robert were pretty distinguished citizens of the East Riding -- serving in parliament and otherwise spending a lot of time on the good of the realm.

We arrived in Hunmanby after a short [by U.S. standards] drive from Whitby. The manor house was for sale, but they did not think us suitable potential purchasers so we did not see the manor -- it was behind tall trees. On the other side of town was another very old gate that had a most unfriendly sign on it for visitors and then led off to a more modern house. All of our preliminary research suggested that there was nothing left from the 14th century when the Boyntons held land there, and we did not find anything on the spot. We did not look very hard -- we just cruised through town getting a bit of a feel for the town walked by the Boyntons-of-Boynton.

Boynton was the next stop. Boynton is a small village; it has had a population between 100 and 150 since 1088 -- and perhaps longer. The high point of any trip to Boynton is the sign: North Boynton <--> South Boynton. From the beginning this little village has had a North and a South. They used slightly different language in the domesday book -- Boynton and other-Boynton, they said. We may be the only people who find humor in the division of a town into north and south -- for a thousand years -- that has a population of less than 150 and has houses on only one road. But funny we think it. So there are the pointing Boyntons --  Anna and Anne -- one pointing north and one pointing south.

Boynton is the starting point. All Boyntons started there -- though the genetic route to get back may be strained. The first records we have -- late 12th and early 13th centuries -- suggest there were at least three Boynton families with land in Boynton at the time: Walter and his family; Adam and his family; and Gilbert and his family. Walter's family became the Boynton-triangle Boyntons and had land there until it was sold to the Stricklands about 1600. The Boynton-of-Boyntons held land for their century, but we have only a guess about their origins. Collier suggests that they were descendents of Rabod, the second son of Walter. Adam's family and Gilbert's family disappeared after a few generations.

And now there were three more generations of Boyntons in Boynton: 1) Bob; 2) Anne and John Robert; and 3) Anna. We stopped at a station to fill our van with diesel; not in Boynton as there are no stations in Boynton. The man working the pump [take that U.S. gas stations] looked at the credit card and said -- hey, do you know that Boyntons are famous around here? I said that is why we were here. To do a little Boynton tracking. And Boynton is a particularly good place to track Boyntons.

For one thing, it takes only a few minutes to work your way through Boynton. After the sign and the pointing Boyntons we walked down to the church of St. Andrew. John Boynton -- the John of early in the 14th century -- established a chantry here. But it was lost to Henry VIII. The church was sold to the Stricklands when the land was sold to them. So there are few reminders of the Boyntons in the church. It is a classic old, old church of which there is one about every five miles in any direction you want to go in Yorkshire. But this is the Boynton church. And we managed to produce hyjincks right out in front of the church -- two Boyntons posing first in prayer and then pointing to the sky.

Anna signed in. I signed in. Others signed in. We walked the aisles. We read their version of the history of the church. Anna scrambled around outside for a bit. And we were ready to go. We had been back to the "beginning" and we were ready to move on.

The "on" was Burton Agnes. It is only 5 miles down the road from Boynton; so, it was a brief ride. We arrived, and Anna immediately headed for her old friends the metal geese who needed a hug from a small Bassett Boynton.

At the beginning of the 17th century the Boyntons and the Griffiths were each among the ten largest land holders in Yorkshire. Then Matthew Boynton and Frances Griffith married -- doubling the family fortune. When we were scouring the archive at Hull University we saw the prenuptial agreement to end all prenuptial agreements. There were three pages and each was about the equivalent of six standard 8.5 by 11 pages. They laid out who got what in excruciating detail! The summary we had seen on the internet did not do it justice. One of the details was that Burton Agnes went to Frances [and Matthew]. So this was Boynton territory from the time they married -- early in the 17th century -- until the last Boynton in the line died late in the 20th century.

There are three buildings at Burton Agnes -- and a shop. Burton Agnes hall was built late in the 16th century and has existed since. The church is considerably older than that. And the norman house is older yet. I was particularly interested in the old norman house. The arches at ground level are very old -- 12th century or, perhaps, early 13th century. The carving on the arches is still there -- nice, and not extravagent. The circular stairwell is built for smaller people than most of us. It is just about right for Anna sized persons who can dash up and down with alacrity and no fear, as the steps just fit their feet. When you get to the floor above it opens to a single room with exceedingly high ceiling, spaces for a fireplace and a door out to what were other buildings. No closets. No privacy! We are told that lords of manors would string a curtain to achieve a modicum of privacy. It is really big. The stones in two walls are really old. It was a really different life style.

Lunch time -- with some trepidation we decided we would have lunch at the Burton Agnes shop. We were prompted by memories of lunch in the pub at Harpham two years ago. That was not a pleasant experience for the three vegetarians in the crowd, and even for the not vegetarian. So, the shop it was. Surprise, surprise! they had mixed greens. Apparently the whole world has discovered mixed greens [lettuces] in a plastic bag and is serving them up wholesale. I had the ploughman special -- cheeses, bread, mixed "grass clippings," an apple and some sweet, dark relish. Anna had peanut butter and bread, which was a consistent meal for her. Anne and J.R. had sandwiches, I believe, though I forget the details. We had tea. And it was good. Wonder of wonders, we had not hoped for so much. The last time around it had seemed the last place we would want to eat, and here they were serving very nice food.

After lunch three of us headed for the church and Anne headed for the car. She was feeling really lousy and wanted to rest. The church is full of Boynton coats of arms on the walls as well as Griffith effigies. Apparently one of the benefits of having your own church was you got to decorate it with memories of you. But it does have a nice entrance through the trees. It is quiet and dark, and it has a very long history -- much of it associated with Boyntons.

Then we were off for York. Arrival at York was easy. Getting around the inner ring was a bit confusing, but shortly we were at the River Walk bread and breakfast -- just where we had stayed two years ago. Anne was still feeling lousy. After consulting with the person who greeted us at the bed and breakfast, she and I headed for the hospital and the emergency room. It is about the only way to see a doctor on Sunday evening of a holiday weekend.

As the woman at the reception desk said -- it was unusually light traffic at the emergency room. Apparently, people were too busy on holiday too bother with a doctor. Hence, Anne was triaged, consulted the doctor, and walked out with medicine in only an hour. And there was no payment. I suppose setting up procedures for charging wandering Americans is more trouble than it is worth. So we were treated as though we were natives. Take this for five days, said the doctor. And five days later she is feeling much, much better -- though not quite whole.