Discover Hubberholme
once, and you will keep coming back. Nestled into
the side of Yockenthwaite Moor, Hubberholme is surrounded
by steep fells and run through by the young River
Wharfe. It is made up of the pub, a church, and a
farmhouse, and that is about it. To say it is a village
of great tranquility, is like saying the Vatican has
a religious feel about it.
The George has
been running for about 350 years and has maintained
a strong connection with the fine church across the
bridge. Indeed, when the famous 'auction-by-candle'
takes place on the first Monday of every year, it
is the vicar who acts as auctioneer. The evening starts
with the lighting of the candle, and the bidding gets
under way. They are bidding for the grazing rights
on a 16-acre field owned by the church, and known
as the 'Poor Pasture'. The winning bid, whatever that
may be, is the one that is on the table when the candle
finally burns out.
In a nod of respect
to such ancient traditions, a candle is kept burning
on the bar for as long as the pub is open.
Up above the George
is Scar House, now a National Trust rental cottage,
where the track up to it is so narrow, steep and rutted,
that even the National Trust advises that "...arrival
during daylight hours is recommended...". Scar
House is an old farmhouse that is significant in the
history of the Quaker movement, from the day that
George Fox came calling.
George Fox was
an interesting chap. He had the notion that there
was a little bit of God in everyone, which is a wonderful
sentiment in this day and age, but in the 1600s this
threatened the very fabric of the social, political,
color and gender hierarchy. Britain was built on bigotry,
and his view that God was in us all conflicted with
the establishment.
Of course his
belief that priests and the Church stood as a hindrance
between people and God would probably also guarantee
him some time in some dank dungeon somewhere. Which
it did.
He did not set
out to set up a whole new Church, but you know, in
the end, if you can't beat 'em, then set up a whole
new Church. George Fox took a walk in 1652 around
Yorkshire and made it up the narrow, steep and rutted
track up to Scar House, presumably during the day.
There he met James Tennant and his wife whose farmhouse
was already being used by some Quakers, with a little
burial ground out back. The aforementioned establishment
got onto James Tennant and threw him into a jail in
York, where he later died for his faith.
John Boynton Priestly,
or J.B. Priestly as he is commonly known, has his
ashes scattered in Hubberholme churchyard. He is most
famous for the play 'An Inspector Calls' which he
wrote in 1946 and which set a high standard for traditional
'Who Dunnit' dramas. He frequented the George Inn,
as if there is much else to do in Hubberholme. Like
so many venerable Englishmen, many famous quotes are
attributed to him, such as the one so many of us can
relate to: "There was no respect for youth when
I was young, and now that I am old, there is no respect
for age -- I missed it coming and going."
He was opinionated.
He turned down both a knighthood and a peerage, but
finally, mellowing, accepted an Order of Merit in
1977. He fought on the front lines at Flanders in
the First World War, and was second only to Winston
Churchill when it came to radio voices of the Second
World War.
My favorite line
of his comes from one of his more famous pieces, 'The
Good Companions', who were traveling players: "To
say that these men paid their shillings to watch twenty-two
hirelings kick a ball is merely to say that a violin
is wood and catgut, that Hamlet is so much paper and
ink. For a shilling the Bruddersford United AFC offered
you Conflict and Art." I follow a soccer team
just like that.
