| The Villages of the Yorkshire Wolds |
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The A166,
which passes through Burton Agnes, narrows slightly, dips and turns
as it meanders its way through. In the dip is the village pond which
attracts children both young and old to feed the many ducks which
make it their home. The Weslyan Chapel stands high on a bank on
the road side and was built in 1837. The Chapel now a private residence
has a small plaque stating "The ground granted by Sir Henry Boynton
1837".  The Burton Agnes Digital Noticeboard Message Recieved from : Julian ThompsonSubject : The story of the Grinning Skull I grew up in the nearby village of Harpham and attended Junior School in Burton Agnes my family have been resident in harpham for 5 generations running one of the Village farms. I remember a story from the house that is one of the most famous 'ghost' stories of this area. The story of the Grinning Skull A young lady called Anne Griffith (a member sir Henry Griffiths family) was walking home from the nearby village of Harpham after visiting some friends. Half way home she came across a pair off men under some tree's at the side of the track. Feeling uneasy she hid her hands thus disguising the diamond ring on her finger. Unfortunately one of the men had already seen the ring and started to approach her. They asked for the ring in exchange for her safe passage but when she resisted there approach she was beaten with a cudgel ( a kind of club) and the men then fled. Ann managed to crawl the distance to the gate way of her home at Burton Agnes Hall where she was found by a servant. She was taken to her family but was so badly injured that she died after a few hours. But before she died she asked that her head be removed from her body and that is should remain within the house or terrible things would happen. Not wanting to carry out her unusual request her body was buried in the near by church yard the following day. On the night of her funeral when everyone had retired for the night strange loud wailing noises and banging doors kept every one up all night. These disturbed evenings carried on for three days. Feeling uneasy about the series of events they decided to exhume her body. When the cask was opened they were faced with her bare grinning skull on her otherwise normal body. Her skull was removed and placed within the house and the tormenting evenings stopped. A few years later when a new family moved into the house a box was found containing Annes skull and a maid threw it into a cart containing rubbish. The horse pulling the cart would not move no matter how much it was beaten by its owner until the skull was removed from the cart. Upon the local community informing the new owner of the hall of the old story of Annes death the Skull was encased in a wall within the house so that it could never be removed. Stories from when I was a child said that the skull was buried in the wall behind the picture of Anne on the Main staircase, and that on some evenings her ghost can be seen coming from the picture down the stair case through the house and then down a lane behind the house where she dissapears - possibly checking that all is well within the house..... Julian Thompson 16/03/01 Message Recieved from : Michael Kendall, at Burton Agnes CE Primary School Subject : School History Does anybody have any information about the history of the School buildings or perhaps any old photographs? We should like to include a brief paragraph in our School Prospectus. Thank you. Message Recieved from : Calvin spoerer Subject : Alms Houses Here are also Almshouses for four poor widows, founded, in 1709, by the widow of W. Boynton, Esq. The inmates receive out of an endowment £8 4s. per annum, and a further sum of £2 16s. from Willerby Hagg's farm, in Kirk Ella parish. I am researching my Great Grandmother Ellen Stephenson who died on the 14th of October 1914. She lived in the Alms Houses, which stood on the south side of the Bridlington Road, just to the west of the cross-roads. The alms houses were built in 1706 and are a legacy of the will of Elizabeth, widow of William Boynton, they were demolished in 1939. If anyone has a photograph of the Alms Houses I would be eternally grateful the cottages have now been replaced by Hill House. Please address your mail to :- Mr C H SPOERER 80 THE SANDFIELD, NORTHWAY, TEWKESBURY, GLOUCESTERSHIRE GL20-8RU Message Recieved from : Rosie Subject : Neighbourhood Watch A group of us in the village have decided we need a neighbourhood watch. There are to many youths running around on the School side of the village causing havoc and tormenting some of our residence. The local police are willing to give us all the support we need. Is there anyone else in the village who will support us ? Message Recieved from : Calvin Spoerer Subject : History of a Resident of Burton-Agnes After five years of extensive research on the Stephenson family of Burton-Agnes, I have finally been able to put together a significant amount of history with photographs on my web page. There maybe residents in the village today that are a descendant of my Stephenson family whose origins started in the village of Kilham in 1750. The beginnings of the Stephenson line in Burton Agnes go back to Oliver Stephenson, the local Carrier Who worked with George Arnott and Jane Day, transporting goods on-route to Bridlington, on Wed. and Sat. Oliver also held a position on the village jury between the years of 1830 and 1840, as well as been a jury member Oliver took the position of Deputy constable in the village through the years 1839 and 1840. The majority of cases that came before the juries in the 1830 were for wilful trespass by cattle and swine on resident's land, in most cases the fines varied between 1/- and 2/-. My earlier entry on Ellen Stephenson ( Collinson) who was my G.G.Grandmother, and born in Burton Agnes gave me the inspiration to research more into my family history. 
to visit the websiteMessage
Recieved from : Gregory
Gibbs Message
Recieved from : Gerrard Oldham Thompson |
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