The County of York
Formally known as the County of York, Yorkshire is a Historic County of Northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. The Yorkshire flag is of the Royal House of York, with a white rose on a blue background, and is recognised by the Flag Institute. Penistone is very much on the edge of our great county, with the Derbyshire border only a few miles away to the south.
In early times, the region was occupied by Celts in two separate tribes, the Brigantes (North) and the Parisii (East). The Roman invasion established the fortified city of Eboracum (York) as the capital of 'Britannia Inferior'. It was joint-capital of all Roman Britain. The Romans left in the early 5th century.
Perhaps the greatest influence on the local language from the various invasions had been from the Danish language and this is evident in many Yorkshire place-names. Some Yorkshire dialect words are similar to Danish, such as 'lig' (to lie down). One notable point in history is in in September 1069 AD, not long after the Norman Conquest. The people of the North rebelled strongly against the Normans, enlisting Sweyn II of Denmark. They tried to take back York, but the Normans burnt it before they could. The Conquest would soon lead to the 'Harrying of the North' ordered by William the Conqueror (aka King William I). This was a huge campaign to kill, starve and burn as much as they could find. And it worked, resulting in great losses to the Yorkshire populace.
The county had long been divided into three Ridings ('thriddings') and this lasted for centuries until the 1974 implementation of the Local Government Act, which did away with the Ridings for administrative purposes and invented three more to keep the natives happy. Among older inhabitants, the 'new' regions are still only deemed of relevance for administrative purposes while the original Ridings continue as cultural boundaries. As ancient cultural divisions, they still hold their place in our county.
Yorkshire is always significant in sports and is used by many organisations as the regional unit, with little reference to the later administrative boundaries. Even with the Ridings still in place, however tenuously, the people of Yorkshire continue to identify with the County of York as a single unit. The county of York continues to be widely recognised as a cultural region. The county is unusual in the way that many of its inhabitants (slang name 'Tykes') identify themselves with the county and owe an allegiance to it. Some evidence for this can be found at local celebrations and especially the 2017 Tour de Yorkshire, where the Yorkshire flag was visible at every turn, in every Yorkshire town and village on the route.
In 2013, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles MP, formally recognised and acknowledged the continued existence of England's 39 historic counties, of which Yorkshire is one. In April 2014 (under the coalition government) Planning Rules were changed to allow councils to put up boundary signs marking traditional English counties. In August 2014, the first road sign was erected to mark the boundary of the historic county of Yorkshire.
Yorkshire Day
In celebration of our great Yorkshire spirit, the Yorkshire Society nominates a Yorkshire town or city to hold a special Civic celebration on Yorkshire Day (1st August) each year, with a gathering of lord mayors, mayors, civic leaders and Yorkshire Society members from across God's Own County, with typically a banquet and church service in honour of our distinctive county.
Various peripheral events are organised and Yorkshire people can feel the pride of belonging to the country's largets and greatest county, which has a boundary of over 600 miles.
A Proud Day in Penistone
In 2006, Penistone was proud to host the event. Members of the Yorkshire Society and distinguished Civic Leaders were formally invited to participate in the event by Penistone Mayor, Cllr Nora Collett. The local council and Yorkshire Day committee took the event very seriously and made a big effort to make the day a success. They deserve full credit for what turned out to be a wonderful event, in spite of very variable weather on the day.
Only the top two pictures are clickable here. The remaining pictures are still frames taken from video footage of the event.
Penistone photographer and musician David Thorp took 10" x 8" commemorative photos of the dignitaries for people to order. A hour-long service was held in Penistone Church, finishing with 'Ilkley Moor' and the long parade went around the block led by the military band. They were taken up to Penistone Grammar School for a special dinner of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, with solicitor Mr Stephen Smith as guest speaker.
Events of the Day
The main events of the day:
Paramount Cinema (Penistone Town Hall)
Free films
Yorkshire Day Celebration Concert
The Yorkshire Civic Celebration
Yorkshire Day started in 1975 as a reaction to local government reforms which were perceived as a threat to Yorkshire's identity as the country's largest county and it has become a permanent calendar event to keep the Yorkshire spirit alive. It has held true ever since and has been held in Saltburn, Saddleworth and these other fine places:
Tykes Together
But not everyone sees the good side of our sometimes less-than-'umble, common Tyke. Our regional characteristic is stereotypically one of bluntness and parsimony, as befits the traditional rural nature of the county.
The Yorkshireman's Motto: "Hear all, See all, Say nowt. Eyt all, Sup all, Pay nowt. And if tha ever does owt for nowt, allus do it for thissen."
Referring to a Yorkshire Coat of Arms (see Flikr) in some old variant of the dialect:
"A Flea, a Fly, a Magpie, an Bacon Flitch Is t' Yorkshireman's Coit of Arms,
And t'reason they've chossen these things so rich,
Is becos they have all speshal charms.
A Flea will bite whoivver it can, An' soa, my lads, will a Yorkshireman.
A Fly will sup wi' Dick, Tom, or Dan, An' soa, by gow, 'ull a Yorkshireman.
A Magpie can talk for a terrible span, An' soa an' all can a Yorkshireman.
A Flitch is noa gooid till it's hung, you'll agree, No more is a Yorkshireman, don't you see".
Explained thus:
A fly will tipple with any body, so will a Yorkshireman; a flea will bite every body; so will a Yorkshireman; a magpie will chatter with any body, so will a Yorkshireman; and a flitch of bacon is never good for anything until it has been hung, no more is a Yorkshireman.
The Links
Some glorious Yorkshire Websites and (below) what I have pinched from them:
Things for the Tyke to Remember:
Phyllis Diller: 'I’m at an age when my back goes out more than I do.'