Fnurban #24 : East Riding military miscellany

I've been absent from hobby activities for the past week, while on a pleasant holiday to the Yorkshire Wolds / East Riding area.   In any new area I suspect we all tend to keep an eye out for military history interest, and there are usually a few things to note. 

We stayed near Bridlington, and did the 'old town trail' there including The Bayle Museum, which is in the medieval gatehouse which once protected Bridlington Priory,  A typical local museum with small collections reflecting various aspects of local life, it was well worth an hour of our time, and entry was free. There was a militaria room, which included this splendid chap: 

 

An ECW period musketeer, of course - I don't think it claimed to represent any particular regiment. There was some ECW involvement locally, as Wikipeida says:  In 1643 Queen Henrietta Maria of France landed there with troops to support the Royalist cause...before moving on to York, which became her headquarters.

I was struck by the simplicity; the coat and breeches in a fairly coarse woollen fabric, the stockings also wool, I think, just like long socks really, The boots of soft leather, almost like suede - not sure how authentic that would be!  Somehow this has an immediacy that you might not get from illustrations in books. 

The local regiment was the Green Howards, and the display included this nice picture depicting  the raising of that regiment in 1688, 'guarded' by mannequins wearing the uniforms of the regiment from WW2. 

( it seems that the 'Green' comes from  their facing colour in the 18th Century, but until at least 1709 the facings were yellow as in the picture )

Also in a museum was a temporary exhibit in honour of  local artist Estella Brown ( 1944 -2020 ), who it seems had some military interests - her painting depicting  British infantry squares at Waterloo was included in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. The narrative of her life explains this - it seems her husband Geoff Brown already had a fascination with war games and owned hundreds of lead soldiers- you can't get away from wargamers, it seems.. It occurs to me to wonder if any readers knew Geoff?  

I always like a good castle, and nearby Skipsea has a nice Motte and Bailey type, built soon after the Norman Conquest but destroyed and abandoned after its owner rebelled against King Henry III in 1221. Still quite an impressive mound remains, guarded by cows which we didn't disturb by going any nearer,  and you could see the prominent outer bailey earthworks, where it is thought the associated burgh might have been.

 

  Finally a visit to Flamborough Head to the North of 'Brid' - here a toposcope has been set up, to commemorate the sea battle in 1779  between John Paul Jones' ship Bonhomme Richard  and British Frigate HMS Serapis - during which Jones' ship sank, but he and his still crew boarded and captured the Serapis!  

It seems the wreck of the Bonhomme Richard is out there somewhere, though it's exact location is yet to be confirmed. Meanwhile Flamborough Head remains a rather beautiful place 

 

with much wildlife - seals and seabird colonies, including some of these little chaps, who also have a rather smart uniform! 

We had a thoroughly pleasant week and were pretty lucky with the weather, on the whole. Now, back to normality, but also I hope, back to hobby stuff - and the promise of another remote game, thanks to Jon Freitag, which I look forward to very much!  More of that, in the next post - meanwhile keep well, everyone.