1. Religious hermits were the original residents of Ryedale's most remote outposts.

Edmund was first at Farndale, Osmund at Goathland and the Saintly Godric in Eskdale

2.The earliest hospital outside York in the area was formed at Goathland in 1119 when a band of holy brothers was allowed to remain in Pickering Forest so long as they provided a refuge for travellers

3.Being in holy orders held few laughs. When approaching death, monk Gilbert of Sempringham told his Malton canons of the bitter and tedious nature of life. But for the sake of their souls he urged them to repress vice, exalt justice and strictly observe the institutions of their order

4. Monks' stories which have survived eight centuries include one of a woman from Murton who blamed her ailments on eating a cooked frog in a loaf. She insisted she had been cured by St William of York. Another tale recalled an incident in 1197 when a limekiln was made at Malton Priory. A man fell into the 7ft pit nearby and did not reappear. Asked if he was hurt, he replied: "I am killed". And he was

5. Early pub licensing was tough. Offenders against the Assize Of Ale Act could be ducked in water. Not long after the act was introduced in 1202 Richard, the Sledmere carter, was found dead in his bed, suffocated from immoderate drinking

6. The number of adult taxpayers in 1377 was: Pickering, 435; New Malton, 354; Kirby Moorside 511 and Helmsley, 282

7. By the 16th century, the restorative powers of Malton spaw (spa) were famous. Even its "nauseous scum" was reckoned a cure for ulcers. Alice Thornton of Newton Grange should have given it a try in the 17th century: she endured spleen after eating lobsters, consumption, small pox, half a year of haemorrhoids, a lame knee, gangrene of the nipple and a pain in the neck, which is what her doctor must have considered her

8. Civic pride emerged in the 18th century. Malton was by now known as "the town of meal and malt", famous for its bread made in brick ovens. It first started regular street cleaning in 1748. A quarter of a century later, the town's traders planned to petition Parliament for an act to abolish hawkers. They were "the bane of all fair traders"

9. Schools began springing up in Ryedale in the 1700s. Some teachers were stricter than others. John Walker of Husthwaite was a passionate man. He put one pupil in a chest, then in a window, whipped him, then placed him on a cold stone in the church with many boys' hats on his head. Walker knocked three and a half teeth out of another boy

!0. Ryedale love occasionally triumphed over parental disapproval. Quaker girl Barbara Priestman left letters for her lover in a hollow tree at Thornton Dale while her mother went to a Pickering meeting. Later the lad called at her house. The gate clicked and the lover fled through the back window. Asked what she was doing, the Quaker lass replied, "Meditating, mother dear." Marriage, however, could be tough: a parson visiting Ellerburn encountered the clerk and the sexton watching a husband and wife fight. He was told to look and see "a woman combing her husband's hair with a three-legged stool"

11. Some lost words of character, recorded by William Marshall of Pickering. Boorly - large but comely; bunchclot - a clodhopper; cowdy - frolicsome; dozzand - shrivelled; gotherly - affable; kipper - nimble; pauky - artful; seasonsides sly, dry fellow; whik - alive

12. Ryedale's inventiveness abounded. William Scoresby the elder, born at Nutholm in 1760, went to sea at 19 and invented the ice drill and the crow's nest. As well as being the father of flight, Sir George Cayley of Brompton also constructed an instrument for testing the purity of water. Robert Teesdale, head gardener for Lord Carlisle at Castle Howard, compiled a classified catalogue of 197 rare plants in 1794.

13. The Helmsley linen workers were a thirsty bunch. Twenty public houses in 1774 weren't enough, and smugglers kept the town supplied with cheap spirits. Thomas Thompson found a barrel in a quarry and bored a hole in it. The smugglers returned to remove the barrel. When he awoke from his stupor, he wondered where it had gone

14. Duties of a North Riding constable in 1788 included: to inquire what vagabonds and rogues have been apprehended and who has relieved rogues with meat; and to certify how many inns, alehouses and tippling houses have been kept, who has been drunk and who has maintained any unlawful games

15. In the early 1800s, children at Leavening played football, trap ball, tap and taw, shinnow and cricket. Robert Frank recalled his childhood at Hutton le Hole. As a lad he fished in the pool, sat, sang and talked on the green, played cricket, raced down the street, rambled the woods and climbed the hills

16. By the mid 19th century, doctors had become highly regarded, especially those, such as Dr Robertson at Thornton Dale, who "did a lot of doctoring for nowt". Many folk drew on the patent medicine vendors. Mr Mosely visited Malton regularly, offering artificial teeth fitted "with the stumps left in"

17. In 1894, the Pickering Industrial, Poultry, Pigeon, Rabbit, Cat And Dog Show Society displayed at its gala 200 dogs, 400 pigeons, 200 poultry, 196 rabbits, 30 cats and 1,400 needlework entries

18. By the 20th century, new fashions in fashion and music had rocked Ryedale. Salton village had a Foo Foo band in 1932. A Sinnington masked dance had an accordion band and Helmsley had a harmonica group. Cinemas showing American films changed the language. A Ryedale village woman in 1937 was heard to say "OK baby"

19. In the Second World War, evacuated children from Hull and Middlesbrough were billeted in homes at Ryedale towns and villages. One lad, continually asked to wash his hands, remarked: "It isn't an evacuee she wants, it's a duck"

20. All the above facts are taken from a new book, The History Of Ryedale by John Rushton, a 505-page single volume history from the district's beginnings to the present day. Published by Blackthorn Press, it costs £25.

Updated: 09:41 Monday, February 02, 2004