Following my piece a couple of weeks ago on Hamer Inn, also known as the Lettered Board and Hamer House, reader Howard Campion has been in touch.
He writes: “Thank you for the article on Hamer House…I have followed this area with interest since purchasing Bill Cowley’s book ‘Snilesworth’, and have recently located an article that appeared in 1989 as well as a paragraph in your dad’s book ‘Portrait of the North York Moors’ – you will no doubt be familiar with the last – but the newspaper article does not have an author’s name. Do you have an e-mail address to which I can send it?”
I replied to Howard with my email address, so I am hoping to receive a copy of the article soon and will report back as to whether it offers more information on the mysterious inn. Howard also asked me: “Any luck with the bird festival thing at Kirkham?”
Howard was referring to a message he sent me several years ago asking if I could find out more about this festival because he was struggling to track down much information. I looked into it briefly, but after getting waylaid by other stuff failed to pursue it. His new message prompted me to have another go and I found the following reference in a 2005 newspaper article:
Kirkham Priory “…is best viewed from the nearby bridge over the River Derwent. This bridge is associated with an interesting festival, the Kirkham Bird Fair. At two o’clock in the morning on Trinity Sunday, men and boys met on the bridge to exchange or purchase pet birds. At sunrise, the bartering stopped and a village feast with drinking and merrymaking commenced.”
A later article in 2006 mentioned that the merrymaking was held in the grounds of the nearby abbey, and that a band would arrive on a boat from Malton.
Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Whit Sunday (which is the seventh Sunday after Easter) and this year it will fall on 31st May. I wonder if any of you know more about the Kirkham Bird Festival, for how long it ran, and when it was last held?
If you can’t help with that mystery, you might be able to help with another. Reader Katherine Hill has been in touch after coming across a column I wrote in 2022:
“I have just read your beautiful poem about Peep o’Day Farm near Husthwaite, Easingwold. I am writing a family history booklet and I understood from my grandma that my grandpa was born at Peep o’Day Farm. His name was Samuel Bean and would have been born most probably in the 1880s. He was the fifth child in a family of eight. At some point the family moved to live at Grange Farm, Acomb, York. I would be delighted if you knew, or could confirm, that the Bean family lived at Peep o’Day.”
The poem went like this: ‘Rising Sun and Peep o’Day, Throstle Nest and Flower o’May,
Acaster Hill and Baxby Mill, Well Pots Green and Providence Hill.’
I couldn’t answer Katherine’s question, but looking in my files, I found a letter sent by Margaret Kilner at the time, who’d done substantial research about the farm.
The information Margaret gave me included that a ‘Peep o’Day, Easingwold’ was farmed by a Mr W Coates in the 1850s. In 1865, a ‘Mr John Coates of Peep o’Day Easingwold’, took part in a stag hunt. Bulmer’s Husthwaite Directory of 1890 lists William and John Coates at Peep o’Day. By the 1911 census, Peep o’Day was run by widow Hannah Winspear until her death in 1930 at the age of 80. She bequeathed it to her two surviving children and her nephew.
Unfortunately, there is no mention of anyone named Bean. Of course, back then, Margaret was not looking for him, so it’s possible she missed it. Perhaps Samuel Bean was the son of someone who worked at the farm, rather than the owner of it? Or is there another ‘Peep o’Day’ farm in the area?
I tried to contact Margaret but the email bounced back, so you are reading this Margaret, please get in touch! And if anyone else can help Katherine confirm her ancestor Samuel Bean’s link to Peep o’Day, do get in touch using the methods below.
Do you have opinions, memories or ideas to share with me? Get in touch with me using the ‘Contact’ button on the top right.
This column appeared in the Darlington & Stockton Times on Friday 6th and the Ryedale Gazette and Herald on Wednesday 4th Feb 2026
The Countryman's Daughter 