In which village was kept a parish coffin for the common use of all?
At Easingwold, where the coffin is still kept in a chamber of the church as a relic. In former times, it was made use of by all but those in a position to provide the essential receptacle for the remains of a dead relative. The coffin was used to convey the corpse from the place of death to the church and thence to the grave, after which it was returned to the church.
This was an excerpt From “Believe It Or Not: It Happened in Yorkshire” A Yorkshire Quiz by C. T. Oxley. I discovered this booklet in a Charing Cross Road London book shop. It doesn’t have a date on it, but according to Amazon it is from 1956. The forward says:
“This Booklet has been written with two objects in mind: the preservation of Yorkshire traditions, legends and characters, which are becoming forgotten in a fast-moving and materialistic age, and of course the please=ure and entertainment of the reader. I have chosen to present this little work in the form of a quiz and which I hope will provide the reader with both pleasure and profit. In the gathering of material reference has been made on to reliable sources in the form of old newspapers, chapbooks, contemporary accounts and authorative works.”
Cyril T. Oxley seems to have written numerous pamphlets and booklets on weird and ghostly subjects of Northern England. I reproduce this information here for The Spooky Isles readers “pleasure and profit”. The little booklet is fantastic and has some incredible stories that I know all will enjoy reading and I hope C. T. Oxley, if he is still around, or his family do not object to my republishing it.
creepily cool
I met C.T Oxley’s daughter. She came on my ghost walk in Harrogate. He was a prolific writer and paranormal investigator in Yorkshire. He is now the subject of a book I am writing.