From The Press of York:
17th April
New 'Discover Tang Hall' app takes you into the suburb's past - and introduces some great characters...
By Stephen Lewis
@StephenLewisYrk
Features writer
'Escaped legionary home again' ran the headline in a local newspaper on Thursday, November 9, 1933.
Beneath it was a photograph of a smiling man in a neat tie, flanked on one side by his mother and on the other by his grandfather. "Eric Birkinshaw, of Carter Avenue, Tang Hall, who escaped from the Foreign Legion in Morocco, walking nearly 300 miles, photographed at York today with his mother and grandfather," read the caption beneath.
It's a story that delights Claire Boardman. "How did someone from Tang Hall end up walking 300 miles to escape the French Foreign Legion?" she asks.
A search of the British Newspaper Archive reveals a little more. Eric had, apparently, gone to the Model School in York as a lad, then became a joiner. But before turning 21, he suddenly upped and left his job, went off to France, and joined the Foreign Legion.
A clipping from the Western Daily Press in Bristol, of all things, yields a bit more information. Eric had apparently spent three years in the Foreign Legion, and claimed to have 'experienced rough treatment'.
He tried to escape twice. The first time he was recaptured and imprisoned for 60 days. The second time, however, the 24-year-old managed to hide in a motor-bus headed for the town of Oran, on the coast of Algeria. From there he stowed away in a British steamer bound for Almeria in Spain - and from Almeria walked to Gibraltar. "His parents and his wife in York had not heard from him for two months prior to his return," the newspaper noted.
His wife? Well, yes, it seems he had got married in 1928, before he ran away to join the Legion. We don't know what kind of a marriage it was, or whether it had anything to do with his running away in the first place. But Eric - who was clearly a bit of a 'lad' - made the newspapers yet again in 1943: this time in Dundee, and this time after being sentenced to nine months in prison for bigamy. He seems at some point to have conveniently forgotten about his first marriage and married again, claiming he had been told his first wife 'had been killed in an accident in Italy..." Oh, Eric...
This astonishing story is just one of many to be found on a brilliant new app, 'Discover Tang Hall'.
The result of an exhaustive search of York's various archives by Claire and others involved in the project, followed by a series of workshops Claire held over about 18 months with people and community groups in Tang Hall, the app introduces three walking trails around the area. One follows the history and heritage of the area through a series of special 'places'; a second looks at people and characters (such as Eric); and a third follows the green spaces of Tang Hall - such as St Nick's Fields and its fascinating history.
The app is free to download, and simple to use. Simply open the app, tap on 'heritage trail', open the map, and then choose which of the the trails you are interested in; people, places or green spaces. The interactive map adjusts accordingly, then comes up with a trail which visits several 'stopping points'. Touch a stopping point on the map, and it instantly brings up information about the person or place.
The app also includes a fun ‘Pick A Character’ section which allows users to dip in and out of the area's local heritage and is ideal for anyone unable to walk the trails - or, for that matter, anyone who is currently in 'lockdown'...
Claire, a mature student originally from Sheffield who is studying for a Ph.D in Applied Heritage at the University of York, first began setting up workshops in Tang Hall and Clifton as part of her research. She'd combed through various York archives, but wanted to supplement her research by gathering folk and community memories and stories as well.
It was at one of her Tang Hall workshops that parish councillor Melanie Starkey came up with the idea for an app. They were able to tap into a small grant from Tang Hall Big Local (which in 2012 received £1 million of lottery funding to improve the local community) to help develop it.
The resulting app brings together research from local archives and local knowledge from a host Tang Hall residents and community organisations like the Tang Hall History Group and St Nicks nature reserve.
A 'project team' then designed the app and the three trails on it."
Hopefully, the app will inspire others to investigate the history around them," says Jane Burrows, the secretary of the Tang Hall History Group and one of the people involved in developing the app.
Another was Jonathan Dent, the natural habitats manager at St Nicks. "Time has seen Tang Hall change considerably," he says "It has been a pleasure being involved in this project and discovering how the natural heritage of Tang Hall has changed over time."
But is now, in the middle of a lockdown, really the right time to launch a walking trails app?
There's no reason why people who live in or near Tang Hall can't walk parts of the trails during their daily exercise, says Claire.
As for the rest - you can do a 'virtual walk' by using the app to find out all sorts of things you may not have know before about Tang Hall. And there will be nothing to stop you doing the walks once lockdown is over...
Discover Tang Hall can be downloaded for free in app stores on most modern mobile phones.
Stories and characters from the app
PEOPLE
The Thwengs or Thwings
You didn't know about Tang Hall's family of rebellious Catholics? They once lived at the old Manor House on the corner of Walney Road, and refused to give up their Catholic faith after King Henry VIII turned England Protestant. In 1592 when Henry's daughter Elizabeth was on the throne, William Thwing and his sister Anne tried to hide an on-the-tun Catholic priest, Anthony Page, in a pile of hay. "But ... one of the searchers climbing up on the hay fell into the place wherein Mr Anthony was, and so was he taken," the app records. William was seized and brought to trial - but his sister then 'voluntarily and boldly' told the judges it was her who had hidden Page. William was released and Anne arrested in his place.
The Battle of Britain ace
Former Tang Hall Primary schoolboy Charleton Haw was an RAF pilot who fought in the Battle of Britain and later against the Nazis in Russia. Remarkably, he became a pilot despite first failing his RAF medical because of poor eyesight. "After doing some exercises, he was able to take the test again and passed," the app notes.
Charleton was one of only four RAF pilots to be awarded the Order of Lenin for his service against the Nazis in Russia. He also won the Distinguished Flying Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Russian Victory Medal. Quite a man...
PLACES
Bad Bargain Lane
This apparently owes its curious name to a small-holding which once existed at the corner of Piker Thorn Lane in nearby Holtby. The small-holding was regarded as a 'bad bargain' by a disgruntled owner as it contained 'two thirds of an acre of swampy pond', reports the app.
The Tang Hall
The original Tang Hall was a medieval hall which once stood on what is now Tang Hall Lane. The name 'tang' is thought to come from the word Anglo Saxon world 'Tang' or 'Tong', meaning the fork where two becks meet - the becks being Osbaldwick and Tang Hall becks.
GREEN SPACES
St Nicks Field
What is now a nature reserve was once the site of a 19th century brickworks. It was later used as a tip, before being closed in 1974. Deemed unsuitable for housing, it was eventually developed as a green space and urban nature reserve. The Friends of St Nicholas Fields have planted thousands of trees, shrubs, and wildflowers.
Cycle route on the old Derwent Valley railway
The cycle route cuts through Derwenthorpe from York. Fruit trees have been planted in open grassland. But there is another plant growing beside the route which dates back to the days when this was a railway: chicory. "This was once transported into the Rowntree factory along the light railway," says Claire Boardman. "Some of it blew off the train and started growing. It still grows beside the cycle track."
