Yorkshire Almanac 2026

Unedited excerpt

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Mole catchers have usually 12d. a dozen for all the olde moles they catch, and 6d. a dozen for younge ones; but wee, whoe have much imployment and worke for them, pay (for the most parte) but 10d. a dozen for olde ones, and 4d. for younge ones; nowe as for those that sende purposely for a molecatcher to gette a single mole in an howse, garden or the like, they will seldome take any lesse then 2d. and sometimes 3d. for her, if they gette her, because they have have payment onely for those they catch, and if they misse, the losse is theires; theire manner is neaver to fall in hands with mole catchinge till St. Marke day bee past, because theire breedinge time is allwayes aboute a weeke afore St. Marke day, and if they should kill them afore they have younge, theire profitte woulde bee soe much the lesse. These creatures have usually five younge ones att a time, and neaver above; sometimes they can finde but one, two, three, or fower in a nest; and as for theyre nests, they are usually in hedge rootes, or tree rootes, and sometimes in the hills, or plaine grownde; they are seldome above a foote deepe; they doe the most harme in moist or rainy weather, when the grownd is softe, doinge indeed very much harme to inclosures all winter longe, soe longe as the weather is open, and till such time as they bee by frostes prevented.

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

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Tags

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• Agriculture (10) W/G ·
• Driffield (12) W/G ·
• East Riding of Yorkshire (67) W/G ·
• 📌Elmswell, East Riding of Yorkshire (19) W/G ·
• Feast of Saint Mark (1) W/G ·
• Mark the Evangelist (1) W/G ·
• Mole (animal) (2) W/G ·
• Yorkshire Wolds (23) W/G ·

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

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Similar

20 February 1582: Part of the household inventory made on the death of farmer Richard Best of Elmswell, including his homebrew kit

6 November 1628: Henry Best agrees rates with threshers at Elmswell (Driffield)

5 November 1641: Henry Best of Elmswell (Driffield) lays his wagons up for the winter

22 November 1641: Snow falls at Elmswell (Driffield), and sheep farmers jostle for low ground and feed

11 May 1641: William Simpson of Little Driffield takes a break from threshing to shear Henry Best’s sheep at Elmswell

6 June 1641: Under a waning gibbous moon, armed with a penknife and sticky-willy unguent, a shepherd castrates Henry Best’s lambs at Elmswell (Driffield)

21 May 1641: Six corn-wains from villages east of Driffield pass slowly through Elmswell on their way to Malton

3 May 1641: On the day of the discovery of the True Cross, Driffield folk start moving their livestock out of town to high summer pasture, endangering crops

11 November 1641: At Martinmas, Henry Best starts cutting willow at Elmswell (Driffield) to make farm implements

19 August 1641: Henry Best of Elmswell (Driffield) begins to harvest mixed grain, and gleaners wait in the wings

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

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