Now! Then! 2024! - Yorkshire On This Day

Excerpt

On Saturday Oct. 31 1674, being at Wakefield fair, Mr Silvanus Rich, of Bull House in Penistone parish, being in Wakefield with Mr Sotwell and others, and having drunk too liberally, they got on horseback, the night being dark; but Mr Rich being mounted on a good mare, outrid his company, and came down towards Wakefield bridge. There was a great flood. Waters were lying out, so they rode deep before they came to the bridge, and went below it into the river, which some imagine was five, others seven yards deep. He kept on, though sometimes almost off. They were both taken a quarter of a mile down the water. At last the mare came to the other side, in the fields, but could not mount out of the water. He got hold of a bough; is parted from his beast. The bough failed him, he got hold of another, stuck there, and at last got out; and at last he espied his mare had got into a field. He went to her, got on, and rode towards Pomfret; lights of a house, went to bed, got his clothes dried, so came home on Sabbath day. A miraculous providence and fair warning. I pray God it may awaken conscience. This man hath made a profession, entertained ministers and meetings at his house, but of late hath given over. Often stays out late, comes home in the night, ventures through dangerous waters. Lord strike home by this providence.

Comment

Comment

Not-completely-appropriate illustration via Eleanor Swift-Hook:

This might be the same guy on the way home needing a comfort break. The dog is not impressed…
Landscape with grey horse and dismounted rider c1647. Philips Wouwerman (1619–1668)
Royal Castle, National Museum in Warsaw pic.twitter.com/POemd61RXW

— Eleanor Swift-Hook (@emswifthook) November 28, 2022

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Original

[Editorial footnote from Oliver Heywood’s diary] On Saturday, Oct. 31, 1674, being at Wakefield fair, Mr. Silvanus Rich, of Bulloughs (Bull house], in Penistone parish, being in Wakefield with Mr. Sotwell and others, and having drunk too liberally, they got on horseback, the night being dark; but Mr. Rich being mounted on a good mare, outrid his company, and came down towards Wakefield bridge. There was a great flood. Waters were lying out, so they rode deep before they came to the bridge, and went below it into the river, which some imagine was five, others seven yards deep. He kept on, though sometimes almost off. They were both taken a quarter of a mile down the water. At last she [the mare] came to the other side, in the fields, but could not mount out of the water. He got hold of a bough; is parted from his beast. The bough failed him, he got hold of another, stuck there, and at last got out; and at last he espied his mare had got into a field. He went to her, got on, and rode towards Pomfret; lights of a house, went to bed, got his clothes dried, so came home on Sabbath day. A miraculous providence and fair warning. I pray God it may awaken conscience. This man hath made a profession, entertained ministers and meetings at his house, but of late hath given over. Often stays out late, comes home in the night, ventures through dangerous waters. Lord strike home by this providence. (Reliquiæ Heywoodianæ. Additional MSS. Hunter.)

266 words.

Tags

Tags are assigned inclusively on the basis of an entry’s original text and any comment. You may find this confusing if you only read an entry excerpt.

• Alcohol (drug) (59) ·
• Alcohol intoxication (27) ·
• Drowning (22) ·
• Fair (9) ·
• Flood (10) ·
• Heywood, Oliver (1630-1702) (34), Bolton-born nonconformist minister and diarist, active in the West Riding, resident at Northowram, ejected for his beliefs ·
• Horse (71) ·
• 📌Penistone (8), market town and parish in South Yorkshire/the West Riding west of Barnsley ·
• 📌Pontefract (19) ·
• Rich, Silvanus (1626/7-1683) (1) ·
• River Calder, West Yorkshire (5) ·
• 📌Wakefield (36), cathedral city on the River Calder in the West Riding/West Yorkshire ·

All tags.

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