Further on our walk through Great Ayton we found the Captain Cook Schoolroom Museum.
The young James Cook would have been around 8 years old when he and his family moved to Great Ayton, and he would have spent about 4 years at school before he was expected to find a job. The museum has this rather interesting recreation of the schoolroom, complete with how the pens, ink and paper are sourced.
There are also displays about the voyages of Captain Cook, as well as about the history and development of Great Ayton itself, both of which are quite interesting subjects.
Admission to the museum was free - a remarkable bargain! It is completely run by volunteers, and the woman on duty while we were there was quite enthusiastic. One of the volunteers has written a book about the life of Captain James Cook, so we bought a copy of that. It is well illustrated and well written, so I'm looking forward to reading more of it. I've currently read about 3 chapters.
The museum was refurbished in 2018, thanks to a grant from the EU.
I think you're a history buff Ian! This is lovely with the figures and the quills in their ink stands. I remember using pens to dip into the inkwells but not the feather quills. It was quite an honour to be the 'ink monitor', you got to fill u p the inkwells!
I think you could be right about me being a history buff Judith! So much to learn about our past, and knowing more about the past helps in the understanding of the present.
Thank you all for your lovely comments and favs, they are very much appreciated.
For those of you interested in the use of feathers as a pen, this extract describes preparing the feathers for use as quills: 'To make a quill pen one first located a flock of geese, and begged some flight feathers from the owner. The feathers then had to be hardened by plunging in boiling water or hot ashes, before being shaped into quills with a sharp penknife'.
One of the nice things about a small local museum like this is that they really reflect the character of the place where they are located. It was an interesting museum to visit.
I'm not sure I would put it as strongly as that Paul, but I certainly enjoy it a lot, and I like to share things and places that I've found that really interest me.
The book is called 'Captain James Cook' and is subtitled Yorkshire's most famous and enigmatic explorer. The author is John M Graham, and the ISBN 978-1-5262-0783-8 and it costs £6 at the museum. I would offer to get you a copy and send it, but it's most unlikely that we will get to Great Ayton again since the Moorsbus finishes at the end of September. You may be able to get the museum to send you one - https://captaincookschoolroommuseum.co.uk/ It's not an academic study, but a very accessible book that covers his whole life. It has some fascinating illustrations. It's about 72 pages long. I hope that helps William.
I think you could be right about me being a history buff Judith! So much to learn about our past, and knowing more about the past helps in the understanding of the present.
Ian
(Ours are in dicussion to day of there behavings in the past to the colored people.)
Thank you all for your lovely comments and favs, they are very much appreciated.
For those of you interested in the use of feathers as a pen, this extract describes preparing the feathers for use as quills: 'To make a quill pen one first located a flock of geese, and begged some flight feathers from the owner. The feathers then had to be hardened by plunging in boiling water or hot ashes, before being shaped into quills with a sharp penknife'.
One of the nice things about a small local museum like this is that they really reflect the character of the place where they are located. It was an interesting museum to visit.
Ian
I'm not sure I would put it as strongly as that Paul, but I certainly enjoy it a lot, and I like to share things and places that I've found that really interest me.
Ian
The book is called 'Captain James Cook' and is subtitled Yorkshire's most famous and enigmatic explorer. The author is John M Graham, and the ISBN 978-1-5262-0783-8 and it costs £6 at the museum. I would offer to get you a copy and send it, but it's most unlikely that we will get to Great Ayton again since the Moorsbus finishes at the end of September. You may be able to get the museum to send you one - https://captaincookschoolroommuseum.co.uk/ It's not an academic study, but a very accessible book that covers his whole life. It has some fascinating illustrations. It's about 72 pages long. I hope that helps William.
Ian
Thank you Vesna. It was a small but very interesting museum.
Ian