Henry Storey - The Stonemason

 

Henry Storey was descended from a long line of stonemasons. He could trace his family roots from their arrival in Yorkshire via The Borders and Aberdeen to Scandinavia. It is said that his family was recruited from the ‘north country’ by 8th Baron Scrope to repair the damage inflicted on Bolton Castle by Henry VIII. Retaliation for Scrope’s involvement in the 1536 Pilgrimage of Grace.

 

Henry was born in 1839 and lived his early life in Castle Bolton where his father was one of six stonemasons living and working in the village.  He quickly realised that labour opportunities were limited and he would have to “follow the work”.  As a consequence he found employment maintaining the fabric of Ripon Cathedral.

 

After an outbreak of Cholera killed 29 of the 60 Ripon masons he returned to the dales settling in Carlton and later after brief relocation to Firby near Bedale, Melmerby.  He married twice firstly to Margaret Brown of Middlesmoor and upon her death to Amelia Watson of Melmerby. His marriages produced six children.

 

The variety of his work can be seen in the pages of his account book. Which include the construction of a barn at Gammersgill, a vault in Coverham Church and ‘a new house to an old one’ in Carlton. When employment was scarce he carved stone urns one of which was placed at either side of the front door to his home.

 

He supplemented his income buying a horse at the Middleham Moor fair and used it to cart coal into the dale from Leyburn railway station.  He would sell the horse at the following years fair introducing a raw onion into its backside in order to give it ‘a bit more life’ and get a better price for the animal.

 

Henry was a Primitive Methodist lay preacher and was well known for his “fire and brimstone” delivery. His ginger hair and beard must have given him a formidable presence when in “full flow” in the chapels up and down the dale. He is said to have shocked many a congregation by extoling the virtues of love, sex and marriage in his sermons.

 

His latter days were spent in East Witton where he devoted his time to carving text from the bible on the walls of his cottage. He died in 1920 and is buried in Coverham Churchyard with his wife and grandson under a headstone that he carved himself.

 

His youngest son Sylvester born in 1888 continued the family business from his homes in Melmerby and Carlton. His lasting memorial is the cow house at Fleensop.

 

 

Text and photo courtesy of Chris Hogg.