Yokefleet

Visitor Comments

Posted by Nicola on 12/04/2008

Before moving to Goole two years ago, I lived in Yokefleet for about ten years. Whilst it is true that the riverbank is very pleasant in summer, it is also true that aside from nice views and abundant wildlife, the only exciting things in the village are the phone box and the thrice-weekly bus to Goole.

Posted by Ruth on 16/09/2009

My mother lived in Yokefleet nearly 20 years ago and still have family close by. I now live in Brisbane but I'm looking for any information I can get on Yokefleet Hall and surrounds for a novel that I am researching.

If anyone can tell me anything about the building, the history of the Hall or the grounds that would be most appreciated. Thanks.

Posted by Fiona on 14/11/2009

If you haven't seen them already, there are detailed descriptions in "Pevsner's Buildings of England, East Riding of Yorkshire" (latest edition). I went in the house about 20 years ago and I think at this time it had hardly been altered since its building, I do not know if this is the case.

Posted by John on 27/11/2009

I recall the occupant of Yokefleet Hall was a Major Empsom, fondly known as the Metham Madcap as he had a car which he drove quite quickly by the standards of the day. He was there during the 1950s and 1960s. One Sunday night he had called at Wardles Garage on the main road (A614) coming home from Goole and been filled up. Unfortunately the pump attendant had put diesel fuel in the tank instead of petrol with the consequence that by the time the car reached Elm Tree corner the engine died. As a boy I was entertained to watch a man who had been summoned from the garage with a can of petrol and a siphon tube sucking diesel up the siphon tube and getting a good mouthful to splutter on before the siphon would empty the tank of diesel to allow petrol to be put in.

The diesel went on the verge and killed the grass in front of my aunt's house so to apologise they received a brace of pheasants after the next shoot on the Metham estate.

Posted by Caroline on 28/08/2014

On the 1911 census there's Arthur Reginald Empson at Yokefleet Hall. His son was William - a well-known literary critic.

My mum lived in one of the Yokefleet Hall's lodges with her granny for a while - Margaret Richards, daughter of Annie. If anyone remembers them or their ancestors please let me know. I'm doing the family history. Thanks.

Posted by James on 08/12/2014

I lived in Yokefleet in the mid-1950s and remember Major Empson who always wore a deerstalker hat and plus fours. He was a magistrate at Howden. I worked for peanuts on a local farm and earned more in two days bushbeating for his shoots than I earned on a farm working for a week. I remember a shop being built and it was owned by Mrs Epworth. I remember farmers, Bell Glossop; Herbert Stead who had the windmill farm; Tom Sweeting; Mrs Crisp who had a small farm by the church at Blacktoft Jetty.

Posted by Tina on 17/02/2015

Mrs Epworth was my grandmother and owned the village shop. My dad worked for Tommy Sweeting in his younger years, I think, before he joined the RAF or maybe after - I'll have to check with him. My grandmother's good friend Mary Sellars worked at Yokefleet Hall when I was growing up and I remember visiting the hall's kitchens a few times where there would always be a hot kettle on the wood stove and something always cooking.

Posted by James on 28/04/2015

Tina - I remember your gran very well as I lived on a farm locally and was only sixteen years old. When I was broke she would always let me have half an ounce of Old Holborn tobacco to see me through the week - as wages in those days for teenagers was poor. I always paid her back as soon as I was paid. Mrs Epworth. A nice kind friendly lady!

Posted by James on 27/07/2017

I visited Yokefleet last year, the first time for 60 years, to see the Sweetings sons. I remember their mum and dad. She was from Gilberdyke and worked for Co-op farms. Mrs Sweetings mum and dad (John's mum's mum) lived on the railway station at Broomfleet. John Sweeting lived at the farm with his dad, Tommy. Tommy had a brother at Thorne near Doncaster and did dairy products. Tommy Sweetings dad made a living out of owning a Hereford Bull. John Sweeting kept pigs. They had two dogs, Mick and Rex.

Posted by John on 21/12/2009

I recently found out there had been an Archimedes screw located at the riverbank end of Hutch Lane. It is said it was used to lift water out of the broad dyke which runs alongside Hutch Lane between the riverbank and the village street and pump the water over the riverbank into the Ouse. Evidently during times of flood risk a tractor would be taken to the screw and used to drive device via a flat canvas belt.

All I could see when I visited the site was a gearbox on a plinth and a pulley on a shaft. I am guessing the screw would be under the floor level and need digging out to view it. Can anyone give further details about this early aid to the village drainage? It seems quite an important bit of local history. Thanks.

Posted by Steve on 31/03/2010

Does anyone know the whereabouts of the DOBSON family who lived in Metham Hall in the 1970s? Rosemary and Paul were two of the children. Thanks.

Posted by Paula on 30/08/2010

I lived in Yokefleet for 21 years and had many relatives there. My gramps still lives there and has done all his life - he's now 86! He worked on the farm there until he retired at 65 due to ill health. Anyone who knows Yokefleet and its occupants will certainly know the man.

Posted by Maxine on 08/10/2010

Does anyone know if there are any records or pictures of the staff who were employed at Yokefleet Hall, in the early-1900s? My father was born in London and on the 1911 census it shows that he worked at Yokefleet Hall as a butler.

Back to Table of Contents

feedback@goole-on-the-web.org.uk