Mick Haywood's Mainly Yorkshire Miscellany

Leeds Years - Article

Leeds Years Batley Years
photo of a pub front

The Buck Inn, Buckden

Dales Visit

Whitsuntide 1964

Our second camping trip (me, John and George) was just as enjoyable as the first one, who chose that we should go to Upper Wharfedale I can’t recall, but I have always been glad that they did.
None of us had ever been there before, so I purchased a one inch Ordinance Survey map of the area, and armed with it and a road map we headed off on Saturday morning towards Skipton, the ‘Gateway of the Dales’.
We drove up Wharfedale, through Grassington, Kilnsey, Kettlewell and Starbotton, when someone said we should stop at the next pub for a pint, so we pulled up in Buckden opposite the Buck Inn.

We had a quick reconnoitre around the ‘village’ then went in the pub for a pint, that done we scrutinised the map and decided to have a walk up Buckden Pike via a footpath just behind the pub.
We returned to the pub early in the evening to be greeted by an exuberant barman, a larger than life character called Jackie Beresford. We were to learn later that not only was he the head barman at The Buck, but also ran the local taxi service, did the school runs for the Upper Dales kids, played the accordion for the village's country dances, and drove the local hearse.

He was a great raconteur with the ‘gift of the gab’, and I immediately struck up a rapport with him.
When I told him we had a guitar and mandolin in the car outside, he told us to fetch them in, which
we did, and we played on and off for the rest of the night.

old photo of 3 men camping in a field

Cooking breakfast on Sunday morning

At closing time we got the tent out of the car boot and wandered off down the road to find somewhere to pitch the tent.

We found a field a way bit down the road, and undercover of the darkness we pitched our tent, and crawled into our sleeping bags. We awoke on Sunday morning to discover we had a herd of cows keeping us company in the field.

3 men with instruments drinking tea in a field

A rare sight that weekend  - us drinking tea !

Over a mainly liquid Sunday lunch, Jackie informed us that there was a
good, reasonably priced campsite, run by a friend of his adjacent to the George Inn at Hubberholme, only just over a mile down the road. We finished our pints, and went for a look.
We stayed there that night, and I camped their regularly over the next few years, whenever I visited the area.

Over that weekend I got to know Jackie very well, swapping songs and stories over a pint or two, and we soon became firm friends.

In the following years whenever I returned to the area, my first port of call would be ‘The Buck’, and it somehow became a tradition that he wouldn’t pull me a pint until I had sung him Young Simon John, ‘With his neet cap an’ his neet shirt, an’ his long stockings on HMM - HMM!’

Jackie told me many notable tales, but one particularly sticks in my memory. He was booked to take a party of nuns on a guided tour up Buckden Pike. It was blowing a gale at the time, but they would not be discouraged from going. They reached the summit fine, but on the way down a strong gust of wind blew their habits up over their heads to reveal that they were all wearing red flannel drawers underneath their
habits.

Early 19th century photo of people gathered outside a building

The opening of  Buckden Township Hall in Sept. 1912

Buckden Old Time Country Dances


During the 1960s and 70s the local Parish Council arranged Old Time Dances, to try and preserve the fast dying local dance tradition. The dances were mainly held on a Saturday Night at Buckden Village Institute. A small community centre colloquially known as the ‘Township Hall’ that also, twice a week, doubled as a bank.

2 men playing accordion and fiddle

Jackie and Peter Beresford
Photo credit: Bob Pegg

The council could only afford to pay two musicians, usually an accordionist and a fiddle player or drummer. There were two main local accordionists, Harry Cockerill from Askrigg, and Jackie Beresford from Buckden. Jackie’s son Peter Beresford, from Lothersdale, played fiddle and accordion, and Peter's wife played drums, as did Joe Slater from Buckden. The other member of the rhythm section was a Mr Norman, an out-comer from Bradford, known as ‘Banjo Willie’ who played ukulele, and sold work clothes to the Dales folk from the back of an old Morris van.

Many of the people who attended the dances were former locals who had moved away from the area, but they had learnt the dances at the local school when they were growing up.

The dances were supposed to start at 7.30 ish, but never really got going until after 10.30 pm when it was ‘chucking out time’ at the nearby Buck Inn, but they always carried on well into the early hours of the morning. The dances performed tended to be Old Time Dances, such as St. Bernard’s Waltz, Military Two Step, and Gay Gordons, with local country dances interspersed between them. The local favourites being the Huntsman’s Chorus, Swinging Six and Buttered Peas.

In 1972 my good friend John Browell, who at the time was researching and recording the dance traditions of Upper Wharfedale, told me he was going to Buckden to record the Old Time Dance in June and did I fancy going with him, I said "I’d love to!"

On the journey to Buckden, John told me that before we went to the Buck, he had arranged to first go and visit the next pub up the dale, the White Lion at Cray, as the landlord Squire, played an uncommon version of the local dance tune the Huntsman’s Chorus, and he wanted to record him playing it. With the tune duly recorded and our pints finished, at about 4 o clock, we headed back down the dale to Buckden.
We parked up at the Buck, and with ‘Young Simon John’ done and dusted we settled down in the bar for a bite to eat, a pint or two to wash it down, and while away the time until the dance started at 7.30. The room was soon full with merriment, good hearted banter, music and song, and as 7.30 approached we wandered down to the Village Hall.

Old photo of man playing accordion

Harry Cockerill
Image credit: cravenherald.co.uk

That evening Harry Cockerill on accordian, and ‘Banjo Willie’ on ukulele were the official (paid) musicians, but the band was augmented with a couple of others, plus John on melodeon.
The dance started on time with the musicians playing a few tunes, but as there weren't enough dancers in the hall to make up a set, the two other musicians bade their leave and withdrew to the ‘Buck’ for some refreshment. John said he was staying in the hall, to record any further proceedings, so I decided to join the others in the pub. The paid ‘band’ and John stayed in the hall all night, but the other two fluctuated between the hall and pub. At closing time, just about all the customers in The Buck slowly filtered into the hall, until it was quite full.
The dance was soon in full swing, everyone was enjoying themselves and they all danced and frolicked into the early hours. A full account of the evening was published in the English Folk Dance and Song Society Folk Music Journal Vol 2 No 4 (1973) under the title “Dance Tradition in Buckden” by John Browell.

Leeds Articles Index  Next article
Mick in full song
About Mick

Mick Haywood is a traditional folk singer & folk song collector who has run and organised folk clubs and festivals for many years. He now lives in Whitby, North Yorkshire.

Links

© Copyright 2025 Mick Haywood
Website by Our Sal