About Hunton
The Dumville Mole Catchers of Hunton
The Dumville Mole Catchers of Hunton. There is reference to Hunton in the Domesday Book of 1086 where mention is made of Gospatrick and Torphin who, before 1066, held respectively the two manors in Hunton . The name is thought to mean ‘Settlement’ of ‘huntsmen’. Land in and around Hunton was granted in the Middle Ages to the Hospital of St Leonard in York and the Knights Templars, whilst Jervaulx Abbey owned the Grange to the north of the village. There is evidence of a mill in the 13thC on the site of what is now a private house. A number of properties date from 16th and 17thCs, two of which are said to contain priest-holes, but no ‘big house’. Records from the 18tha nd 19thCs show the importance of farming and the variety of occupations, such as shoemakers, grocers, smiths etc, show that the village was largely self-supporting. The Dumville Mole Catchers of Hunton, Robert Dumville was born in Masham in 1762. He spent most of his life in Hunton where he died in 1857 of apparently “natural decay” aged anything from 90 to 105 (there is some confusion over the actual date of his birth). He married twice, and had at least 12 children, whose births span some 41 years, from 1789 to 1830. Many of Robert’s sons and grandsons were local mole catchers too. In 1821 a local record shows that Robert was paid 13 shillings for catching moles in Hunton (but unfortunately not how many he caught!). That’s about £400 in today’s money. On the 26th May 1789 Robert married Margery married at Ainderby Steeple, near Bramper Farm and their first daughter, Susanna(h), appeared shortly afterwards, baptised in Ainderby Steeple in September the same year. (A bride already pregnant was fairly usual in those days.)
Hunton Village Gallery
Choose an Album, click images and use on screen arrows to scroll through selection.
double click to view larger photos
About Hunton
The Dumville Mole
Catchers of Hunton
The Dumville Mole Catchers of Hunton. There is reference to Hunton in the Domesday Book of 1086 where mention is made of Gospatrick and Torphin who, before 1066, held respectively the two manors in Hunton . The name is thought to mean ‘Settlement’ of ‘huntsmen’. Land in and around Hunton was granted in the Middle Ages to the Hospital of St Leonard in York and the Knights Templars, whilst Jervaulx Abbey owned the Grange to the north of the village. There is evidence of a mill in the 13thC on the site of what is now a private house. A number of properties date from 16th and 17thCs, two of which are said to contain priest-holes, but no ‘big house’. Records from the 18tha nd 19thCs show the importance of farming and the variety of occupations, such as shoemakers, grocers, smiths etc, show that the village was largely self- supporting. The Dumville Mole Catchers of Hunton, Robert Dumville was born in Masham in 1762. He spent most of his life in Hunton where he died in 1857 of apparently “natural decay” aged anything from 90 to 105 (there is some confusion over the actual date of his birth). He married twice, and had at least 12 children, whose births span some 41 years, from 1789 to 1830. Many of Robert’s sons and grandsons were local mole catchers too. In 1821 a local record shows that Robert was paid 13 shillings for catching moles in Hunton (but unfortunately not how many he caught!). That’s about £400 in today’s money. On the 26th May 1789 Robert married Margery married at Ainderby Steeple, near Bramper Farm and their first daughter, Susanna(h), appeared shortly afterwards, baptised in Ainderby Steeple in September the same year. (A bride already pregnant was fairly usual in those days.)
Hunton Village Gallery
Choose an Album, click images and use on screen arrows to scroll through selection. double click to view larger photos.
Gallery pages are best viewed by rotating mobile devices to landscape mode
