iron

A commodity with a wide range of uses, including making jellies, clarifying liquors, manufacturing glue. It is a firm whitish substance obtained from the air bladder of certain fish such as the sturgeon.

places Chevet Selby Kiveton

sources Whitaker, History of Deaner... John Bew's inventory, 1693 Brears, Gentlewoman's Kitchen

dates 1528 1693 1718

issue

An open wound, either a discharge of blood or other matter from the body or an incision designed to bleed a patient.

places Thurlstone

sources Diary of Adam Eyre 1641-168... Diary of Adam Eyre 1641-168...

dates 1647

ivory

spellings ever evere every

Part of the tusk of an elephant, hippopotamus, walrus or narwhal, used to carve valuable status symbols in the Middle Ages.

places York Swine Rudby Arncliffe Sheffield

sources Codicil to Richard de Dalto... Isabella Salvayn's will, 1429 Christopher Conyer's will, ... John Wyndhill's will, 1433/4 South Yorkshire collection Ball et al., Water Power on...

dates 1392 1429 1434 1483 1692 1807

jack(1)

spellings jake

A short, close-fitting garment which could be worn by both men and women.

places Sutton in Holderness York Bradford Aberford Halifax Beeston

sources Margery Aldeburgh's will, 1391 Henry Bowet's inventory, 1423 William Illingworth's will ... Thoresby Society Publications York House Book 2, 3 & 4 John Milner's will 1526 William Grege's will, 1541

dates 1391 1423 1450 1476 1481 1526 1541

jack(2)

A measure, half or quarter of a pint (Halliwell).

places West Riding Pontefract Brandsby

sources Knaresborough session roll ... Brears, Gentlewoman's Kitchen Richard Cholmeley's book 16...

dates 1612 1622 1720 1741

jack(3)

A machine for turning the spit in roasting meat, first noted in 1587 (OED).

places Pudsey Doncaster Stockeld

sources Robert Sharpe's inventory 1623 John Webster's inventory, 1674 Account book 1653-1655

dates 1619 1653 1674

jack-hare

The male hare.

places Pickering

sources North Riding Records

dates 1311 1335

jagger

Usually said to mean carrier or pedlar (OED).

places Longstone Stainland Grinton

sources Place-names of Derbyshire Pt 1 Wakefield Court Rolls 5 May... Records of the manor of Wak... Marriott v. Earl of Wharton...

dates 1306 1349 1400 1705-1708

jaist

spellings jeast jest jist

Alternative spellings of ‘gist (2)’, the aphetic form of agist.

places Otley Fountains Fell Pickering Selby

sources YAS Record Series Talbot c. Proctor tithe cause North Riding Records Robert Hodgson's inventory,... Pontefract session roll Apr...

dates 1540 1597 1622 1658 1728

jakes

A privy.

places Watton Abbey Halifax Leeds

sources Watton: certificate of supe... Wakefield Court Rolls 6 Oct... Thoresby Society Publications

dates 1539 1651 1671

jalap

A purgative drug obtained from the resin found in the tuberous roots of a plant ‘Exogonium Purga’.

places Selby

sources John Bew's inventory, 1693

dates 1693

jangling

To jangle was to talk excessively or noisily, to chatter.

places York

sources Raine, York Minster Fabric ...

dates 1481

janitor

In Latin documents ‘janitor’ was the word for the door-keeper or porter of an abbey, derived from the Latin word for ‘door’.

places Pontefract Healaugh Scarborough Ingerthorpe York

sources YAS Record Series Yorkshire Hundred Roll, Sca... Surtees Society Publications William del Hall's will, 1401 John Staneburn's will, 1461

dates 1190-1206 1216 1274-1275 1293 1401 1461

jannock

A dialect word meaning ‘fair or genuine’.

places Wakefield

sources John Brearley's Memorandum ...

dates 1758-1762

jawm

A regional spelling of ‘jamb’, used for the side post of a doorway or chimney-piece, derived from the French word for leg.

places York Huddersfield South Crosland

sources Webb, Churchwardens' Accounts Journal of John Turner of H... George Redmonds Papers

dates 1546-1547 1765 1836

jealousy

Suspicion.

places West Riding Ilkley

sources Wetherby session roll Janua... Wetherby session roll Janua...

dates 1693 1725

jeans

A twilled cotton cloth, a kind of fustian made in Genoa and originally called ‘genoese fustian’.

places Richmond West Bradford near Clitheroe Brandsby West Riding

sources Richard Thompson's will 1575 Nicholas Giles' will, 1609 Richard Cholmeley's book 16... Quarter sessions indictment...

dates 1572 1609 1617 1751

jemmeco pepper

No doubt ‘Jamaica’ pepper.

places Selby

sources John Bew's inventory, 1693

dates 1693

jemmer

spellings jimmer

Alternative spellings of gemmer, dealt with under the headword ‘gemew’.

places Hull Brandsby

sources Yorkshire Archaeological Jo... Richard Cholmeley's book 16...

dates 1470 1619

jeniuy

Almost certainly a coin from Genoa.

places Leconfield

sources Yorkshire Archaeological Jo...

dates 1581

jenne

An unusual spelling of ‘gin’ in the sense of snare.

places Brandsby

sources Richard Cholmeley's book 16...

dates 1620

jennet

A small Spanish horse.

places Fountains Abbey Skipton

sources Surtees Society Publications Yorkshire Archaeological Jo...

dates 1542-1543 1605

jersey comber

An occupational term for the individual who combed wool ready for spinning.

places Sheffield

sources Parish Registers

dates 1700 1736

jess

spellings gess

A short strap fastened round each of the legs of a hawk used by falconers.

places Brandsby Stockeld

sources Richard Cholmeley's book 16... Letter from William Middlet...

dates 1619 1653

jestron

A light coat of armour composed of small metal plates which were riveted to each other or to a lining of some stout material (OED).

places Leeds Derbyshire

sources Richard Bank's will, 1499 Milward, Household, Farming...

dates 1498

jet

spellings jetter jet worker

Jet is a hard black mineral, found on Yorkshire’s east coast and much used formerly for making jewellery and buttons, especially rosary beads.

places Spofforth York Plompton Wakefield Gatherley Abbotside Whitby Brotton Guisborough Hull

sources Henry de Percy's will, 1351/2 Walter Berghe's will, 1404 Collyer & Turner, Ilkley Adam Wygan's will, 1433 Yorkshire Archaeological Jo... Anne Lademan's inventory 15... YAS Record Series vol. 130 Quarter Sessions Records YAS Record Series Chamberlain's Accounts 1320... Poll tax Kingston upon Hull... York freemen's register

dates 1301 1321-1324 1351 1377 1386 1404 1408 1433 1498 1559 1614 1616 1618

jetsam

A spelling of ‘jettison’, used of goods thrown overboard from a ship in distress. The word appears to have been used in York for the compensation paid to merchants in such cases.

places Hull Pickering

sources Accounts of jetsam money in... North Riding Records

dates 1457 1619-1621

jetty

From a word of French origin which meant ‘to throw’. It referred in particular to the projecting upper storeys of timber buildings.

places York Bridlington Beverley Newton in Bowland Hampsthwaite Scarborough

sources Grant by Thomas de Loudham ... York Memoranda Book YAS Record Series Nicholas Skott's will, 1578 Knaresborough session roll ... North Riding Records

dates 1338 1418 1489 1554 1578 1690 1717

jewel

spellings jowel

Examples in the OED date from 1516 and the meaning given is ‘a pier or supporter of a wooden bridge’: Marshall defined it in 1788 as ‘the starling of a wooden bridge’.

places Sheffield Elland Whitby Malton Wakefield

sources Hunter Archaeological Socie... Bradford Antiquary vol. 6 Quarter Sessions Records Quarter Session rolls 1662-...

dates 1485-1486 1579 1589 1683 1745-1746

job

A piece of work, a task, sometimes used of piece-work.

places Ovenden

sources Cornelius Ashworth's diary,...

dates 1783

jobber

An itinerant trader in cattle.

places West Riding Rotherham

sources Quarter Sessions of the Wes... Rotherham session roll July...

dates 1746 1754

jobby

A joist.

places Almondbury Wibsey Bradford

sources Accounts of William Ramsden... Robertshaw, West Yorkshire ... Bradford Antiquary vol. 1

dates 1613 1621 1720

jockey

A diminutive of John via Jock and recorded in Scotland from a .1529, when the meaning was pejorative. It came to be used as a name for a horse.

places Calverley Wakefield Ovenden Batley

sources Surtees Society Publications Thoresby Society Publications Pontefract session roll Apr... Parish Registers

dates 1693 1726 1731 1744

joiner

A craftsman who fastened pieces of wood together to form a framework, as in furniture-making and house-fittings.

places York Bretton Hall Brough, Catterick Eshton Richmond

sources York freemen's register York Memoranda Book Raine, York Minster Fabric ... Sir Thomas Wentworth's inve... Roger Burghe's will 1574-5 Matthew Wilson's inventory,... Richmond wills and inventories

dates 1394 1413 1419 1542 1562 1574 1656

jointer

A bent piece of iron, inserted to strengthen a joint (OED). The following much earlier references are in a sequence in which the jointers are used in pairs, for cupboards and windows, linked with hasps, staples, and bands.

places York Howden

sources Raine, York Minster Fabric ... Webb, Churchwardens' Accounts Yorkshire Archaeological Jo...

dates 1419 1519 1535 1548 1595