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Tools for cloth-making.
places Kendal
dates 1562

A countryman, a bondman, a word which sometimes had disparaging undertones but was at other times suggestive of sturdiness and strength.
places York Ottringham
dates 1125-1135 1249

spellings Carlisle dagger
It seems likely that weapons were being made in the Carlisle area in the late Middle Ages from iron produced locally.
places York Nottingham
dates 1406 1438 1454 1506

Occupational by-name for a wood-worker.
dates 1100-1200 1202 1354-1355 1457-1458 1596 1682

Originally a thick fabric, commonly of wool, a kind of table-cloth but used also to cover beds, stools, and even windows.
dates 1537 1557 1559 1578 1620 1669

Wet, boggy ground where willows and alders flourished; land lying partly or seasonally under water.
dates 1200 1284 1411-1412 1540 1573 1619-1621 1642 1699

Probably flat-bottomed craft used on the marshes.
places Hull
sources VCH
dates 1689

Behaviour or conduct, a sense noted in Shakespeare’s works and commonly employed in the seventeenth century.
dates 1618 1632 1675

A frequent variant of kersey.
dates 1496 1547 1558 1588 1602 1617

spellings wain boot
The right to take wood for the making or repairing of carts and wains.
dates 1524 1595

Of uncertain meaning.
places Bradfield
dates 1679

These were probably the nails which were used in the studded wheels of carts.
dates 1295 1394-1395

Occupational by-name for a wood-carver.
places Ripon
dates 1453

To stitch skins together in a rectangular shape (EMV218).
places York Rastrick
dates 1500 1699 1703

spellings case knife
A case in which to keep or display knives.
places Sheffield
dates 1598 1625 1683 1690-1700 1692

A frame of a window or part of a window, opening on hinges attached to the upright side of the frame (OED).
dates 1394-1395 1565 1612 1676-1677

Dried cow’s dung which was used for fuel.
dates 1569 1591 1607 1633 1634

Evidently a fabric, possibly a short form of cassimere.
places Hambleton
dates 1683

Possibly for casten, the past participle of the verb to cast or throw.
places Brandsby
dates 1616

The few examples noted are from the North Riding where the meaning seems to be ‘tolls, rates or dues’.
places Brandsby Wensley
dates 1603 1619

A quantity of bread made at one time (OED).
dates 1486 1532 1629

In hawking this was a couple of birds ‘cast off’ at a time.
places Spaldington
dates 1608 1651


To build a stack, of wood or faggots.

spellings cast over cast up
To reckon or calculate, to confirm the reckoning of accounts.
dates 1540-1541 1612 1642 1647

To cast metal, to found, form into a shape by pouring when melted.
dates 1470 1538 1676 1716 1780 1783

Possibly an earlier form of ‘throw down’.
places Halifax
dates 1660

An incidental payment.
dates 1540 1637

A type of small boat which was in use on Yorkshire’s inland waterways from the fourteenth century at least.
dates 1359 1371 1423 1464-1465 1476-1477 1505 1558 1578 1735

spellings catchwater
A conduit bringing water down from a reservoir.

The word for the men who piloted catches along the Ouse and its feeders.
dates 1456 1578-1579

A caterer, one who travelled around buying provisions for a large household or an institution.
dates 1540 1568

Of uncertain meaning.
places Bowland
dates 1703

The figure of a wheel with spikes projecting from its circumference, as in the legend of St Catherine’s martyrdom.
places Hull
dates 1459

Bridge of the River Swale, about a mile north of Catterick. Also the name of a hamlet at the south of the bridge.

A dialect word applied to a variety of plants, such as the dog-rose.
dates 1723

A warm drink served in the form of a liquid curd (GWK96).
places Doncaster Selby
dates 1674 1682

Possibly from 'caul' in the sense of a net, used as a wrapping.
places York
dates 1531

spellings caulker
A tool or implement used in smithies or at grinding wheels, although the word is rare and its exact use is uncertain.
dates 1543 1739 1755

This word had several closely related meanings which all refer to raised ways, either across low-lying land subject to flooding or at the side of tracks used by pedestrians and horses.
dates 1387-1388 1467 1475 1510 1515 1531 1532 1665 1672 1682 1687-1688 1744

A type of cupboard or hutch, a spelling of call (2).

A spelling of causey which captures one dialect pronunciation.
places Beetham
dates 1542

To line the walls or roof of a room with boards or panelling.
dates 1469 1505 1569 1571 1692 1755

spellings sealing board seale spars
Wood used for panelling.
places Leeds Ripon Wass
dates 1499 1520 1653

Formerly this could be a storeroom, above or below ground, but occasionally it may also have been for ‘soler’ or ‘sollar’; that is an upper room.
dates 1557

This was a canopy over a bed, an item found in the houses of the well-off.
places York Lead Hall
dates 1378 1546

Often used in the plural, timber framework which supported a stone arch until all the keystones were safely in place.
dates 1409 1422 1485-1486 1675 1703 1754

The privy, perhaps a short form of necessary house.
places Healaugh
dates 1568

spellings cessed cessment
Abbreviations for assessment and assessed, with reference to the rates.
places Brandsby Thirsk
dates 1603 1605 1607

For kevel, a bit for a horse’s mouth.
places Sowerby
dates 1748

A metal pot or pan, sometimes with three legs, in which water could be boiled over a fire.
dates 1301 1391 1434 1535 1566

A specialist forge, worked from the late sixteenth century in conjunction with a finery. It derives from the French word for 'to heat' and was where cast iron was re-heated and converted into wrought iron.
dates 1593 1733

spellings chawf chafe
Spellings of ‘chafe’, that is to spoil, decay, cause to rot.
dates 1494 1538

A bed with a mattress stuffed with chaff, not feathers.
dates 1614 1664 1676 1731

A tradesman, one who ‘chaffed’ or made bargains.
places York
dates 1359

A dish which could be filled with burning charcoal, so that plates of food might be cooked gently or kept hot.
dates 1520 1535 1554 1606 1642 1700

The one example noted was interpreted by the editor as chafing-iron, but the meaning is uncertain.
places Whitby
dates 1395

A series of linked metal rings.
dates 1540 1610 1650 1734 1807

Photo by Kreuzschnabel CC BY-SA 3.0