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Clear
An unploughed piece of land in the open field, used as a field division and also a right of way.
dates 1558 1610 1679 1711


Of cloth, in the raw or unfinished state (OED).
places Wakefield
dates 1758

With a ball- or ballock-shaped handle.
places York
dates 1438 1442

ban

To curse or use bad language.
places Thirsk
dates 1611

In lists which feature items of clothing this can refer to a thin piece of material, often worn around the neck.
places Malton
dates 1622

A tie to secure bundles of things, or any item by which the parts of a complex object are held together.
dates 1473 1595 1632

A clog was a block of wood, a section of the trunk of a tree, and the band clog was apparently wood suitable for making door-bands.
places York
dates 1371 1433

Wright has examples of ‘bang’ in the northernmost counties where the meaning is ‘strong fir pole’ (EDD).
places Selby
dates 1668

A wooden panier or hamper which served to carry heavy loads, especially charcoal.
dates 1299-1300 1306-1307 1568 1608 1732

A steep hillside, often with a road taking a direct route from top to bottom.
dates 1608 1649 1755

One of several words for a coal-face that was being worked.
places Swillington Tong
dates 1730 1767

As a coal-mining term ‘bank’ referred to the ‘Surface of the Earth’ (CC29); that is the working area around the top of the mine shaft, in contrast to the working area below ground.
dates 1486 1704 1754

A bench.
places Leeds
dates 1736

spellings banker cloth benker
A banker was a covering for a bench [bank] or chair, usually of tapestry, and in many contexts accompanied by a dosser and cushions (note the different spellings of the latter word).
dates 1305 1389 1432 1565

This was an earlier spelling of banksman, the occupational term linked with coal-mining, and it reflects the omission by dialect speakers of the genitive ‘s’.
dates 1486 1704 1754

An alternative term for the colliery banksman in his role as the overlooker.

In Southowram, in 1777, this term was used to define more precisely the working area above ground in a colliery.
dates 1777 1813

spellings top shovel
Possibly a collier’s shovel used above ground, on the bank.
places Farnley Shibden
dates 1707 1713

An overlooker at a colliery, acting between the colliers and the mine operator.
dates 1633 1648

spellings banner cloth
These were banners carried in religious and civic pageants and they were made of hardwearing cloth such as taffeta, bearing appropriate, colourful symbols.
dates 1438-1439 1524 1558

spellings barbary
A Barbary horse, of the breed imported from Morocco and other parts of North Africa.
places Brandsby
dates 1615 1617

The most common medical practitioners of Medieval Europe.
places Bowling York
dates 1300 1476 1481 1692

Probably a rough hide.
dates 1346 1565

The workman in a quarry who removed the surface soil and so bared the stone.
places Bradford
dates 1719

A wain with wheels which were not iron-bound.
dates 1404-1405 1535 1556

One who strikes a bargain, a dealer or haggler.
places Sherburn
dates 1582

A shallow-bottomed boat for use on inland waterways.
places Selby York
dates 1358 1375-1376 1411-1412 1414 1444-1445 1478

The operator of a barge.
dates 1379 1432

Uncertain meaning.
places Farnley
dates 1694

spellings bar steel
Iron wrought into malleable bars which had a low carbon content.
dates 1596 1730 1734

The rough coating of the trunk of a tree, used in tanning.
dates 1309-1310 1622 1660 1681

The verb to bark was to treat a skin with bark, to tan it.
dates 1476 1500 1540 1682

A tool used in either the pilling process or to chop the bark.

The upper storey of a building where bark was stored.
places Flockton
dates 1699

In the northern counties the ‘barker’ was the man who stripped the bark from oak trees for the tanner and by association the term then came to be applied to the tanner himself.
dates 1301 1379 1395 1501 1538 1691

A regional spelling of bargham, the collar of a working horse.
dates 1610 1639 1656

Initially this was probably the building where bark was stored.
dates 1330 1395 1491 1532 1551 1673

A mill for chopping the bark used in the process of tanning.
dates 1532

A sack used for storing or transporting bark.
places Kirkheaton
dates 1699

A wickerwork basket used by tanners.
places Selby
dates 1660

A stack of bark.
places Kirkheaton
dates 1657

spellings barm cloth
Barm is a regional word for yeast, the froth of fermenting malt liquors which can be used as a leavening agent. Halliwell defined 'barme-cloth' as an apron, presumably one used by the workmen:
dates 1299 1423 1534 1632 1760

A type of cloth, unless the example quoted is a misreading of ‘barrase’, that is canvas or coarse hessian (EDD).
dates 1720

spellings barratry
A ‘common’ barrator was a person who was given to quarrelling or to inciting disputes and law-suits.
dates 1535 1598 1607 1638

A barrel-shaped vessel for making butter, set on hooks in a frame or stand which allowed movement.
places Brandsby Brayton
dates 1615 1666

spellings bearing barrow
A wheeled handcart.
dates 1395 1419 1690 1704

Noted in colliery accounts; a metal hook of some kind, possibly a coupling hook.
dates 1734 1754 1840

spellings barrow-man
These were occupational terms for the men who conveyed coal away from the face in barrows, part of a team that included face-workers and banksmen.
dates 1486 1648 1708 1729-1731

A rectangular wooden frame on which the warp was wound: it had stout pins on the vertical sides where the yarn was placed.
dates 1555 1572 1617 1753

A dagger or hanger, usually worn at the girdle (OED).
dates 1380 1434 1500 1533

A stone which supports a timber post in a frame house, preventing damage by damp.
places York
dates 1417

spellings basnet
A small, light, steel headpiece, somewhat globular in shape, which terminated in a point raised slightly above the head and closed in front with a visor (OED).
places Snaith Harewood
dates 1380 1391

A maker of baskets.
dates 1629 1656 1747

A spelling of ‘bast’, the inner bark of the lime, which could be cut into strips and coarsely plaited to make matting (OED). It was used more generally for similar fibres.
dates 1494 1589 1590 1613-1614 1634 1764 1776 1803

In general the fibrous bark used for matting, ropes, or cord but here a type of basket, suitable for carrying heavy objects, apparently an earlier spelling of ‘bass’.
places York Hull
dates 1400 1453 1464-1465

In compound 'bastard' meant having the appearance of, resembling, of an inferior or less proper kind of (OED).
places York
dates 1411-1412

Photo by Kreuzschnabel CC BY-SA 3.0