THE JUBILEE MAYPOLE AT GALPHAY. Back to the Main Historical Society page
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Yorkshire Maypoles

No. 10 THE JUBILEE MAYPOLE AT GALPHAY.


from The Barwicker No.38



Between Ripon and Kirkby Malzeard in North Yorkshire lies the little village of Galphay. It is a settlement of old stone houses supplemented by more modern dwellings set in colourful gardens. The village is surrounded by undulating pastureland, hedgerows and clumps of trees. In the middle of the village there is a large square sloping green, with several venerable trees and lined on two sides with the well clipped hedges of the adjoining gardens.
The Galphay maypole stands on the green, a single wooden pole painted white and 35-40 feet high. It is surmounted by a weather vane with a sailing boat motif. The lower end of the pole is buried in the ground and held firmly in position by three split rings attached by large bolts to two massive sunken girders.

Two brass plaques on the supports tell us something about the history of the pole. The larger one says:

"Erected by Charles Oxley, Dec. 14th. 1935 to commemorate King George V's Silver Jubilee.
Also in Memory of his father Admiral Charles Lister Oxley, died July 21st. 1920."


It is likely that the sailing boat motif on the weather vane commemorates the admiral. The second smaller plaque simply says:

"Renewed by public subscription to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of H M Queen Elizabeth II, 1977."

We are grateful to Mr Maurice King, the chairman of the Parish Council of Azerley, which includes Galphay, for supplying us with information about the history of the pole. It has at times in the past been painted with the traditional red and white spirals. For a few years after the war, the children from the village school danced round the maypole but this practice was soon stopped and now the school has been closed.

The new pole erected in 1977 was made from a larch tree obtained locally but after a few years it started to decay as the timber had been insufficiently cured. It became dangerous and had to be cut down and replaced by the present pole. On this occasion it was erected by mechanical means rather than the former method using ropes and ladders, a procedure which all Barwickers will applaud. We hope that the Galphay maypole will long grace the village green. "Renewed by public subscription to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of H M Queen Elizabeth II, 1977."



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