BACK IN Issue 184, I recounted my trip through Swaledale following in the footsteps of Marie Hartley and Joan Ingilby, writers of the 1951 book, The Old Hand-Knitters of The Dales. Now, we come to Hawes, in Wensleydale. These days, it’s home to the Dales Countryside Museum, which has a special significance for fans of knitting history.
Back in 1941, Marie Hartley was illustrating books for the Yorkshire writer, Ella Pontefract. Horne’s Private Museum in Leyburn - a Wensleydale town - was closing down, and the two women decided to try and save some of its contents, to keep them in the Dales. The women bought thirteen lots at auction, and over the years, they added to their collection, saving knitting paraphernalia and other relicts of the everyday life of old Yorkshire from being lost.
After Ella’s death in 1945, Marie wrote one book alone - a beautiful memoir of Ella - then proceeded to work with a new collaborator, Joan Ingilby. Over the years, the women built up an impressive collection of knitting sticks and other items, which they
