Lil
speaker
737 appearances
4 recordings
2 series
first heard Oct 2024
last heard Apr 2025
Lil’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
The Times newspaper reported in 1867 that wherever geologists or archaeologists resided, or wherever a museum was established, there did Flint Jack assuredly pass off his forged fossils and antiquities. Of course, his name wasn't really Flint Jack.
When he was finally arrested for his crimes and held in Bedford Prison, his name was reported as either Edward Jackson of Slights, or John Wilson of Burlington, or Gerry Taylor of Billerydale, in addition to going by the various aliases of Old Antiquarian, Fossil Willie, Bones, Shirtless and Cockney Bill. truly a man of many names and dubious repute.
And the dubious repute part, Flint Jack tried unsuccessfully to smooth over by claiming association with learned professional men, respected collectors and geologists such as Dr Richard Ripley and his brother John. Flint Jack caused quite a stir by claiming to have at one time been in the employment of the doctors.
As you can imagine, in the 19th century, a man's word and good reputation was everything, and an association with the biggest historical fraudster in the country would have seriously tarnished that reputation. For their part, the doctor's Ripley claimed to have never directly employed Flint Jack.
Their only dealings with him to have been the occasional purchase of the odd fossil he'd collected, at the time when he was still making an honest living collecting genuine specimens, and would call at the Ripley's kitchen door to show off his finds after a day hunting along the shoreline and cliffs.
An anonymous witness wrote to the Moulton Messenger newspaper in 1866 to back up the claims of the Ripleys, stating, These were the days when Jack pursued an honest calling in the petrifactions with which the Whitby strata abound, and of the exact whereabouts of the numerous varieties no one knew better than himself.
There was certainly no evidence that the doctors had any dealings with Flint Jack's later fraudulent affairs, but as a man of science, having one's reputation called into question, however briefly, must have been extremely worrying and frustrating for Dr Ripley. And perhaps that could explain his rather extreme actions when his name hit the local headlines for a second time.
This time for his haunted house.
The frontage is of large, uneven sandstone blocks set with mullion windows, which are accompanied on the lower floor with sets of wooden shutters painted a tarry black.
Although there is a second story to the building, and one upper window under the steeply sloped pantile roof, the building's ground level is below the current level of the street, giving it the appearance of having sunk into the ground over the hundreds of years it's been standing there, which, according to the date painted on the gold-lettered front sign, is the year 1401.
Even taking into account the lower ground level, the building is still diminutive compared to its neighbours. The height of both its store is only just coming level with the top of the ground floor window of the shop next door, an effect only heightened by the old smuggler's precarious looking chimney, which has obviously been lengthened at some point to match the height of the abutting building.
resulting in a comically long appendage that I am frankly astonished has survived several hundred years of storms and high winds. The far left of the building is cut right through the thick yellow sandstone in an archway leading to a gloomy passage.
It appears to go right through the front wall of the building, but in fact the passage goes all the way down one side of the old smuggler and onto a row of houses crammed in behind it, with the upper floor of the cafe extending above the dingy tunnel. There is a definite danger of banging your head here, if not on the low archway, then on one of the even lower beams supporting the building above.
To help people avoid the danger, the arch and beams are highlighted in bright white paint and someone has helpfully painted duck or grouse above the arch. I can't help imagining that this has something to do with the name of the low alleyway, which is declared on a small street sign tucked just into the entrance that reads Loggerhead's Yard.
Next to the archway, the worn, carved figure of what looks to be a man is mounted on the wall. The wood is dark with age and centuries of soot, the details so softened by wear that the face is almost indistinguishable, although details of a tunic and knee-high boots can be made out.
The hands are clutching a curved blade, rather reminiscent of a pirate's cutlass, and the whole effect gives the impression of something one might find carved on an old wooden pirate ship. And that may not be too far off, as according to local law, the wooden figure is believed to have come from a captured French smuggling vessel.
But that's only the beginning of the old inn's association with the trade of illegally imported goods. Whitby and its neighbouring coastal town Robin Hood's Bay were well known for their deeply rooted connections with illicit contraband up to the 1800s, and the town's remoteness and inaccessibility helped the trade flourish from the early 17th century.
At this time, heavy taxes were levered by the crown on goods such as rum, brandy, tobacco, tea and silk, and the only way many people could afford these luxuries was through the black market.
In Robin Hood's Bay, just a little further down the coast from Whitby, there was once a network of underground tunnels that burrowed under the town, supposedly connecting the shops, houses and inns and involving a good deal of the community in the very lucrative black market trade.
Legend has it that the tunnels were so extensive it was possible to leave the bay and reach the top of the village without ever seeing the light of day. Almost all of these tunnels are long gone, dismantled or blocked up, but it's still possible to see one of these underground routes in Robin Hood's Bay today.
Showing 461–480 of 737 · page 24 of 37
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