langcliffe
Well-known member
Does anyone know when the BSA moved out of their premises in Settle?
I suggest you read C&KS 28(3). It depends upon which premises you are refering to. Cragdale (the police station) was 1940, the place across the road was I suspect 1963 but not sure since Simpson died in 1962.
Harry Long has kindly given me more comprehensive information about the BSA premises in Commercial Yard (also sometimes referred to as Percy's yard, after the plumbing business which was located in that area for many decades). The comments with my photo above are right regarding the upstairs area having been the BSA hostel. (The late Bert Bradshaw, former NPC president, often talked about this.) What I'd not been aware of is that at least some of the building behind the right wall in my photograph was also occupied by the BSA and was used as office space by Cymmie, after vacating the Cragdale premises (i.e. the former Settle police station building on the opposite side of Duke Street, now called "Cragdale Lodge" and converted into privately owned flats in recent years).
I'm very grateful to Harry for this information about the other BSA premises, which was new to me.
Langcliffe - that contemporary monochrome image is superb! Thanks for posting.
In 1935 Cymmie founded the BSA (British Speleological Association), the country's first truly national caving organisation, which in 1973 merged with the Cave Research Group to form the British Cave Research Association. He was the Librarian and Recorder until his death in 1962, and kept these items in his home.
In his will Cymmie left everything to his housekeeper and executrix, Chris Rawdin. There was the inevitable dispute over what belonged to the BSA and what to Cymmie. Rawdin, being in possession, sold the books to Messrs. Hollett of Sedbergh. Fortunately for the historian the archives were not sold, and remained in Cymmie's house in Commercial Yard, Settle.
In 1971 I took a week's leave and, by courtesy of the late Ian Plant, spent the time looking at the remains of the BSA library and records. The archives, which date back to 1383 (graffiti in Yordas Cave), include the BSA minute books. They are so vast that it would have needed much more time, even with modern technology, to do justice to the collection. Nevertheless I recorded what I could, and made a mental note to return later which I was unable to do.
In 1973, following the merger of the BSA with the Cave Research Group, the archives were moved and became inaccessible. Now, a generation later, the archives are in the process of being digitised and professionally kept at the British Geological Survey outside Nottingham. This has enabled David Judson, a former member of the YRC and one of the few remaining cavers who knew Cymmie, to look in detail at the BSA archives and to write a well illustrated appreciation thereof.
I've managed to answer my own question! 1973 seems to be the answer.
Langcliffe; do you know who the three people are in that photograph you posted?