Pub Sign Photo Study The Duke Of York Heyside Royton Oldham Manchester

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Though only officially recorded as having that name in 1821, the pub is suspected of being considerably older though the present building is a 1982 replacement for the original. A spiral staircase leading to a dining area and function room was only developed during the upgrade. The pub used to be called the much more engaging The Clog Dancers Inn, which would have helped avoid present day confusion with another Duke Of York pub in nearby Shaw. Clog dancing was a regional variation on Morris Dancing. A more violent use for heavy wooden clogs was also associated with the pub – Shin kicking. This amusing sounding but viscous sport involved two combatant standing face to face, and gripping each other by the shoulders while kicking one another in the shins wearing steel toe-capped wooden clogs. The kickings would be taken in turn until one man or the other collapsed in too much agony to continue. It is likely that some leg padding was involved or the first man kicked would have shattered shin bones right away. Nevertheless the popular pastime continued right up to the 1870’s when it was reported that it was killing an average of one man per month – nationally, not just at the Duke Of York. Also in 1870, as the Clog Dancers became The Duke Of York, its landlord, John Buckley was also running a local military academy school, also called The Duke Of York. An escaping, terrified girl reported Buckley’s reign of terror there and upon investigating, the police found a boy who had been partly blinded by Buckley during a particularly severe thrashing. Buckley was put in prison and on hard labour for two and a half years and retired a broken social pariah on release. The story is often mentioned in features on the neighbouring Bull’s Head bar, which dates from the same time period, but The Duke Of York was Buckley’s own companion business to his school up to his arrest. The sign depicts a young Duke Of York, but which one as there have been six Dukes Of York, plus Three Dukes Of York And Albany. The current Duke of York is Prince Andrew. The famous rhyme about The Grand Old Duke Of York denotes a military leader subjecting men to pointless manoeuvring, by taking them up a hill and down again, without any strategic gain or lessons to learn. It has existed in French form from the Thirty Years War but only in English print form from 1913. It could apply to any Duke of York from Richard 3rd to the most commonly considered Duke, Prince Frederick, A Duke Of York And Albany, who was active and unpopular in the Napoleonic Wars. It is undoubtedly him, far from ‘old’ looking, from his uniform details. His command involved the disastrous British campaign in Tourcoing, Flanders in 1794, trying to capture one of the few hills in otherwise flat terrain. Many pubs adopted names linked to the battles to commemorate the heroes of the age. A newer sign for the pub takes the rather odd approach of being a less detailed and more primitive version of the same and superior if less reverential portrait. The original shows the Duke as he stands proudly with lines of men marching in close formation and awaiting further inspection or orders behind him with the lines seen going on up the hill, a representation of the 10,000 men of the song. He doesn't join the march himself. The newer sign removes the men entirely and changes the background as well as simplifying the Duke’s portraiture. Arthur Chappell