Beck Hole - History

History

The origins of Beck Hole date to the middle ages; it was set within the Forest of Pickering, which began to be cleared in the 13th century. The first records referencing the village, originally known as Amerholm, date to the late 16th century, and mention a single farmstead. A fulling mill was in operation at the river bank around this period.

The 'Bulls Head' public house was established around 1770, in a house built c.1677. The building was renamed the 'Lord Nelson' in 1801, and rebuilt around 1850. It closed as an public house in 1940.

The Whitby and Pickering Railway was opened in 1836, with the incline from Beckhole to Goathland worked as a rope hauled cable railway. A railway station (see Beckhole railway station) was established. The incline was replaced by a deviation in 1865, part of the line remained in use as a branch to Beck Hole. (closed 1951)

In the late 1850s the Whitby Iron Company was formed and began extraction of iron stone around Beckhole; two blast furnaces were built which began production of iron in 1860. At around the same time a row of 33 cottages was built for industrial workers, and the Birch Hall Inn was expanded and gained a license. The operation was unsuccessful, and shortlived, hampered by a fault in one of the furnaces, and landslips at a mine. The blast furnaces ceased operation in 1864, and the works were put up for sale in 1876, and were sold in 1888, being demolished in the following years. The worker's terrace also demolished.

The village was connected to Egton by a main road after 1868. Mains electricity and mains water reached the village in the decade after the second world war.