The War Years

World Wars I and II and their impact on Bishop Wilton:

The War Memorial in St Edith's Churchyard - In the hope that it may help with family history research we provide the contents of all four sides of the memorial to World War I.

World War II Evacuees from Hull in Bishop Wilton - In 2001 the Bishop Wilton Show was cancelled because of fears of Foot and Mouth disease. As a replacement for this event, an Evacuee Day was organised to reunite evacuees who came to the village during World War II. On Saturday 21st July, 17 former evacuees, some from Hull and some from Sunderland, were entertained in the village. They were all photographed at Cliff Farm where some of the celebrations were held (the text along with this photograph has been extended to mention other evacuees who got in touch).

In parallel with this, eleven of the evacuees were interviewed and in July 2002 a transcription of these interviews was published. The memories of these evacuees are vital snapshots of their own personal histories and they project a unique spotlight on the history of the village.

As well as the publication on this website of the transcription of one of the combined interviews conducted with three of the evacuees from Hull, the remainder are contained in a single document published on Issuu as Memories of Sunderland & Hull Evacuees.

We are indebted to those who turned up for the Evacuee Day and to all those who agreed to be interviewed but if it had not have been for the late Hilda Duffy (who was Hilda Dent when she first came to Bishop Wilton with her younger brother during World War II) we might never have amassed the memories we did.

Evacuee Day Movie - Two evacuees who returned for the Evacuee Day either took videos or had them taken for them. Extracts from one of these has been made available on YouTube.