In 2016, students from the University of Leeds have been working in collaboration with the Dales Countryside Museum. The aim of the project was to reconnect scholarly resources, including the Leeds Archive of Vernacular Culture held in the Special Collections at the University, with the communities on which they provide information. Hawes is one such place.
Their chosen topic was one very dear to many people in the local area: Oatcake.
This classic baked staple is firmly embedded in the tradition and history of the Yorkshire Dales. The museum honours their importance with a display that immerses you in an authentic country kitchen setting and details their historic baking method. In the following digistory, local history expert and farmer’s wife Eleanor Scarr gives her thoughts on, personal experience with and a general history of the oatcake tradition. It is accompanied by photographs belonging to Marie Hartley and Joan Ingilby, who established the museum.