Ryedale Folk Museum

Coffins. The badge used by the Lyke Wake Walk Club (and the New Lyke Wake Walk Club) is one of a coffin. here at Ryedale Folk Museum, we have a funeral bier and a horse-drawn hearse. John Nicoll, museum volunteer was involved in the restoration of the bier, read about it here at: http://ryedalefolkmuseum.blogspot.com/2009/07/kirkbymoorside-funeral-bier-restored-by.html . This post has attracted viewers from all over the globe, and has been linked to a forum called Coffin Talk. This is a message board for funeral directors, mortuary science students,and those with a morbid curiosity. Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks to John Nicoll for creating a very interesting post that many others have also found interesting. Coffin Talk can be accessed at: http://www.coffin-talk.net/index.php?sid=087fef3acba330b95f4a0d0dbc59a9df Jonathan Severs

FINDING THE FUNERAL BIER. The Victorian funeral bier was found in the cellar of Kirkbymoorside Library and as the cellar frequently flooded it's condition was extremely poor. Last used during the 1930's, dated by Robin Butler who has vague memories of following it at a funeral , it lay almost forgotten until salvaged in 2008 by Museum Trustee Tony Clark and brought,with the Town Council's permission to the workshop of the Ryedale Folk Museum CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION Constucted by local craftsmen entirely of pitch pine , the bier consists of two parts , the wheeled carriage on which the coffin was transported and a railed frame on to which the coffin was transferred and borne into Church and afterwards to the graveside. The frame has three rounded hand grips on each side for bearers to hold. After the burial the two items would be reunited and returned to the cellar until it was next required. Recently a visitor offered another possible explanation of it's operation...