THE NORTH RIDING PROJECT

It was always said you could tell when you were eating a bilberry picked by a Siskin, because they knew the secret spots where the fruits grew sweeter and more juicy.  As a result, the Siskins’ bilberries were in high demand.  Keen to muscle in on the Siskins’ venture, the Sprules, many of whom were labourers working on the Thorsby estate, convinced the landowners to invoke inclosures legislation in order purge the Siskins, a band of itinerant hawkers who had roamed the high moors for generations, from their land.  Bands of toughs led by Sprule boys were dispatched to the moors to threaten and intimidate the Siskins into retreat.  The subsequent confrontations became known as the Tripsdale Bilberry Wars, and began a feud between the two families that continues to this day.

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