Within a few years of Cook’s death
it was proposed that a monument should be erected to him,
either on Eston Nab or Roseberry Topping, Cleveland.
 |
Cook’s
Monument at Ayton
Link to pop-up enlargement |
However, it was not until 1827 that the hollow obelisk was
constructed by Robert Campion, Lord of the Manor at Easby,
on Easby Moor, near Great Ayton. The inscription on the monument
reads:
“Erected to the memory of the celebrated circumnavigator,
Captain James Cook, F.R.S., a man in nautical skill scarcely
inferior to any, and in zeal, prudence, and indefatigable
exertion superior to most…”
The monument was repointed, fitted with a lightning conductor
and generally restored in 1894-95 following an appeal made
by the ‘North Eastern Daily Gazette’.
 |
Aireyholme Farm
Link to pop-up enlargement |
Thomas Skottowe, lord of the manor of Great
Ayton, owned Aireyholme Farm when James’s father went
to work there as the hind or foreman in 1736. The family moved
from Marton to live there, probably in an estate cottage on
the farm. James Cook junior would have helped out on the farm
when he was not attending school. Aireyholme, sitting beneath
the conical hill and popular local viewpoint of Roseberry
Topping, is still a working farm.
 |
Captain Cook
Schoolroom Museum
Link to pop-up enlargement |
James Cook received some very basic schooling
when the family lived in Marton but he began his formal education
in Great Ayton at the Postgate School. Michael Postgate’s
original school building of 1704 was rebuilt in 1785 and now
houses the Captain Cook Schoolroom Museum.
 |
All Saints Parish
Church
Link to pop-up enlargement |
Tragically four of James Cook’s brothers
and sisters died before they reached the age of five: Mary
I (1733-37); Mary II (1740-41); Jane (1738-42); and William
(1745-48). All are buried with their mother, Grace Cook (1702-65),
in the churchyard at Great Ayton.
|
|
|
 |
Cook’s
Father’s House
Link to pop-up enlargement |
In 1755, the same year that James Cook
junior joined the Royal Navy, James Cook senior retired
and for services to the Lord of the Manor acquired a small
plot of land in Great Ayton village. He built a small, two
storey brick cottage on this land, the lintel above the
door engraved with the date and the initials J.C.G (James
and Grace Cook)
Cook probably called here to see his parents in 1757. In
December 1771 he again visited his ageing father. He managed
to persuade him to move from the cottage at Great Ayton
in 1772 and go to live with Cook’s sister, Margaret,
at Redcar, where he died in April 1779.
 |
Auction Notice
for Cook’s Cottage
Link to pop-up enlargement |
Cook’s father’s cottage in
Bridge Street, Great Ayton, was auctioned and sold in 1933.
After being purchased and presented to the Victoria State
Government of Australia it was dismantled and re-erected
in Fitzroy Gardens, Melbourne, Australia, where it is open
to the public as a museum and is known as Cook’s Cottage.
 |
Captain Cook’s
Memorial Obelisk
Link to pop-up enlargement |
A memorial obelisk was erected on the
site of Cook’s father’s cottage, its unveiling
being reported in local newspapers:
“THE MEMORIAL OBELISK to Captain James Cook on
the site of the cottage recently transported to Australia
was unveiled at Great Ayton by Mrs. Linton, wife of the
Hon. Richard Linton, Agent-General for Victoria (Australia).
After the unveiling. The memorial, which has been presented
by an Australian and lodged in the keeping of the county
borough of Middlesbrough, is an exact replica of the obelisk
at Cape Everard, where Capt. Cook first sighted Australia.”
This memorial and a statue of ‘James Cook as a boy’,
unveiled in 1997, can be seen in the village today.
|
|
