78 



The old interests of the old man died hard. On January 

 24th, 1896, he writes, '• At the latter end of my 82nd year I am 

 about to revise and re-edit my ' British Birds, Eggs and Nests.' " 

 And on July 20th, 1897, he says, " My attention has recently 

 been called to what were ' Olde Walles.' when the Whitby Abbey 

 was suppressed in 1535. In spite of infirmity I made an effort 

 last week to see the same. They are most interesting." 



I think that what I have written in the above pages, though 

 not claiming to be in any sense a " Life " of Canon Atkinson, 

 will give the reader a very excellent idea of the man and his 

 work. For no less than about 53 years he went on working 

 quietly at his desk and in his parish, and unearthing the buried 

 History of the Cleveland moors and fields. Once or twice he 

 made an eflort to obtain a transfer to a more lucrative benefice 

 as Whitby and Stokesley chanced to fall vacant. But at Danby 

 he remained until the end, receiving honours from the world of 

 science and letters, but from the Church no recognition of long 

 service or merit, until in his extreme old age the present Arch- 

 bishop conferred upon him the barren dignity of an honorary 

 Canonry of York. 



His writings were very numerous, and he did not, himself, 

 remember them all. The following maybe noted: — "Glossary 

 of the Cleveland Dialect (1868) ; History of Cleveland, vol. I. 

 (1874) ; Handbook for Ancent Whitby and its Abbey (1882) ; 

 •' Forty Years in a Moorland Parish (1891) ;" " British Birds, 

 Eggs and Nests"; "Lonsdale Glossary"; "Walks, Talks, 

 Travels and Exploits of Two School-boys"; "Play-hours 

 and Half-holidays " ; " The last of the Giant Killers" ; " Scenes 

 in Fairyland." He edited for the Surtees Society " The Whitby 

 Chartulary," " The Rievaulx Chartulary " and " The Furness 

 Coucher Book." He also edited several volumes for the " North 

 Riding Record Society." His contributions to magazines, etc., 

 were very numerous. Among his less important writings may 

 be mentioned a paper on Guisbrough Priory, Avhich he con- 

 tributed to the Handbook of Middlesbrough and District, 

 compiled by the members of the Cleveland Field Club, and 

 published in 1881, by Mr. W. H. Burnett. 



I have to thank Mrs. Atkinson for the excellent photograph 

 which forms the frontispiece to the present number of our 

 Proceedings, and for some information regarding her late 

 husband. 



April 25th, 1901. John Hawell. 



