Grimwithshire
Grimwithshire (Pend O'Reille and Stevens Counties, WA) was a shire located in the Inlands region of An Tir. It was disbanded in 2011.
Historical details are compiled from the archives of meeting minutes, newsletters and notebooks maintained by the founding seneschale. If a mistake is noted please bring it to their attention for correction.
The branch name was registered in May of 2005. It was modeled upon the Grimwith reservoir region in the Yorkshire dales of England. Shire was appended following the regional naming conventions of York.
The device submission was returned in August 2006 for lack of a petition. A new package was assembled by the seneschal. The petition resubmitted had the signatures of the Patrons, the Exchequer, the Seneschal, the Marshall, the A&S Minister. It also included the signatures of four populous members. It was dated 12/5/06. The device was accepted upon resubmission.
History of Grimwithshire
Arnora Grimsdottir (known then as Wilhelmina Catherine de Rochelle) and Guy Grimsson began to organise people towards the idea of forming a shire in Stevens County late fall of 2002 after Arnora had discussed the idea with Count Nicholaus Barchatov (At the time King) and was encouraged to do so. Later Pend Oreille County was added. The first Yahoo group formed for the shire project included Guy, Arnora, Venera di Nardiello, James and Katherine McFee, Dinnok Smoksson, Wecelo Von Hamm, Amelia of the River and Agnarr Tokisson. That group was discontinued due to hacking and later another took it's place. Initial discussion and recruitment was mainly on the Steps email list and contacts at events. Meetings with Kingdom officers provided guidance and encouragement.
A full two years of research, discussion and recruitment took place before the group felt ready to take the initial steps to incipiency. The Kingdom New Branches deputy wanted to see a solid period of growth and commitment before advancing to an incipiency petition. It was at this time we began formatting flyers recruiting for members and Guy and Arnora distributed them across the counties.
In 2004 because of those flyers Anne Claxton, Ekarius Von Magdeburg, Muirren, Una and Uther joined the group. The following summer the incipient group held their first event, Grim Offensive (sponsored by the Barony of Wealdsmere,) in June 2005.
2005 saw tremendous growth with Sir Tighearnach, Rioghnach, Richard mac Tighearnach, Ailionara inghean Tighearnach, Fionabhair inghean Tighearnach, Dacy Cospatrick, Hildithe, Clayton, Yvonne and Emelye.
Incipient status was granted by their Royal Majesties King Thorin and Queen Daegmaer, affirming Arnora Grimsdottir as founding seneschale and Duke Sir Gunnar and Duchess Gabriell as Royal Patrons.
Grimwithshire was granted full branch status on 14 July 2007 by TRM's Sven and Signy at Grim Offensive III.
Grimwithshire's first native Peer was Sir Guy Grimsson, knighted by HRM Tiernan at July Coronation in the Canton of Silverhart July 21, 2007.
Grimwith published a branch newsletter, the Guardian.
Grimwithshire had a website:
Grimwithshire website
When Grimwithshire was dissolved the funds the branch held were put into a trust account with the Barony of Wealdsmere, for a period of ten years, or until the branch possibly revived. Those monies are still held as of 2017.
Grimwith held two major events per year:
Details taken from An Tir Calendar and branch archives.
2005:
Grim Offensive I June 24, 2005 to June 26, 2005 Site: Locust Grove Autocrat: Arnora Grimsdottir
Feast of the Guardians of Grimwith December 03, 2005 Site: Chewelah Civic Center Autocrat: Anne Claxton Potluck Feast
2006:
Grim Offensive II August 04, 2006 to August 06, 2006 Site: Locust Grove Steward: Arnóra Grimsdottir / Co-Steward: Rioghnach inghean Chonchobhair Atha Dhara
(No “Guardians Feast in 2006, was held early January 2007)
2007:
Guardian's Tourney of the Wolf January 20, 2007 Site: Chewelah Civic Center Autocrat: Muirenn inghean Dearbhail Potluck Feast
Grim Offensive III July 13, 2007 to July 15, 2007 Site: Sand Canyon, Colville National Forest Autocrat: Rioghnach inghean Chonchobhair Atha Dhara
2008:
Grimwithshire Tournament of the Wolves March 01, 2008 Site: Arden Community Club Autocrat: Cristen Breaniann / Co-Autocrat: Una of Grimwith Feastcrat: Arnora Grimsdottir Period Feast
Grim Offensive IV June 06, 2008 to June 08, 2008 Site: Locust Grove Campground Autocrat: Arnora Grimsdottir (Original Autocrat: Una of Grimwith – stepped down as Autocrat in April)
2009:
Tourney of the Wolves March 28, 2009 Site: Clayton Grange Autocrat: Rioghnach inghean Chonchobhair Atha Dhara Potluck Feast
Grim Offensive V June 12, 2009 to June 14, 2009 Site: Clayton Fair Grounds Autocrat: Sir Tighearnach ua Cathain Atha Dara
2010:
Guardians Tourney of the Wolves Site: Chewelah Civic Center April 03, 2010 Autocrat: Arnora Grimsdottir Potluck Feast
Grim Offensive VI Site: Clayton Fair Grounds June 11, 2010 to June 13, 2010 Autocrat: Sir Guy Grimsson
2011:
Grimwith Guardian's Feast Tourney of the Wolves March 05, 2011 (No event info available - records indicate this event had a date reserved, but was canceled)
Grim Offensive (This was the last event Grimwithshire ever held.)
June 24, 2011 to June 26, 2011
Site: Locust Grove
Autocrat: Arnora Grimsdottir (Had family medical emergency two days before event, co-autocrat and seneschale took over.)
Co-Autocrat: Mable
A vote was called at the last Grim Offensive by the attending shire members and it was decided to disband the shire.
Trivia:
At first there was some confusion about the ZIP codes involved, rather or not they belonged to the nearby Barony of Wealdsmere. The then-current Baron offered to cede the ZIP codes, but the original Wealdsmere charter only claimed all ZIP codes within Spokane county and one additional in Lincoln County, in the town of Davenport (confirmed by the founding Baroness of Wealdsmere.) Further research with the SCA, Inc. in Milpitas, CA and the Kingdom seneschal confirmed that Stevens and Pend Oreille counties were indeed "Kings Land" and free to form a new branch. As of 2017 both counties are still recorded with the Kingdom as being the domain of the dormant shire.
27 June XL/2005
I beg your patience if you receive this on several lists. Please also forgive it’s length, but I have to say this:
Greetings,
On behalf of Grimwithshire I would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone who helped make Grimwith’s first official event, Grim Offensive, a huge success.
His Majesty King Skeggi honored us greatly with His presence, the genuine love and affection he showed for his people is awe-inspiring and truly made it all that much more magical. Those who were there know just how greatly His presence contributed to this event. In His wisdom He saw fit to honor several of our members with recognition and The Dream will never fade so long as we have King’s such as he.
Our friendly foes from Dregate came out in force and fought with great valor and honor and truly exemplified the friendliness, helpfulness and enthusiasm that makes the SCA so wonderful. New alliances were forged and friendships made that I hope will only strengthen in the coming years. You may have been our "enemy" for the battles - but you are our friends forever.
Our great sponsors for this event, the Barony of Wealdsmere and their Canton of Silverhart, who once again proved that they are truly dedicated to the success of our new shire. Without your overwhelming support this simply would not have been the great event it was. Unto Their Excellencies Fergus and Renata, and all of the populace of Wealdsmere: I find it hard to choose the words to express my gratitude to you all, "Thank you" just does not seem adequate enough. Your faith, love and encouragement have made this new branch possible - there will never be a way to thank you enough.
Our Patron’s Duke Sir Gunnar and Duchess Gabriell told me they were proud of their shires efforts in this our first event. I can only hope we continue to reflect their greatness as we grow and learn. We have the greatest example to live up to in them. Their love and support makes us want to prove ourselves worthy of their patronage. I hope we can always make them proud to represent us.
Friends joined us not just from An Tir, from Blath an Oir and Vulkanfeldt, Wyewood and Stromgard, from Pendale, Seagirt, Lyonsmarche and Lionsgate, Frozen Mountain and Ambergard., but from as far away as the Kingdoms of Meridies, Caid, Artemisia and the West. The outpouring of support for our tiny shire was just incredible. Reading over the gate sheets and realizing just how many came from so far away brought tears to my eyes. If anyone had told me when this shire idea started 3 years ago that this is where it would be now I would not have believed them. The officers and populace of Grimwith poured their hearts and souls into this event and their efforts paid off greatly.
The credit for this event goes to all of those who did the work.
My magic moment came late Saturday night as I stood in the trees and watched dancers under the pavilion, listened to the sounds of bardic, laughter and song in the flickering lights of so many camps and realized "Wow, this is the SCA I remember and love!" A very humbling experience.
As the autocrat I feel like a dismal failure in my paltry attempts to thank everyone for what they did this past weekend - but all who read these words should know this: The greatness of An Tir is reflected in her peoples, and in my somewhat biased opinion the people of Grimwith and all those who joined us have lived up to the measure of the greatest Kingdom in the Known Worlde. AN TIR FOREVER!
Honorable Lady Arnora Grimsdottir