Dales tales of gas disputes, poetry, curling, fishing and a remarkable clock

Some village residents were peeved when they heard their bill for lighting the roads was higher than the one for Stanhope, though that place was larger.

They decided to stop paying their share of the bill through their rates, so Middleton Gas Company cut off the street supply.

The local feeling was that Middleton's bill should be brought in line with the Stanhope one or reduced even further.

With their village left in the dark on bleak January nights people started stumbling round on icy pavements, and there were fears that burglars would start making visits. So there were urgent pleas for a solution to be found.

That was when C.E. Bainbridge, chairman of the gas company, came forward with figures to show that there was a simple reason for the difference in bills.

He pointed out that Stanhope's lamps were lit until 10pm for six nights a week, and until 11pm on Saturdays.

But Middleton's were lit until 11pm every night, except on monthly pay nights, when they were kept on until midnight.

It seems that despite low wages and protests about poverty the men had enough money jingling in their pockets to stay out drinking later when they got their wages and needed that extra hour of lighting to find their way home.

The lamps were lit in both places at dusk, so the bills were much higher in winter than in summer.

All those extra hours at Middleton were costing at least two shillings per lamp per year, said Bainbridge.

In fact, he went on, each lamp in the village was costing 32 shillings a year to light whereas the present bill amounted to only 27 shillings a year for each one.

These figures included pay for the lamp lighter. So it appeared that Middleton was getting a bargain rather than paying too much.

A public meeting was called to debate what to do about it.

To get things settled the company made a generous gesture. It agreed to light the street lamps until Christmas, a period of about 11 months, for a flat rate of £1 apiece.

That was accepted and the lamplighter went round that night restoring the normal brightness.

The people of Stanhope, who had their own gas company, must have wondered what all the fuss was about.

They apparently felt it was well worth shutting off their lamps 60 minutes ahead of Middleton to keep down the cost.

A similar dispute in Barnard Castle in 1873 also led to its street lamps being turned off, as reported in Dales Diary some time ago.

But the town was lit up again when a militia officer protested that his troops could not be move about in darkened streets in case they were wrongly blamed for committing offences, as he claimed they had been in the past.

William Langstaff was one of the most prolific poets in the dales. He filled many notebooks with his verses at his home in Mickleton, some in plain English but many in dale dialect.

Some in the local twang were difficult for outsiders to understand, but they were hugely popular in his own area.

As well as being a busy farmer he spent a lot of time composing rhymes from the 1930s to the 50s, and was given the title of the Mickleton Poet. But a large proportion of his work was never seen by anyone.

He was a noted entertainer who was often invited to village halls and farming functions to recite his odes, some of which caused great amusement.

Many of his verses were in praise of the dale scenery. He also took a keen interest in local history.

He had a wonderful memory and in his old age could give details about people, buildings and events he had known in his early years.

One work entitled Bonnie Teisd'l includes the lines: If ah'd wings tae rise and flee/Roond t'wide world ma whims tae pleaze/Still ma heart w'd alwa'd be/On t'banks o' bonnie Teis.

His wife Letitia also wrote some poems under her own name and some jointly with him.

One of her own, called Sweet Vale of the Tees, has the verse: Sweet vale of the Tees, how my heart doth enshrine thee/No place in the world is so precious to me/No hills are so friendly, no woods so entrancing/No river so fair as it flows to the sea.

One poem written jointly was My Native Dale. It is not clear if he wrote one line and she the next or if they composed each part of it together, but they put both their names to it.

It includes the lines: The starry sky, the angry storm clouds flying/The singing birds within the flowery vale/The fragrant breeze, the west wind softly sighing/All call me back, back to my native dale.

Unfortunately when William died in 1960 at the age of 79 some of his notebooks were thrown out from his house at Bankside, Mickleton, by someone who did not realise their value.

So it is possible that some gems describing local events that would be of great interest today were lost for ever.

Here's a question that might be useful in a pub quiz: Where in the dales did Darlington score an impressive victory over Sunderland? The answer is Lartington.

The big match wasn't football but curling, so it is appropriate to recall it following the British successes in that sport in the winter Olympics.

The challenge fixture was played on the Cragg fishpond in early 1885. The ice was particularly thick that winter and many people turned up from around the dales to skate on it.

Darlington and Sunderland both had curling clubs, and when they heard how good conditions were on the pond they decided to travel there for the special encounter.

It was on land owned by Father Witham of Lartington Hall, and he gave permission for it to go ahead.

The teams got a train to Lartington station and walked about a mile to the pond. This must have been a hard task as they carried all the heavy stones and brooms they needed.

There was a medal for the winners and it went to Darlington by 14 points.

This was thought to be the first ever curling match in Teesdale and it was hoped some local enthusiasts would take up the sport, but it did not catch on to any extent.

However, the pond was in regular winter use for skating, as were certain stretches of the Rivers Tees and Wear and a few other ponds.

Surely there can be few war memorials that have proved more useful than a large clock put up in Westgate in 1920 to honour 13 local men who lost their lives in the 1914-18 conflict.

It has given 94 years of excellent service not only to villagers but to thousands of travellers who move up and down the main Weardale road each week.

And now it seems set to tell everyone the right time for another century or so after being restored and put back in position on the front of the village hall.

It was fitted by specialists from Smiths of Derby, who did the repairs. The men, who travel the world installing clocks, said they were pleased to be able to restore it to its original specification instead of using plastic dials and an electric motor.

David Heatherington, the hall chairman, said a lot of folk would imagine large workings to be inside the drum of the clock, but it is mainly just fresh air, as most of the mechanism is inside the building.

The superb double-faced timepiece was bought for £130. It was inspired thinking by those who chose it rather than spending the money on a stone memorial.

The 13 who died were John and William Coulthard, J. Brown, T. Bell, William Egglestone, A. Furnace, G .A. Hodgson,.Edward Fairless, David Peacock, J.Stewart, Jacob Colling, William Walton and Fred Walton.

A later roll of honour names 11 men killed in the Second World War: E. Anderson, J. Elliott, P. McGirk, N. Muschamp, M.Peart, L.T. Raine, H. Ross, M. Race, N. Shilsher, C. Wall and D. Woods.

Another scroll names six airmen who died when a Wellington bomber crashed in the locality in 1943.

Everyone is delighted with its smart appearance now that its faces and all the metalwork have been restored.

"It should outlast us all and is certainly a worthy memorial to remember our fallen in the Great War which started 100 years ago," added Mr Heatherington, who took the photograph of it being put back.

Hall officials are grateful to all organisations and individuals who contributed towards the cost of the restoration.

The target was £10,800, but support for the clock was so great, from other parts of the dale as well as Westgate, that an extra £5,000 was handed in to treasurer Peter Nattrass.

Village residents and travellers were so used to glancing up at the clock as they passed the hall that they kept up the habit when it was missing. Now that it's back there is widespread pleasure. It's like the return of an old friend.

When Johnny Gent became lessee of a fishlock on the Tees at Whorlton in 1838 he kept records of the salmon and trout he caught each season.

He landed 29 fish that first year but the following year his total went up to 146 and then to 161. His catches usually included some around the 14lb mark.

His best total came in 1843 when he caught 202, and his biggest fish was a 17lb whopper he took in 1850.

He made some money by selling his catches. Local folk probably got in the habit of calling on him when they fancied a spot of salmon or trout for dinner.

When he started he was getting 10 pennies (equal to about 4p) per pound early in the season but by the season's end the rate was down to three pennies, just over 1p.

In later years his prices rose to a shilling (5p) at the start of a season and dropped to the equivalent of 2p in the final month.

His highest price of all came in June 1860 when he was selling salmon for the equivalent of just over 7p per pound but by August it was down to 4p.

Perhaps the fish tasted better in the early season than at the end, or it could be that more anglers were catching fish for themselves and friends in later months.