How fire, and a pyromaniac, destroyed a Wensleydale landmark

The 300-year-old Old Hall at Askrigg was obviously well known to the readers of papers in places like Hartlepool and Sunderland who had stayed within its panelled walls as, after being a private residence with a prime view over a bull baiting arena, it had become a hotel.

The Darlington & Stockton Times' photograph of the burned out Old Hall in October 1935

The reports talk of the terrible loss to the dale, and of the drama of the landlady, a Mrs Harrington, fleeing from the blazing medieval building at 4.30am with her six-year-old daughter dressed only in their nightclothes after being heroically awoken by a neighbour.

But we can’t find any contemporary reports that say Mrs Harrington was a pyromaniac who, only months earlier, had attempted to torch another dales hotel – and yet that is the more recent interpretation of the story based on folk memory.

For instance, after we touched on the incident a fortnight ago, a reader wrote: “My understanding is that the woman who burnt down the Old Hall at Askrigg also set fire to the Palmer Flatt Hotel in Aysgarth, which was owned by my family at the time. I think she was the licensee, not a guest, and I think that because Palmer Flatt is stone built, the damage there was less than at the Old Hall.”

Today, the Palmer Flatt is known as the Aysgarth Falls Hotel (above, from Google StreetView) – it is at the top of Church Bank on the south side of the famous waterfalls.

Its original name is because on its site in medieval times was a hospice run by the Knights Templars where men who had taken part in the crusades to the Holy Land could recuperate amid the fresh air and clean water of Wensleydale. These veterans were well regarded holy men who had been prepared to lay down their lives for Christ, and they were called “palmers” because they often returned from Palestine with palm leaves for souvenirs.

A “flatt” is an open field, usually divided into strips for individuals to farm.

A hotel continued the hospice’s role of offering hospitality, and the stone building was constructed in the prominent position at the top of Church Bank in the 1850s.

Its history tells us that in the 1960s, it featured a large cartwheel suspended from the ceiling from which dalesfolk, who were thoroughly refreshed, liked to swing. In the 1970s, it was the home of Charlie, a black mynah bird, whose catchphrase was “half-a-pound of tuppeny rice”. In 2012, after a £700,000 refit, it took on its locational name.

But nowhere does its history tell us it had been the scene of a fire – not even a slight singeing.

Mrs Harrington, a widow whose first name is never reported, was landlady there until she moved to the Old Hall in April 1935.

An advert in the Yorkshire Post aimed at attracting her replacement speaks of the Palmer Flatt having 18 bedrooms, electric lighting, a tennis court and a garage for 12 motor cars.

“The hotel is in good order and has all accommodation for a 1st class country hotel, is fully licensed and a free house,” says the advert. “Good fishing is obtainable.” Nowhere is there even the slightest whiff of smoke damage.

An Edwardian postcard of Askrigg with the Old Hall, and its bull-baiting balcony, dominating the scene

Mrs Harrington rented the Old Hall, built in 1678, from its owner, Joseph Weatherald of Durham, for six months before it caught fire on October 10, 1935.

The Darlington & Stockton Times' headline

Her neighbour, grocer George Johnson, roused her shortly after 4.30am, and helped her six-year-old daughter, Clodagh, and her errand boy, Keith Fraser, out of the flames. Before they left, Mrs Harrington was able to discover that the seat of the fire was in one of the second floor bedrooms which “was packed full of furniture which I brought from Palmer Flatts Hotel”.

The fire brigades from Hawes and Catterick were summoned, and a local policeman took charge of the scene, although as it was so early, he was not at his best and, according to one eyewitness, “his wife had to bring a basket with sandwiches and brandy to keep him going”.

“There was no local means of fighting the fire except by bucket chains because although under the town’s new water scheme, fire hydrants have been installed, no fire fighting appliances have yet been brought,” said The Northern Echo.

The D&S Times said that the bucket chains “were powerless to check the spread of the fire”.

It said: “The fire spread with amazing rapidity, the tinder dry woodwork, wooden beams and panelling offering a ready path. Before the arrival of the brigades, the flames had reached the roof and within a few minutes, this collapsed, flinging out tongues of flames, sparks and slates.

“With a strong wind blowing, there was a serious menace to adjoining property and alarmed householders were carrying their most treasured belongings into the street.”

The Hawes brigade, with its pump on a lemonade waggon, arrived first and plugged into the fire hydrant. Moments later, the larger Catterick pump arrived, and there was a “big row” over who should have access to the hydrant. A rule of first come, first served seems to have operated, as Catterick had to go to Mill Gill, a mile away, for its water.

A brilliant picture from The Northern Echo of October 11, 1935, showing the concerned crowd outside the bruned out Old Hall. On the right is a pile of rescued furniture

Together, by 8am, the brigades had at least saved the neighbouring buildings, although much of Mr Johnson’s property was inundated by water, and Mrs Harrington had lost everything. She was, though, she told the D&S, covered by insurance.

The D&S concluded its report of the fire by saying: “The Old Hall was not only well known to travellers and tourists, but was famous among archaeologists from all parts of the world as a fine example of Jacobean architecture.

“Its massive solid oak studded entrance door, quaint mullioned leaded light windows and gabled flanks gave it a striking appearance and made the hall one of the landmarks of Wensleydale.

“The balustraded balcony commanded a full view of the market place where at one time the sport of bull baiting was carried on.

“Inside, the Old Hall was equally interesting with its wonderful oak panelling, staircases and heavily timbered rooms. Now nothing remains but the gaunt shell of the building and Askrigg has lost an attraction which can never be replaced.”

The Old Hall, Askrigg, before it was converted into a hotel

The 1935 newspapers seem to have accepted that fires happened, and there don’t seem to have been many further reports about the blaze in way-out Wensleydale, although in late October 1935, a Leeds newspaper reported that the parish council, which only had £30 in the bank, had agreed to buy a £50 appliance similar to the one at Hawes (ladders, said the report, were not included).

However, since 1935, word has developed into a strong story that this was not an accidental blaze and that it was linked to an incident at Palmer Flatt. For instance, a throwaway line in the D&S Times in 2018 says that “in 1935 a pyromaniac rented the 1678 Old Hall, set fire to it, and walked away – an event still remembered by older members of the community”.

So if you can take our story any further, we’d love to hear from you. Please email chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk