OLD newspapers give such a fascinating glimpse of the world as it once was, of our towns and places as they used to be, and so here we delve into a ghost that once haunted a remote footbridge and we find proof that romance was once alive and kissing in Richmond...
Exactly 100 years ago, the Echo’s sister paper, the Darlington & Stockton Times, told its readers of the concern about the state of the Cauldron Snout foot-bridge.
Cauldron Snout is today immediately below Cow Green Reservoir. Some people say it is a cascade; others that it is a staircase of falls while others claim it is the longest waterfall in the country – whatever, it is a very impressive tumble of water.
“The bridge serves a district windswept during the greater part of the year, the wind sometimes being sufficiently strong to blow the bridge ‘sideways on’ so that anyone crossing it would be in the position of a sailor on a ship in a tempest,” said the D&S, before moving on to tell of the Red Cloak Ghost, “the wraith of Phillis Bell”, which haunted the cascade.
The unfortunate Phillis was murdered in her remote house up on the wildest fells by a robber, or robbers, who buried her body beneath the floorboards and made off with her possessions.
“It used to be said that this ghost, although it haunted both sides of the Tees, was not seen on one side within 24 hours of its appearance on the other, and thus it upheld the ghostly tradition that ‘a running stream they dare not cross’,” said the D&S. “Thus, when one side saw the apparition, the other side was immune from its visitation for at least a day.”
When Phillis’s house was rebuilt some years ago, said the D&S, “her bones were found and thrown into the Tees, and from the day, says the story, her ‘bogle’ has never been seen or heard.”
Can you tell us anymore about the Red Cloak Ghost of Cauldron Snout?
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“THE number of valentines etc that passed through Richmond Post Office on Friday, Saturday and Sunday considerably exceeded those of any former occasion,” said The Northern Echo's sister paper, the Darlington & Stockton Times 150 years ago this week.
Written Valentine’s Day messages were being exchanged by lovers in the 15th Century but the advent of the penny post in 1840 allowed a mass outbreak of love – especially in romantic old Richmond.
“The postmen did not finish their rounds until two o’clock in the afternoon of Saturday, a duty which, under ordinary circumstances, would have been completed before ten o’clock in the morning.”
READ MORE: SAVE OUR STATION: SOS FOR THE WORLD'S OLDEST RAILWAY STATION
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