WHEN Joan Anderson died in 2021, among her treasures, her niece found her collection of 59 hats and a very fine salt pig.

Some of her hats were on display last weekend at the Bowes Museum, and readers will remember from Memories 649 the joys of salt pigs.

READ MORE: THE AMAZING AND SAD STORY OF MRS WATKINS AND HER SALT PIG

AND: EVERY KITCHEN HAS A SALT PIG WITH PLENTY OF STORIES ATTACHED

Joan (nee Theakston) was born in Darlington, grew up in Barnard Castle, was working as a secretary at United Buses where she met her husband, Ken, and they settled in Romaldkirk in the 1950s. Joan became a pharmaceutical planner at Glaxo, and when she retired dabbled in antiques, running This & That in Galgate.

A salt pig made for Mrs Swinbank, Egglestone, Nov 7 1890That was how she acquired the salt pig, and she kept it because of its local connections. “Mrs Swinbank, Egglestone, Nov 7 1890” it says on it.

A “pygge” is an old northern word for a pot, and a salt pig was a kitchen utensil with its great gaping mouth meaning the salt was easily accessible for the chef.

Mrs JS Watkins' salt pig that may have sailed around the worldA year ago, we discovered that in the early 1890s, Wetheriggs artisan pottery at Clifton Dykes, Penrith, beside the Stainmore railway line from Barnard Castle, started making these brown bespoke salt pigs. We had a very similar one dedicated to “Mrs JS Watkins, Darlington, Nov 1 1890”, and brilliant detective work from readers revealed that that was the date that Olive Watkins gave birth to her first child. She then emigrated with her engineer husband, John, to Borneo, but she returned regularly to give birth to her 13 children. However, she died on a ship sailing from Borneo following the birth of her last child – an amazing story to emerge from a piece of artisan pottery.

So who is Mrs Swinbank of Egglestone?

Just the spelling of her location might provide a few headaches: Egglestone Abbey, near Barnard Castle, usually has an e, whereas, seven miles away, the village of Eggleston, in Teesdale, does not.

Do you know anything about her?

READ MORE: CHICKEN GOGGLES, A KINGFISHER CATCHER AND A WEATHER PROGNOSTICATOR: THE HISTORY OF THE COUNTRYSIDE IN 100 CURIOUS OBJECTS

Joan was a great collector of interesting things, and when she died in 2021, her niece Amanda Raine, a fashion student in her spare time now studying for a PhD, inherited wardrobes of wonderful items, including 59 hats.

Amanda displayed some of them at the Bowes Museum last weekend, encouraging people to try them and tell her their hat-related stories.

Trying on Joan's hats at the Bowes Museum last weekendSomeone told her about their colourful collection of beanies, someone else spoke of how her mother had a special funeral hat with a hatpin, someone else told how their father wore a beret during the war, and someone else said: “My dad used to say there’s no point in being poor and looking poor so wear a hat.”

Joan Anderson ready for a wedding in one of her special hats in the 1950sAmanda says: “Nearly every fashion exhibition concerns high end designers or top models or the clothes of the aristocracy or royalty, but I want to know about how people value their wardrobes of everyday, ordinary clothes.”

The hat has fallen out of favour in recent decades. In fact, in December 1948, the Guardian newspaper reported how the newly formed Hatters’ Information Council had adopted the new advertising slogan “if you want to get ahead, get a hat”. Hatters, who between them made five million hats for men a year, were concerned about the trend of hatless informality that had started at the end of the First World War but was now gathering pace, especially among men under 35.

Joan Anderson in one of her 59 hatsTheir newspaper adverts in the 1950s showed how a smartly hatted man always stood a better chance with the ladies than a bare-headed baldy, leading to the motto: “If you want to get ahead, get a hat.”

It didn’t really work, as society has gone increasingly hatless since the 1960s.

But everyone has a hat story, or a favourite garment, story or memory, and that is what Amanda is collecting. Please email her, amandalraine@hotmail.com, if you have one to share.

Someone pointing at the replacement roadsign in 1971 after Eggleston had been spelled with an e at the endEGGLESTON or Egglestone? It seems to matter not as both place names have identical meanings: they are a settlement belonging to a chap called Ecgwulf or Ecgel.

However, near Eggleston Hall, there is said to be a large stone with iron eyelets inserted in it. Long tethers were once attached to the eyelets and were used to train eagles for use in falconry. This was the Eagle Stone and so Eggleston got its name.

Has anyone ever seen the Eagle Stone?

MEET THE MAVERICKS OF LAVERICKS: THE STORY OF ONE OF DARLINGTON'S QUIRKIEST BUILDINGS

The Three Tuns at Eggleston in October 1971