THE new supermarket is planned for one of Darlington town centre's most historic areas, although nearly everything of historic interest has been wiped away by previous developments.

For a start, today the Leadyard is just a trickleway which leads to the town hall car park, but once upon a time the Bishop of Durham not only stored his lead here but also had his palace.

Indeed, the Bishop's house by the river was reputedly haunted by Darlington's most famous ghost: Lady Jarrett, whose arm was hacked off by villains desperate to get the valuable jewels in the ring on her finger.

The town's first proper school was in the Leadyard from 1846-72 - an ancient plaque built into a modern wall shows its site.

At the top of the yard, roughly where the town hall is today, was Feethams House (the word feethams means 'home by the water') which was probably built in the late 17th Century by a soapboiler. In its day, it was the largest house in town.

Joseph Beaumont Pease (1772-1846), the younger brother of Edward "Father of the Railways" Pease, lived here, but once he was gone the house slowly tumbled down.

His grounds of rich pastureland ran down to the old Feethams football ground, but gradually traffic and buses encroached.

His driveway became the road we know as Feethams, and during the 1930s, his field became a scratty saleground and buspark.

In the 1960s, the whole area was cleared and the new town hall was built, its perpendicular lines and granite cladding intended to complement St Cuthbert's Church next door.

It was opened in May 1970 by Princess Anne, with the angular zinc sculpture entitled Resurgence outside it.

Should Tesco's planning application ever leave the drawing board - and there is many a slip twixt board and the cutting of the first sod - it will be fascinating to see what local opinion says about its town hall.

The building is a classic of its period, so typical in many ways - even though Princess Anne's elder brother Charles would probably describe it as a "carbuncle".