STAND in the centre of one of the region's most picturesque small market towns and you could be forgiven for thinking that time had stood still.

Centuries-old homes and businesses, largely built of local stone, create a typical Northern English scene in Middleton-in-Teesdale, in the far west of County Durham.

However, an enthusiastic band of volunteer historians has spent 18 months showing how the years have brought many changes in Middleton, where a settlement dating back more than a millennium has met 21st Century standards without losing its charm.

The Jubilee Study Group has charted the evolving landscape of the dales community in a study recording the origins, construction and style of every one of its 650 buildings.

Members also hope that their archive, which was on display in Middleton Village Hall over the weekend, will prove a valuable reference and guide for future developers and planners.

It will be stored in the hall, where it can be seen by appointment, and can be viewed on The Northern Echo's news and information website, Communigate, at www.thisisthenortheast.co. uk/members/jubilee/index. htm

The study followed an idea by the Teesdale Heritage Group, which learned of a similar project in Alston, published as Alston Facades.

As momentum grew and more volunteers joined, including children from Middleton Primary and Teesdale Comprehensive schools, funding was made available from the Northern Rock Foundation, the Heritage Lottery Fund and Teesdale District Council.

Retired farmer Vince Wearmouth and his half-cousin, John, spent many hours photographing each facade.

Project co-ordinator Joyce Jackson said: "This is where the essential character of the town is presented and where the vernacular architecture of the past links to the present as a guide to the future. From this study we see a vibrant community develop over the centuries, adapting and modernising buildings as needs and wealth allowed."

Genealogist Lorne Tallentire worked with Judy Watson on the history.

Other volunteers were Anne Beckett-Wise, Jim Sewell, Janet Stark, Sue, Norman and Jamie McBain, Marie Wray and John Moore.

They were supported by the North Pennines Township Partnership and the North-East Vernacular Architecture Group.

'Middle Farm' and feuding times

EARLIEST records show that Middleton, meaning "middle farm" was probably founded around 839 in the Gainford Estate's hunting park.

The first recorded mention is a grant by King William Rufus in 1093/4.

Caught first between feuding monks and later between English and Scottish warlords, the settlement flourished from the mid-12th Century.

The original St Mary's Church dates from the 1150s and is the oldest building of which anything survives. A 13th Century window still stands next to the present church.

By the 14th Century, Middleton had acquired the suffix "in-Teesdale", farms were prosperous and the market flourished. Gradually, timber wattle and daub farm buildings were replaced by limestone structures. Some lintels remain from the 18th Century.

A parish school was established in Chapel Row in 1729 but Middleton was still a backwater, miles way from most trade routes.

The London Lead Company's activities in Teesdale and Alston Moor brought prosperity and by 1835 the present layout of houses and shops in the Market Place, and Horsemarket was established.

The company built homes for its workers and between 1801 and 1871 the population boomed from 796 to 2,386.

A new bridge across the Tees, improved roads and the arrival of the railway in 1868 brought Welsh roof slates to replace stone flags and ideas including higher roofs, flush toilets and a water tap for each house.

A religious revival saw four new churches. St Mary's was demolished in 1878 to make way for a bigger building.

Middleton claims the country's first Co-op society - a corn co-operative formed in 1842. The original Co-op store burned down in 1929. Gas arrived by 1897, the first telephone, in the post office, in 1912, and electricity in 1924.

With the lead industry gone, outside influences took over and company homes were sold to private owners or the Raby Estate.

In 1923, roads were widened to accommodate cars and extra trains laid on for tourists.

The post-war years saw huge expansion, with brick council homes being built on Leekworth Fields and, in 1959, a new secondary school.

Now, with several locally-owned shops but only one bank and one traditional pub, plus a hotel and workingmen's club, the population had dropped to 1,508 by 2000.

Landmark buildings have been re-used. The Board School is now a Field Studies Centre, the station is a coal supply depot and the Town Hall an estate office.