RESIDENTS of Maltby were delighted to receive their own copy of the newly-published History of the Village of Maltby this month.

The idea of having a village book emerged among a host of suggestions at the inaugural meeting of the Maltby Millennium Celebration Group in February 1999.

Newly-elected chairman, Colin Algie, asked the volunteer committee to write on a Post-It note all the different ways that the village could celebrate the turn of the century.

The suggestions "posted" were a street party, village fete, New Year's Eve party, a time capsule ... and the list of ideas went on and on and included the possibility of a souvenir book about the village.

Editor, Joanne Dougherty, claims that at that point she did not volunteer, everyone else took a step backwards.

Primarily, it was planned to be a book of photographs taken during 2000, but it was then decided to include a little bit of the history and some of the stories and events from Maltby's past.

Sadly, the main contributor, Frank Harper, who researched more than a thousand years of village history, has died, but his family members were proud to know how valuable his contribution was to the historical aspect of the publication which provided a fitting memorial.

It was discovered that the village probably came into being about 600-800 AD as a Viking settlement. In 1086, the name of the village was "Maltebi", derived from the Danish, meaning Maltil's Farm. Maltby Beck at this time abounded in fish and eels and the fisheries belonged to the religious houses at Guisborough and Byland.

The manor of Maltby was originally part of Acklam Manor with the de Maltby family having its own emblem of a silver shield bearing a red diagonal with gold sheaves of corn. The year 1619 saw the end of the de Maltby name as the descendants were all daughters.

An interesting entry in the church records of 1611 relates to two old women of the village who were "recusants" (i.e. they did not accept the Church of England). When they died, the vicar of Stainton refused to bury them in his churchyard. However, the villagers took the matter into their own hands and buried them both in the churchyard at night.

Originally, Maltby was mainly a farming community with homes for agricultural workers. By the 1800s, some of the farmland surrounding Maltby was in the hands of the well known Pennyman family, who were local landowners resident at Ormesby Hall, and indeed Maltby Farm is still managed by Ormesby Estates.

Field names at other farms reveal fascinating facts about the environment. At Whitehouse Farm, Cockle Bed Field suggests that there had been freshwater cockles in the stream and Brick Kiln Field still contains brick residues.

An exciting find on farmland in 1990 was that of some Anglo Saxon artefacts including a large number of blue glass beads. Archaeologists suggested that this collection was from a grave of a well-dressed female, possibly from about the sixth century.

Described in J W Ord's book, The History and Antiquities of Cleveland, as an "indifferently built village perched on an eminence three and a half miles east by north of Yarm", Maltby was built as a street village in the days of horse power. The village has grown in size steadily over the last 1,000 years and has several interesting houses of fine examples of building style, including some listed properties.

One of the farmhouses is built from hand-made Danish bricks which had been brought from Holland as ballast in the ships coming up to Yarm, with the outgoing ships being laden with wool.

Memories of Maltby abound and the social history includes several first-hand stories such as that of a donkey being buried in a back garden. It was also said that in the Twenties, the business at the New Inn (now the Yorkshire Dragoon) was conducted on informal grounds with the customers drawing their own beer and leaving their money on the counter while Blanche, the landlady, "slept it off!"

Village hall activities and societies, the tiny Methodist chapel built in 1878 and the thriving cricket club are all featured in the book with the concluding chapter being entitled A View From The Chair by newly-retired parish council chairman, Brian Lewis. He describes the village as "alive and kicking".

A limited number of extra copies of the book priced £5 are available from Joanne Dougherty on 01642 596845.