AT the age of 95, Askrigg writer Marie Hartley maintains her lifelong love of writing books.

Published this month is the sixth edition of a book - a revised version of The Old Hand-knitters of the Dales, which was originally published in 1951 by The Dalesman. It was the first publication of the new partnership of Marie Hartley and Joan Ingilby, which lasted for almost 50 years until Miss Ingilby died last October.

This updated version of the book was worked upon by both writers, and is published by Smith Settle of Otley. Available in hardback and paperback, it is high quality paper and print, with crisp black and white photographs of knitters, some of which go back to 1900, as well as line drawings of buildings, patterned gloves and small items of equipment, including many knitting sheaths which were usually made of fruitwoods. The appealing front cover has a sepia photograph of an old Dent knitter.

This book is a detailed history of the knitting industry. When the pair began collecting information there was no standard work on hand-knitting, just brief accounts. The earliest pieces to which a definite date can be given date from the third century. For centuries, hand-knitting was a way of life for dalesfolk in Yorkshire and Cumbria. They knitted as they drove cattle to the fields, as they walked to market and as they gossiped and sang around the fire on winter evenings. The few pennies they earned from making stockings, jerseys, caps and bonnets was a vital source of income.

Miss Hartley and Miss Ingilby looked at knitting in Richmond, as far west as Kendal, including Kirkby Stephen, Dentdale, Swaledale and Wensleydale. They pored over ledgers and old documents. They sat for many hours talking to dalesfolk.

There are many letters in the appendix and quotations from earlier writings including Prof Adam Sedgwick, a geologist from Dent, who vividly described the importance of woollens in the area, and he talked about the gossipy women, often referred to today as "the terrible knitters of Dent".

The authors explored the woollen mills at Sedburgh, including Hebblethwaite Hall, started by Robert Foster, a Quaker, in 1785. He sent finished goods to Lancaster and then by canal to London. The descendants opened a new and bigger mill at Farfield, just east of Sedburgh, which burnt down in 1909, and was rebuilt.

Machine knitting and hand-knitting went side by side for a number of years in the early 1900s.

This mill is now closed for production, and is a heritage centre for the woollen industry.

Marie Hartley and Joan Ingilby's books have an enduring popularity and about a dozen of them have been reissued, or are to be reprinted. They were both made MBEs for their services to the culture and history of Yorkshire, and were awarded three honorary degrees and the silver medal of the Yorkshire archaeological society.

This a fascinating work for lovers of the dales and its people, as well as for scholars of crafts or local history. The hardback copies are £13.95 and paperbacks £8.95, available in dales bookshops.

Signed copies are available in Askrigg village shop.

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Greenhouses and Conservatories by Olivier de Vleeschouwer is visually captivating (Flammarion £28). The old large and mostly free-standing glasshouses look wonderful, however outrageous and complicated their design. The author takes us through the history, which started with a need to protect the orange and lemon trees fashionable in the 18th century.

More problematic are the smaller conservatories. It is difficult to add a glittering eye-catching structure to the side of a house without it looking tacked-on. The main insight I obtained from these three books is that the knack of mixing the high-tech and modern with the old and vernacular is rare and to be treasured and encouraged. - V E