Countryman's Diary; Days of branch lines and leisure

I was reminded of the value of those twin sources of reference when I spotted a sentence in one old book which read: "There is no railway in Swaledale". This prompted me to check an old map which shows a London and North Eastern Railway line in Wensleydale. It was a branch line from Northallerton passing through Bedale, Leyburn and Hawes to the renowned junction at Garsdale Head. A similar branch line, leaving the main London-Edinburgh route just north of Darlington, climbed over Bowes Moor to Kirby Stephen via Barnard Castle, with a smaller branch leading up Teesdale to Middleton-in-Teesdale and yet another heading north-east towards Bishop Auckland.

So far as Swaledale is concerned, an LNER branch line did leave the main London-Edinburgh route between Croft and North Cowton, at what was known as Dalton Junction, and went as far as Richmond with stations at Moulton, Scorton and Brompton-on -Swale. There was yet another small line leading to Catterick Bridge, Catterick Camp and Hipswell.

One old book tells me that the Richmond branch line extended ten miles from Dalton Junction with five trains running daily from Dalton to Richmond and four making the return trip; on Saturdays, two extra trains ran both ways.

One of my reference books is Murray's Handbook of Yorkshire published in 1874 and this wonderful 640-page close-printed epic contains umpteen tours of Yorkshire as it was prior to the 1974 boundary changes. At the time this book was published, one must remember that railways were a new, fashionable mode of transport and fine way of travelling and seeing the country. It was a more leisurely time too - one recommended trip is of ten weeks' duration.

The book also highlights a month's walking tour, aided by lists of the inns of the Western Mountains and those of Cleveland and the coast (Cleveland was not then a county but a hilly part of the North Riding overlooking the area around Guisborough and Stokesley).

Murray's Handbook contains a staggering amount of information - for example, in referring to Catterick Bridge, it tells us that the railway crossed the river not far from Catterick Bridge railway station, and that the bridge has been much altered and widened since it was completed in 1425. A contract for its building was preserved at Brough Hall and from that, we know the cost of the bridge was £173. 6s. 8d. and that it was to be built "accordand in substance to Barnacastell-brigge."

There was an inn near the bridge which, in 1874 was described as "still not comfortable" but which was famous in the days of coaching. The inn dated to the time of Henry VIII, and nearby was a chapel dedicated to St Anne, traces of which could be seen around the end of the 19th century.

Murray also refers to the legendary baptism of 10,000 people during just one day in the Swale at this point, but it seems this could be a misinterpretation of an event which happened in Kent. Pope Gregory, writing to the Patriarch of Alexandria, told of St Augustine baptising 10,000 Saxon converts on Christmas Day, but the Swale in question was probably the stretch of water between the Isle of Sheppey and the Kent coast.

The Teutonic word swala means smooth water, apparently descriptive of that stretch, and even today that channel is known as The Swale, lying only five miles or so from Canterbury. I think this kind of detailed information is remarkable in a railway travel guide.

Spring fever

Meanwhile, the whimsical imaginings of the Chronicler of Kelderdale provides the second instalment of drama in the village. It seems that a controversial car park beside the river has been completed and the snack bar-cum-souvenir shop, owned by the chairman of the parish council, opened for business in time for the Easter holidays.

The majority of villagers were deeply opposed to the scheme and their anger was evident when no-one applied for any of the jobs created by this development. It meant that the chairman's wife found herself staffing the counter, making the coffee and trying to sell tourist items, such as mugs and T-shirts bearing the Kelderdale millennium logo.

Also on sale were hundreds of bottles of Kelderdale natural spring water, famed as a health-giving drink, desired by women in which to bathe and so soften their skins, and welcomed by dog owners because it made dogs' coats shine and their eyes bright. One of the springs was on the chairman's land, and he was now capitalising upon it.

Unfortunately for the chairman and his wife, the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease meant that no tourists ventured into Kelderdale, doubtless deterred by signs and newspaper reports warning against the spread of the disease among the sheep and cattle of the locality. Daily, however, they opened for business, but no-one came. Then they had a customer. It was the first and, to date, the only sale from the new snack bar and comprised a cup of coffee and a mint chocolate biscuit which were bought by the chauffeur of a smart car who made use of the new car park.

The chauffeur explained that he worked for the water authority and had brought one of his bosses to Kelderdale; while chatting to the chairman's wife, he revealed - perhaps unwisely - that his boss and several other officials were walking somewhere on the outskirts as a prelude to a feasibility study which sought to connect the village water supply to the mains.

For centuries, Kelderdale's domestic water has come from inexhaustible underground springs and tests throughout the years have always shown the water to be absolutely wholesome and free from any kind of pollution. This dramatic news spread like wildfire around the village and there is little doubt it produced mixed feelings.

As one stalwart said, "That'll cap oor chairman, he'll nivver sell that watter now", but it was reported that the chairman was not dismayed because it meant the toilets on the car park would flush more easily, his own water supply would be more reliable, and he could still bottle and sell Kelderdale spring water to tourists. But the real problems started when the water authority said it would have to dig up the new car park to lay the pipes and install the pumping station which would connect Kelderdale to the mains.

Horse sense

My notes about the name of Limber Hill at Glaisdale in the North York Moors have produced a letter from a reader living at Marton, near Middlesbrough. He used to visit a friend and go hunting on the moors around Goathland and Beck Hole; his friend's mother reached her 100th birthday and on one occasion, he was chatting to her when there arose the question of Limber Hill's name.

She explained it came from the days when full waggon loads of timber stood on the small road at the foot of the hill. They awaited their turn to be hauled up the hill with trace horses. This seems to coincide with the term limmerhorse. This was the name given to a second horse which was introduced between the shafts of a waggon which was normally drawn by just one horse. And, as I mentioned in this column on April 6, "to raise the limmer" was to lift the shafts in preparation for the introduction of a horse. It seems Limber Hill owes much to powerful horses.

Bird visitors

Our bird feeding station is continuing to attract interesting species, for yesterday's visitors included a pair of siskins and a coal tit. Siskins have turned up on previous occasions, but this is the first time I have noted a coal tit. it paid a couple of visits in rapid succession, then vanished.

Very similar in size and colour to the blue tit, the coal tit is distinguished by its black cap, broken by a white nape of the neck and white cheeks. Its other colours, so like the blue tit, have perhaps a greyish tint and though coal tits are fairly widespread, these tiny birds favour conifer forests but can often be seen in our hedgerows. And a sad note - the red legged partridge I noted recently has been killed by a passing car