FREDERICK Pridham never owned Chesterfield, but his daughter Pattie remembers that it was rented from a Mr Betts, a local builder.

Arthur Henry Betts was the secretary of one of Darlington's foremost builders, RT Snaith and Son, whose grand headquarters still stands in Bondgate.

Snaith's was founded about 1840 by Thomas Snaith, and it specialised in carpentry.

It had a large steam joinery works at the top of Bondgate, with two acres of land behind, dedicated to timber mills and carpentry workshops. There were large woodsheds and desiccating rooms storing and drying timber from around the world.

RT Snaith took over in 1873 and the company moved into larger construction projects. It did the timber work for Greenbank Hospital (1873), the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Vane Terrace (1876), the Edward Pease Library (1885) and the Kings Head Hotel (1893). Further afield, Lord Barnard in Raby Castle and the Marquis of Zetland in Aske Hall near Richmond were also regular customers.

Snaith's also built large homes: Nunthorpe Hall, Kirklevington Grange, Over Dinsdale Hall, Upsall Castle and, of course, Chesterfield in 1913.

In 1928, Snaith's amalgamated with another family firm of Darlington builders, R Blackett and Son. Blackett's, formed in 1830, was the bigger concern employing 500 people to Snaith's 100.

"Both firms are associated in an intimate and romantic way with old Darlington," said The Northern Echo reporting the merger.

The amalgamated firm continued with the Blacketts name which is why Snaith's old steam joinery works in Bondgate is now a pub called Blacketts.

* Last week, Echo Memories had a picture of a Q6 class loco built around 1918 by Sir Vincent Raven of Grantley, Carmel Road, Darlington.

The engine was No 2238 and it still exists. It has been preserved by the North Eastern Locomotive Group and took part in the 1975 150th anniversary of the Stockton and Darlington Railway celebrations - the last time it ran on the National rail network.

It is currently on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway at Grosmont awaiting an overhaul. With thanks to Richard Barber of Darlington for this information.