FROM this newspaper 100 years ago. - Mr F U Simpson's contract for the laying of the whole of Ripon Market Place with cement has been rapidly pushed forward, the whole of the north-west side having been completed. Citizens have had an opportunity of contrasting the new form of pavement with the old cobbles, and the comparison is certainly to the disadvantage of the latter. In the portion Mr Simpson has done more grit has been introduced, the pavement being less slippery than the first part on the north-east side of the square. A great improvement has been effected by the Highways Committee at the Kirkgate corner of the square by rounding off the pavement to the depth of about 12 feet to afford vehicular traffic a better turn. Altogether, the corporation may be congratulated on the general effect of the improvement. There is some danger that their market tolls will suffer by the action of the Phoenix Company, who are negotiating the letting of their arcade to travelling drapers who now rent the stalls in the open square.

From this newspaper 50 years ago. - What manner of a man was M I (or J), who lived in Houndgate, Darlington, towards the close of the 18th century? The present generation of Darlingtonians would be unaware of his one-time existence but for the discovery by a painter, while burning off the old paint of a door leading to the back entrance of what now is R Spark and Sons confectionery shop in Blackwellgate, of the following inscription in leaded block capitals: I Marley Sept 10, 1796. Unfortunately, from a sentimental point of view, the late Mr Marley's intrusion into the antiquities of Darlington was of brief duration for within an hour or so, the door wore a new coat of green paint completely obliterating the inscription ... despite the turmoil in Europe, torn by war and revolution, and America undergoing the birth pangs of independence, Darlington was then a quiet market town with nothing to disturb its placidity since the Duke of Cumberland's forces returning from Culloden were quartered there half a century previous and John Wesley preached in the Market-place only 19 years before Marley decided to perpetuate his own name.

From this newspaper 25 years ago. - Chris Bonnington, who has been granted permission by the Nepalese Foreign Ministry to take an expedition to scale Mount Everest later this year, along with a French expedition, will present a film show with narrative on India at Darlington Civic Theatre on February 11.