"WE shared many bottles of wine together when my sister lived in Teetotal Cottages," said Margaret Blenkin of Bishop Auckland, and although she was on the phone, I could see the smile down the line.

Her sister, Chris Chapman, lived beside the Onward Coffee Tavern in Hurworth (now a dentist's surgery opposite the village church), and so Margaret's call began in fill in something that has had me wondering for a while.

On the east side of the Coffee Tavern is a low building with a strange stone on it. "Freeholds AD 1715", it says. You can see that the top of the stone is crumbly – from here, in cold weather a year or so ago, the words "Teetotal Cottages" fell off.

First of all, if anyone has a picture of the stone with "Teetotal Cottages" still on it, I'd love to see it.

Secondly, that means this run of cottages must be associated with the Coffee Tavern, which was built in 1878-9.

Thirdly, it means the stone cannot date from 1715. It dates, I would guess, from the same time as the Coffee Tavern, but it must at the very least be later than 1834 because the word did not enter the English language until then.

And this is one of my favourite stories.

At the start of the 19th Century, there were movements to wean people off alcohol. One of the first was the Moderation Society where members promised to moderate their intake of alcohol.

The Darlington Moderation Society was one of the first in the country, formed in 1831. George Mottram was an early convert. He was a drunken sailor, sentenced to death for stealing a boat when under the influence. He was pardoned when he renounced alcohol, and he became the toast of the Darlington Moderation Society. He toured the district promoting the benefits of moderation. One day, he set off from Darlo to convert the drunken heathens of Barnard Castle. Unfortunately, the journey along the A67 is about 11 miles - a long way in a stagecoach, and by the time George arrived in Barney he was so hopelessly drunk that he was unable to speak.

People realised the moderation was not the answer.

In September 1833, the Seven Men of Preston went one step further. They formed the Total Abstinence Society. Members signed a pledge saying they would totally abstain from alchol.

One of the Temperance Seven was Richard "Dicky" Turner, a rough Lancashire lad - some sources say a fish hawker, others say a plasterer's mate (that must be a joke, as in plastered) - with a stammer.

He took no nonsense from no one. He signed up with the Total Abstinence Society and dismissed the moderation movement, saying: "I'll hev nowt to do with wi' this moderation botheration pledge; I'll be reet down tee-tee-total for ever and ever."

And so teetotal was born.

This derivation is even carved into his headstone in St Peter's churchyard in Preston: "Beneath this stone are deposited the remains of Richard Turner, author of the word Teetotal as applied to abstinence from all intoxicating liquors, who departed this life on the 27th day of October 1846, aged 56 years."

When doing the research for my 2005 book, A Walk in the Park, I expressed a degree of scepticism about the existence of this headstone. However, since 2005 the internet has bounded forward and there are now several pictures of the headstone on flickr (www.flickr.com/photos/10089490@N06/5240626749/).

What a headstone! There can be no other headstone in the work with an etymological derivation on it.

Anyway, the datestone on Teetotal Cottages can't originate from 1715 as it claims because the word "teetotal" didn't enter the English language until 1834.

** More on this in the near future.