Local Historical Stories

A COLLECTION OF HISTORICAL ARTICLES THAT FIRST APPEARED IN THE ALSTON MOOR NEWSLETTER

INTRODUCTION
Early in 1996 Alastair Robertson - our local historian was asked if he would write a couple of historical articles for the Alston Moor Newsletter. He thought he could manage three or four but in the event, over 20 years later, they were still going. Once, and only once, he received an unsolicited article from an outside source, this was the reminiscence of a school for wartime evacuees at Nent Hall that came from Mr. Michael Dickinson and it was gratefully included in the series.

They’re a real mixed bag, too random to put into a book, but they’re still worth keeping in a more permanent form, so the Historical Society website seemed the perfect place to have them.

Material for the articles came largely from local sources, from the Alston Moor Historical Society Archives, St. Augustine’s Church Records, Alston Library, the Cumbria County Records Office in Carlisle and the County Records Office Northumberland.

There has been editing in some cases that will be noted at the beginning of each item, otherwise the articles have been left as they were written, complete with occasional references to such things as cement lorries, the millennium, and foot and mouth disease, which are themselves now things of the past (?).
Read on …

Story No 15: Four Dargue, Five Dargue, Six Dargue, More

Filed in: To come....
Dargues
FOUR DARGUE, FIVE DARGUE, SIX DARGUE, MORE

It’s not often that the origin of a place name can be dated to within a few years, but with Four Dargue, a ruined steading above Banks Farm near Alston, we can do just that.

To begin with, what is this strange word, “dargue”? Is it French? Did somebody have a disagreement, a “darguement” about it in the past? The answer is neither. It is pronounced “darg” and comes from the Anglo-Saxon ‘doeg-weorc’, meaning a day’s work………….
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Story No 17: The Alston Clockmakers

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THE ALSTON CLOCKMAKERS

High up and surrounded by hills, Alston Moor could be regarded as England’s equivalent of the Swiss Alps, and the similarity does not end there, because Alston Moor was once the abode of clockmakers……………
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Story No 18: Alston's Bank Raid

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Alston Market Place

ALSTON BANK RAID; 3 DEATHS



Shot manager dies: gunman kills himself in car

The Alston bank manager shot dead in a raid yesterday died shortly after the gunman killed himself in a taxi he had hired.

The three dead are Mr. A.J. Steel (59), the bank manager; Mr. Ernest Ingram of Front Street, Sacriston, the taxi-driver; and Charles Corbett Kennedy (24), of Thorp Avenue, Morpeth, the gunman…………
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Story No 19: Millennia

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The turn of the Millenium seems so far away now; we’re quite familiar with the not-so-new century. At the time of writing in 1999 it was interesting to look back a hundred years to the previous century.

The mention of cement lorries shows an aspect of history that was once part of our own daily lives, and now banks are even a thing of the past, something which would have been unimaginable not too long ago……….
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Story No 20: Mediaeval Gravestones Of Alston Moor

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medieaval gravestones
During the filming of Dicken’s Oliver Twist in Alston in 1991, Peter Ryder, a Northumberland-based archaeologist, had to be called in to oversee the digging of a false grave in St. Augustine’s churchyard. In the event, a real unmarked grave was found, so, in order to leave the bones undisturbed, only a shallow grave could be dug on that spot for the film set. The bones that were uncovered, incidentally, would have been of no one that we knew since the last interment was in 1860.
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Story No 21: Destructive Fire At Alston Woollen Mill

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Story No 21: Destructive Fire At Alston Woollen Mill
Alston Woollen Mill, on Monday morning last was, for the second time within a short period, the scene of a destructive fire. About thirteen or fourteen months ago, a fire broke out in the offices, which did damage to the amount of £500, but the damage done by the fire under notice will, it is estimated, amount to upwards of £13,000.

The mill is the property of Messrs. Akerigg who bought it a few years ago, and fitted it up with excellent machinery, and some forty or fifty hands, who were employed, will be thrown out of work by the disaster. Read more……..
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Story No 22: Jacob Walton and the Iron Furnaces of Alston Moor

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Jacob Walton
JACOB WALTON AND THE IRON FURNACES OF ALSTON MOOR

Alston Moor is famous for its lead production, but a mineral for which it is not so famous is iron. At the height of production in the 1850’s, it only ever reached 2% of Cumberland’s total, the rest was mined around Whitehaven. But it still has its own story with Jacob Walton, of the memorial beside the Town Hall, at its centre. What follows is part of a longer study to be published at the end of the year. (An article, ‘The Iron Mines on and about Alston Moor,’ was written in conjunction with Raymond A. Fairbairn and published in British Mining Memoirs No.69, 2001.)
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Story No 23: St. Augustine, The Canons And The Black Book

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ST. AUGUSTINE, THE CANONS AND THE BLACK BOOK

Why is the church of England in Alston dedicated to St. Augustine? – I wondered.
There is the legend about Cross Fell, formerly supposed to have been called Fiend’s Fell (a name that still appears on a part of Cross Fell), that tells of “evil spirits which are said in former times to have haunted the summit of the hill, and continued their haunts and nocturnal vagaries upon it until St. Austin (St. Augustine), as it is said, erected a cross and an altar whereupon he offered the Holy Eucharist by which he counter charmed those hellish fiends and broke their haunts”. (Stirring stuff)

Read more…….
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Story No 24: Baptisms and Burials

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SOME BAPTISMS AND BURIALS OF OLD ALSTON MOOR

Sometimes the well of short, presentable bits of history dried up. At this time (autumn 2001) I was running out of inspiration for new research and there were no ready-made articles to hand, so, although this article is still very interesting, I felt that it was a bit of an opt-out from writing a proper article for the Newsletter.

This may sound a bit morbid, but old burials can often be very interesting when occupations and brief character descriptions were added, especially in the 18th century. Some entries from the burial register for Alston Moor read as follows:-
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Story No 25: John Smeaton and his influence on Alston Moor

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Smeaton
In the middle to late eighteenth century, John Smeaton was a national figure, renowned in various fields of civil engineering. Today he is known mainly for his successful design of the Eddystone Lighthouse, but you might not realise but he had several engineering projects right here on Alston Moor……. read on…….
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Story No: 27. Von Dix - Alston's Photographer

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Von Dix - Alston
Richard Von Dix – Photographic Artist.

In the 1870s, Alston Moor had its first professional photographer, who was also a bit of a character. Many of his photographs survive, mostly portraits, usually taken outdoors, probably in a booth set up at fairs and other events. Fortunately, some photos are in the Alston Moor Historical Society Archives and available for public viewing. They include a group of girls barely repressing their giggles, a group of plasterers in clean work clothes, a husband and wife, where the husband looks a bit worse for drink, people who appear stiff and nervous in front of the camera, and so on.

Although this article is about Richard von Dix, it also shows how people were entertained a hundred and thirty years ago and what the sense of humour was like – at least that which reached the press.
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Story No: 28 The Police Station

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For some time in the eighteenth century and early nineteenth century, the law on Alston Moor was upheld by two Parish Constables, one in Alston and one in Garrigill, backed up by Justices of the Peace for the County and, ‘The Alston Moor Society for the Prosecution of Felons’. Furthermore there was a jail.
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Story No 37: Crossfell Mine and John Little

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Anyone who has read about the lead mines of the north Pennines will be aware of the phenomenal success of the Hudgill Burn mine at Nenthall, which, over a fairly short time from 1814, produced vast quantities of lead and silver to make huge profits for the leaseholders, the Wilson brothers. But from the scant records available it would seem that Hudgill Mine was not the first to create instant wealth, there was a predecessor. Crossfell Vein was discovered by accident by John Little in 1805, he then proceeded to work it with great success and used his wealth to the benefit of Alston Moor………….
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Story No 38: Soldier’s Body Found In Coffin On The Moors

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Soldier’s Body Found In Coffin On The Moors

So ran the local newspaper headlines of August 1921 and for several weeks the mystery grabbed the attention of the public.

The story began on the afternoon of Sunday 28th August 1921 when a farmer, Mr. Titus Harrison, was tending his sheep on Killhope near to the junction of the boundaries between Northumberland, Durham and Cumberland. As Mr. Harrison was going on his rounds he saw the end of a large wooden box sticking out of the side of an eroded peat hagg……………………..
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The next story in this series will be here soon

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Please come back for more…………..
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About Us
Alston Moor Historical Society was founded in 1973 and, due to the nature of Alston Moor, it is a member of both the Northumberland Association of Local History Societies and the Cumbria Federation of Local History Societies.
Alston Moor Historical Society
LOCATION
Alston Moor, Cumbria
Alston Moor Historical Society - Alston Stories