IN your second interesting item about the vine growing on what was to become the Rutson Hospital at Northallerton you describe how it was drawn by Samuel Grimm in 1773 (Looking Back, D&S Times, Feb 24).

You named the building as Vine House but it seems that may not have been the name given to it at that time.

Dr Fotherley Pannell practised medicine at Northallerton after qualifying at Edinburgh University.

He corresponded the rest of his life with one of his fellow students, a doctor in Virginia, and many of his letters have survived.

In January 1778, he told his friend how he had been at two very sumptuous entertainments at “the Vine”.

He was referring to the same property because he went on to wax lyrical about Mrs Raikes who lived there at that time. It would seem that “the Vine” was the name given to the house occupied by the Raikes, if not formally then informally by the then residents in Northallerton.

Your readers may be interested in what he had to say about the rarity of lamb. He said that at one of these sumptuous entertainments they had had quarters of lamb and he said lamb was generally looked on as a kind of phenomenon when it appeared in the northern hemisphere.

It could only be met with at the tables of opulent esquires.

He went on to describe Mrs Raikes herself. He said she had singular merit, great moral and religious excellence, and was justly the admiration of all who knew her. She united the vivacity and sprightliness of a young girl of 16 to the experience and wisdom of a lady of 77.

He said this good old lady was the pride of Northallerton who enjoyed all her faculties in the greatest perfection and could read the minutest print without spectacles.

Mrs Raikes was the wife of Robert Raikes who took the name of Fulthorpe when he married. It would seem that despite this change of name the family was still known as Raikes by residents of Northallerton.

Dr David Severs, Northallerton