April 30, 1966

“VILLAGES in Wath area, which were all entered in the best kept villages competition, were in a shocking state, said Coun Mrs AS Sellars, at a meeting of Wath council,” reported the D&S Times 50 years ago. Wath is inbetween Richmond and Ripon, and the villages thereabouts appear to have been victim to an early form of flytipping – flytipping being a word, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, that did not enter the language until 1968.

The report continued: “The situation was particularly bad in Melmerby, she said. All sorts of litter, including old bedsteads, was deposited there.

“The chairman, Coun Tom England, said the problem of keeping villages tidy was the same all over the country. It was up to the local people to keep their villages tidy. The county council sent round a mechanical road sweeper and could do no more.

“Coun FS Foster said he thought the county council were shirking their responsibilities. The matter was important from the point of hygiene, as well as tidiness.

“Coun England agreed the problem was a serious one, but said he was afraid it was up to the villagers to solve it. If rubbish was deposited, he said, it would come from within the village.”

The ticking off from the councillors, though, seems to have done the trick. In September 1966, Wath was awarded the Best Kept Village Trophy, and was allowed to have a commemorative pole on the village green for three years.

April 29, 1916

“SHILDON farmer’s shocking end,” said the headline in the D&S exactly 100 years ago – and the poor chap’s end truly was shocking.

The report said: “Mr George William Hilton who has been tenant of the Shildon Urban Council’s sewage farm for the past five years, met his death in a shocking manger on Thursday afternoon, being drowned in a tank used for the treatment of the sewage deposit.

“He was 49 years of age, and leaves a widow and nine children.”

His daughter, Olive, had gone to find him only to “notice that the scum on the deposit appeared to have been recently disturbed”. She called on her brothers who, by means of poles, located his body.

The inquest heard that part of his job included clearing the edge of the tank. The report said: “He had lately been out of sorts and complained of dizziness.”

It concluded: “On the suggestion of the foreman of the jury, Mr BR Robson, it was decided to ask the council to inspect the place with a view to erecting a fence round the tank, or some steps, in order to make it safe. At the suggestion of the foreman, the jury gave their fees to the widow.”

April 28, 1866

THE area was in the grip of an appalling rinderpest epidemic. Rinderpest, which is German for “cattle plague”, swept through much of Europe in 1865-66.

It was a viral disease, closely related to measles, which was nearly always fatal once an animal contracted it. Consequently, tough restrictions on animal movements had been in place for months in the district, as this report of the cases before Northallerton Police Court 150 years ago shows.

“John Johnson, of Ainderby Steeple, was charged with leading a cow along the highway between Ainderby Steeple and Morton-on-Swale, being a distance of 500 yards. Fined 2s 6d and 10s 6d costs.

“Samuel Pollard of Thrintoft, cattle dealer, was charged by PC Britton with driving from Leeming Bar station to thrintoft three cows and one bull, between sunrise and sunset, on the 17th inst. fined £2 and costs 8s 6d.”

After more than six months of something approaching hysteria, it would appear that the rinderpest epidemic was beginning to wane – although they cannot have known that at the time. It was such a deadly disease that the British and Americans considered using it as a biological weapon during the Second World War.

It was finally beaten by inoculation, and in 2011, the World Organisation for Animal Health announced that it had been eradicated, making it only the second disease in the world to be entirely removed after smallpox.

Meanwhile, back in April 1866, the rugby football season was coming to an end. Darlington Rugby Club had been formed in 1863, and its first ground had been in Park Place. But, after a couple of seasons, the Pease family had sold the ground for development, and the rugby players felt themselves fortunate that railway engineer John Harris had allowed them to use a corner of his substantial estate in the west end of the town.

The report said: “The football club brought their season to a close last Saturday and a most admirably contested game was at length decided by Mr JH Backhouse gaining a goal with a really magnificent kick.

“The club, feeling themselves under much obligation to Mr Harris, of Woodside, for the generous and ready way in which he placed ground in his park exclusively at their disposal whenever they required it, expressed themselves unanimously to that effect before commencing their game on Saturday, and with one voice determined to present a gold mounted riding switch to Miss Harris, as some sort of acknowledgement for her father's kindness.

“Football now yields the place to quoits, gymnastics and cricket, each of which is well practised here.”

In Mr Harris’ day, Woodside, between Coniscliffe Road and Blackwell, was a palatial mansion – it had an 80ft long conservatory, for example. However, it was demolished in the 1920s, and now desirable West End streets cover the grounds where the rugby players chased their odd shaped balls.