From this newspaper of …

November 26, 1966

WORK at last was beginning on a new £3m carpet factory in Northallerton, reported the D&S Times 50 years ago. The arrival of Kosset Carpets from Brighouse had been an on-off saga which had lasted at least six months was crucial to the town’s economy, because not only would the factory employ 200 people but it was the start of the Standard Way Industrial Estate. Kosset closed in 1981 and the BT distribution centre, which employs about 150 people, is on its site.

Meanwhile, momentous events over in Stockton where, after five years and £2m, the extensive plans for the redevelopment of ten acres of the town centre were revealed. These involved the creation of a hotel on stilts, a shopping arcade, three pubs and a covered food market. It was also to include the clearance of many of the town’s old buildings.

One councillor told the D&S Times that the Government would never allow the straight lines of the concrete-box scheme to become reality. “We’ve already had some buildings put up in this High Street which look like factories – monstrosities,” he said, but the scheme did go ahead.

November 25, 1916

PRIVATE Burt, of the Royal Scots Fusiliers, appeared at the Yorkshire Assizes charged with murdering Bugler Robert Preston at Hipswell Camp, near Richmond, on August 25.

Pte Burt – his first name was not reported – was “mad with drink” on the night in question, having spent two hours in the regimental canteen where the judge expressed his surprise that there was “no restraining hand to prevent a boy from fuddling himself” with alcohol.

Eventually challenged, Burt locked himself inside a hut, smashed a window and started waving a rifle through it. Sgt Garraway seized the weapon and pulled it through, so Burt took up a second rifle which he aimed at the officer.

“The bullet passed through the door, narrowly missed Garraway’s head and then went through the wall of the hut opposite and killed Preston, a lad of about 16 years of age,” said the D&S.

Burt, “a nice lad ... keen on soldiering and anxious to get to the front”, pleaded guilty to manslaughter so the murder charge was dropped. He was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment with hard labour.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website reveals that Bugler Preston was buried in his home village of Kilmaurs in Ayrshire and he was, in fact, only 15.

Elsewhere, the D&S reported that Mr Enoch Kitching had “shot a splendid specimen of the male bittern in the Otterington Willow Garth, near Northallerton. The bird is very rare in these parts”. Which cannot have been surprising given people were taking potshots at it every time it raised its head for a boom. The unfortunate bittern had been sent to a York taxidermist for preservation.

November 24, 1866

ON a similar note, “on Tuesday, five fine specimens of the “Bohemian Wax-Wing” were shot near Stanhope,” reported the D&S 150 years ago. “Among them were male and female birds, the former with nine marks, resembling red sealing wax on each wing.” This is how the waxwing gets its name.

“These birds are migratory, are interesting and rare in this country,” continued the report.

“The specimens are the property of Messrs Tinkler’s, Market Place, bird preservers etc, and may be seen at any time. They are the first birds of this species that have been got in or near Stanhope.”

Unlike the bittern, the waxwing has thrived despite such rough treatment from previous generations.

The D&S also noted 150 years ago: “Not in the memory of man have so many salmon passed up the river Greta as during the late floods. The falls in Rokeby Park have been literally crowded with this noble fish, and the same may be said of the rapids of the river Tees near the junction of the two streams.”