THIS splendid picture from our archive shows Hawes in December 1953, taken from the west looking into the town centre.

Little has changed – the buildings in the foreground remain, as do the distinctive bellcote and rounded window of the primary school.

Beyond the horse tethered to the left of the Market Place is the white wall of the Old Board Inn and then comes the Crown Hotel. Perhaps the biggest difference is the traffic – you could easily find a space in 1953.

Talking of traffic, our old car spotters might care to identify the two cars closest to the camera, on the left and the right of the picture.

A fortnight ago, the photograph on this page showed the first day of the Leeming and Londonderry by-pass on the A1 on October 3, 1961, with a posh car driving along it.

Darlington and Stockton Times:

Gerry Simpson of Darlington, Ian Gravestock of Yarm and Chris Payne of Cleveland were among those who identified it as a Rolls Royce Silver Cloud.

Rolls Royce produced the Silver Cloud between 1955 and 1966 – it replaced the Silver Dawn and was itself replaced by the Silver Shadow.

James Ditchburn added: "My Uncle Bill had a Silver Cloud in two tone green." He, and Derek Noble of Hutton Rudby, also suggested that behind the Rolls there was a Bedford dormobile and a Bedford TK Pantechnicon.

Darlington and Stockton Times:

None of the 1961 newspapers mentioned an official opening of the new stretch of motorway, but we presumed the car was part of a civic delegation giving the highway a once over.

Then Peter Forcett left an interesting message wondering whether the Roller belonged to Tommy Sunter, who ran a Northallerton-based haulage company – the red and grey livery of Sunter Bros lorries was a familiar sight until the company was taken over in 1986.

Tommy, who died in 1963, did indeed have a Rolls Royce with the numberplate TS123 – sadly, our picture isn't sharp enough to make out whether the vehicle is his.

Many thanks to everyone who got in touch. If you fancy trying to identify the Hawes cars, email chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk or leave a message on 01325-505062.