'Heroic endeavours' saved the Punch Bowl, Low Row, from fire

ONE of Swaledale’s most famous hotels had been destroyed by fire, the D&S Times reported 93 years ago, and two local fire brigades had refused to attend the blaze because it was outside their boundaries.

Amazingly, there doesn’t seem to have been any criticism of the brigades of Richmond and Catterick Camp which would have allowed “Ye Olde Punch Bowl Hotel” at Feetham, near Low Row, to burn to the ground.

“The flames spread rapidly owing to the primitive means available for quelling the outbreak, but heroic endeavours on the part of scores of helpers from the villages within a several miles radius of Feetham prevented the entire demolition of the well-known hostelry,” said the D&S.

The fire was spotted by PC Dunning doing his “customary nightly patrol” at 10.45pm on Thursday, January 24. It was seated in the old part of the hotel, which has the date 1638 over a lintel.

PC Dunning alerted the landlord, John Robinson, who was asleep with his family in the new wing which had been built eight years earlier, and they escaped by a rudimentary fire escape out the back.

The Evening Despatch's photo was taken the morning after the fire when Edmund Coates' ladder was still propped against the remains of the three storey Punch Bowl

In 1929, there was only one telephone in the village, at the Post Office – number Low Row 1 – and the article praises the “excellent work” of Ernest Bagshaw, the son-in-law of subpostmaster William Gill.

“Telephone messages were sent to both the Richmond and Catterick Camp fire brigades, but as Low Row is outside their respective areas, negative responses were received,” said the paper. “Without hose pipes, the only thing that appeared possible was to let the fire burn out.”

As Reeth didn’t have a brigade, the villagers were on their own – although the fire was a great recruiting sergeant to their cause.

“Flames shooting ten feet above the building lit up the dale and people living on the other side of the valley came to give what assistance they could,” said the D&S Times’ sister paper, the Evening Despatch.

The D&S Times' headline telling of the events of 93 years ago next Monday

“By the time they had been able to organise a fire fighting scheme, however the old building was well ablaze, and the only thing they could do was to concentrate on saving the modern portion.”

A ladder was put up the front of the three storey building, and as much furniture was removed from the rooms as possible. Then Edmund Coates climbed to the very top, cracked open the roof slates with a hammer and “from his lofty and perilous position poured water on the flames”.

Under the supervision of police Sgt Ackral, of Reeth, a human chain of 60 people, including septuagenarian women, ferried buckets of water up to Edmund.

“The Swale is about half a mile from the Punch Bowl and this was impossible as a means of water supply,” said The Northern Echo. “The firefighters therefore had to work from two cattle troughs and a small stream which runs down the hill by the side of the hotel.”

Geoffrey Cox and Dr Joe Loughton outside the Punch Bowl in Low Row in 1981

As the fire devoured the bar, “hundreds of bottles burst with loud reports which could be hear right across the valley”, said the reports. “It was like a miniature battle,” said an eyewitness.

However, by 4am the flames were out. “It was very hard and hot work, but I am glad we managed to save part of the place,” Edmund told reporters.

"Mini-skirted" Anne Gill outside Low Row Post Office in 1970 when, aged 19, she had become the youngest subpostmaster in the country. Her grandfather, William Gill, whose name can still be seen over the door advertising the non postal items that he

An amazing picture kindly sent in by Reuben Frankau, along with the newspaper cuttings, shows that the 17th Century building was roofless and gutted.

The Echo concluded its report: “The Punch Bowl – or that part which has been destroyed – is a very old landmark in the dales. It is a very popular rendezvous for motorcycling clubs, many of which used it as a centre in hill climbing and reliability trials.”

The papers said the fire had done more than £5,000 of damage, and it had been caused by “the fusing of an electric cable”. Mains electricity didn’t arrive at Low Row until 1952 and so the Punch Bowl was probably lit by a petrol-fired generator.

• With many thanks to Reuben Frankau