LOOKING Back recently, and ridiculously, pedalled on a pushbike from Reeth up to England’s highest pub at Tan Hill and then back down again. After dropping into Langthwaite, the road begins a long haul up Raw Bank, and halfway up, near Arkle Town, there are the remains of a petrol filling station.
I’ve driven this road countless times, but it was only cycling up it, desperately seeking a reason for a stop, that I spotted the four old style pumps and a Castrol oil dispenser.
According to the Yorkshire Dales National Park website, the pumps probably date from the start of the Second World War, and they once dispensed National Benzole Company petrol – benzole was coal-tar mixed with petrol to create “motor spirits”.
The late 1930s petrol pumps beside the road in Arkengarthdale
National’s colours in the 1930s were gold and yellow, yet the pumps are green because there was controversy about the visual impact of the brightly coloured petrol pumps that were lining roadsides all across the country. Indeed, in 1936, the pumps’ manufacturer, Wayne Fuelling Systems, had run a “World’s Most Beautiful Pump” competition, so the Arkengarthdale pumps were painted to disappear into their environment.
The pumps have what pump historians call a “clock dial face” – two hands to record the amount of petrol being dispensed. The shorter hand, or hour, recorded whole gallons while the longer hand, or minute, recorded part gallons.
The "clock dial face" on an Arkengarthdale pump
The pumps also have a glass cylinder just above the dispensing hose. This was so the suspicious motorist could see the petrol flowing into his car rather than just watch the clock dial counting up how much he owed.
It looks as if the pumps once sported illuminated glass globes on their tops which would have advertiser National petrol. They used to have a later blue-and-yellow National logo on them, but those have disappeared fairly recently.
We can’t find a date for when the petrol station closed; we can’t even find its name.
The glass cylinder on the pump in Arkengarthdale to show motorists that petrol was really flowing into their tank
These old fashioned pumps are survivors from another age of motoring. Are there any others standing anywhere?
They are, though, riddled with rust and held together with wire. They are not the prettiest adornment of the Dales, but it would be a shame if, having lasted this long, they fell to pieces.
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