WHEN an enormous cask brimming with 1,000 gallons of brandy arrived on a ship at a wharf in Stockton, it was so heavy that it broke the arm of the crane unloading it.

The railway company, which was supposed to be transporting it to Darlington, took one look and refused to allow the vast vat onto their wagons until its contents had been decanted into smaller, lighter tuns.

And, finally, when the cask – believed to be the largest ever imported into this country – reached its destination in Darlington, it was too large to get into the cellars beneath the Covered Market, and so coopers had to take it to pieces and reassemble it inside.

The man responsible for this barrel of gaffes was ET Pease, whose story is to be told as part of a Memories talk next Saturday when the church that he endowed – Holy Trinity – reveals itself to the world as part of the Heritage Open Days.

ET – his initials stood for Edward Thomas – could be called the black sheep of the temperance-promoting Pease family, only Black Sheep is a beer and he was a wine and spirit wholesaler.

His father, Thomas, was a cousin of the famous Edward “father of the railways” Pease. They were both Quakers until, in 1808, Thomas announced that he was stopping being a chemist on High Row and was to become a wine merchant. It is said that this was such a shock to the other side of the family, who never let a drop touch their lips, that Thomas was booted out of the teetotal Quakers and became an Anglican (this may not be entirely true, but the railway branch of the family and the winey branch were definitely very separate).

When Thomas died in 1848 – he lived in South Villa, the attractive property on Grange Road next to the entrance to South Park – the business passed to his son, ET.

In 1864, when the Covered Market was completed, ET took over the cool cellars which were perfect for storing his spirits – in 1970s, when the market was restored, hundreds of full bottles of Pease wine were found laid on their sides amid the foundations of the town clock.

ET was a linguist and a traveller. In 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War, he was in Charente in the Cognac region of France, where the brandy distillers were worried about the Prussian army sweeping through and destroying their produce. ET struck a deal, and, evading a Prussian blockade, successfully exported two huge casks: one containing 558 gallons of pale brandy, the other containing 315 gallons of light brandy.

Prussia won the war, and France was forced to pay reparations, much of which was to be raised by a tax on the wine producers. In 1875, before the tax was levied, ET bought 1,000 gallons of pale brandy – worth more than £100,000 in today’s values – which he imported in the record-breaking cask.

“The large derrick ordinarily used in relieving vessels of their most bulky cargo at Stockton wharf, gave way with a crash under the excessive strain of taking the cask off the steamer,” says a contemporary report.

Heavy duty lifting gear was brought in, but still the railway company insisted half of the brandy should be siphoned off into seven smaller puncheons before the cask could be loaded onto the trucks. Such was its enormity that it filled two trucks, and when it reached Darlington, it couldn’t fit into the cellars.

“The cask had, therefore, to be entirely denuded of its remaining contents and taken to pieces by a competent staff of coopers,” says the report.

The town was filled with people already celebrating the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. “The enormous crowd who witnessed the arrival of the vat was doubtless as much impressed with its appearance as by any of the numerous sights in connection with the celebration of the railway jubilee,” says the report.

Despite this brandy brouhaha, Pease’s were more famous for their BOS whisky – “Blended Old Scotch”.

“There is scarcely a spot on the face of the civilised globe where the BOS does not find its way,” says an article written in 1894. “It is procurable in almost every part of India, and the Falkland Islands, despite their frigid climate, are not left out.

“Connoisseurs regard it as among the choicest blends of Scotch whiskies in existence, possessing a uniqueness rarely equalled, with great purity and entire freedom from fusel oil or other deleterious components.” BOS continued to be produced until 1965.

ET died at his home in Woodland Road in 1897, leaving an £85,000 fortune – about £10m in today’s values. In his will, he left £40 to his head cellarman, £10 to his second cellarman, and he “desired that his horse Jumbo should not be sold but should be put out at grass or shot, as the executors may think best, and he commended to their careful attention his dog Bruin”.

And he left £4,000 to the parish of Holy Trinity. This money was spent on building St Mary’s Church in Cockerton, and on extending the chancel in Holy Trinity.

The foundation stone of Holy Trinity was laid in 1836, so the church is currently celebrating its 180th anniversary. It has spent the last year undergoing a £450,000 restoration, funded by the Lottery and also by local benefactors who are the modern equivalent of ET Pease.

The results of the work will be open for all to see next Saturday, when, as part of the Heritage Open Day, people are invited to look round from 10am to 4pm. At 7pm, Chris Lloyd, who compiles Memories, will be giving a free, illustrated talk about the history of the church and some of its characters. All are welcome.

SHORTLY after ET Pease’s death, his son, Frank, bought an old building in Bakehouse Hill opposite the entrance to the Covered Market cellars. The building stood on top of large cellars which are believed to be the remains of the medieval communal ovens – hence the name “bakehouse”.

The old building was replaced in 1899 by a new shop, designed by well known local architect JP Pritchett. This became the wine merchant’s headquarters, although the ground floor off-licence traded as Markham’s.

In 1939, when the war broke out, Pease’s transferred its stock from the Covered Market cellars into the bakehouse cellars. The Covered Market cellars were then used for the war effort, notably as air raid shelters. It is believed that during this period, the vast barrels were destroyed because they were taking up too much space.

Pease’s wine merchant’s traded on Bakehouse Hill until 1981 when, now known as Pease and Wrightson and headed by a fifth generation of Pease, the business transferred to Gainford.

After 187 years, it ceased trading in January 1995 and went into voluntary liquidation.

DOES anyone have any old T Pease & Son bottles or labels? It would be great to see a BOS label – they go for a few quid nowadays online. Please let us know if you have one in your drinks cabinet.

THE foundation stones for St Mary’s Church in Cockerton were laid on September 20, 1900, by ET Pease’s daughters, Mrs Mitchell and Mrs Gately. The church itself was designed by JP Pritchett, the family’s favoured architect, and it was dedicated on November 9, 1901.

ANOTHER event for Heritage Open Day will take people on a guided walk around wonderful Westbrook – a fascinating street of mini-mansions tucked away off Darlington’s North Road. As well as plenty of Victorian architecture, there are the remains of coal drops which go back to the very opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway in 1825. The guided walk leaves the Head of Steam museum car park at 1pm next Saturday.