WHEN Thomas Evan Jones got into a horse-drawn coach to travel into the dales for the first time, he was less than impressed by a bunch of other passengers.

He had just been ordained and was on his way to take up his first post, as a curate at Barnard Castle parish church.

The others on the trip from Darlington were young men who, as he put it, were “more or less in liquor”. They started arguing heatedly and then asked the coachman to stop so they could step down and settle their differences with their fists.

As they fought each other on the road, the new clergyman asked who they were. The coachman replied that they were Barney Cassellers, from a place where it was no disgrace to take part in a fair battle.

After this unpromising start in 1849, Jones became one of the dale’s most inspiring clergymen.

Soon afterwards, a cholera epidemic devastated the town and claimed 143 lives. The town vicar, the Reverend George Dugard, worked hard to ease the suffering. He was greatly assisted by the newcomer, who had spent five years training to be a lawyer before opting to give his life to religion.

When the disease outbreak ended, the Reverend Jones did a lot of work among the poorer folk at the bottom of the town and visited houses there every day.

In 1859, he moved up the dale to Eggleston as curate-incharge.

He made a huge impact there. There was no vicarage, so he had one built on land given by Timothy Hutchinson, of Eggleston Hall. In the following years, he managed to separate Eggleston from Middleton parish, which had control of it, and had it recognised as a district chapelry in charge of its own affairs.

Services were held in a small old chapel in the grounds of Eggleston Hall, but he became the driving force behind having a new place of worship built.

Holy Trinity Church, in an attractive early English style, opened in July 1869. It cost £1,450, plus £225 for a wall around the grounds. The builder was Benjamin Hepworth, of Barnard Castle, and woodwork was done by John Adamson, of Eggleston.

Hutchinson gave the land, along with a handsome donation.

Once the church was running smoothly, Jones set to work on having Eggleston recognised as a parish, and this was achieved in May 1875.

One of the people who signed an order ratifying this was Benjamin Disraeli, the Prime Minister, who later became the Earl of Beaconsfield.

This was a triumph for Thomas Evan Jones, capping the great influence he had on the area. Sadly, he died less than two years later, in March 1877, at the age of 54. It was felt he fell ill through overexertion.

Among many tributes was a poem of eight verses.

One of them ran: Welcome was he, the load of care half lightened, to hear his footsteps fall. His cheerful voice and kindly face e'er brightened, the cottage and the hall.

A COURT’S public gallery was packed and many people stood outside when a crucial decision was due to be made: the permitted opening times of public houses.

Under a new Licensing Act, the local justices had the power in 1872 to state for the first time when alcohol could be served, so it was a hot topic in Bishop Auckland.

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Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli

Before that, hostelries could be open when the landlords wanted.

The hearing started with churchmen presenting a petition signed by 1,937 local residents.

This referred to “numerous personal, social and national evils” resulting from the sale of liquor. It asked for no new licences to be issued and for the present number to be reduced if possible.

It requested opening hours to be limited to 6am to 11pm on weekdays, with closing at 7pm on Sundays.

This was supported by other petitions from “respectable and intelligent” inhabitants of Crook, Shildon and St Helens Auckland. They felt fewer hours would bring order and well-being to the town.

In reply, the licensees asked for opening hours to be 5am to midnight on weekdays, then 12.30pm to 2.30pm and 6pm to 11pm on Sundays. They put in a petition signed by 6,400 people.

Their lawyer spoke of the necessity for letting workmen and commercial men have a drink at times that suited them, even if that happened to be 5am or close to midnight.

He said there had been a reduction of drunkenness in the town, and the fact that there had been only a small number of penalties in the past year showed it was not a drunken population. He felt the new rules would cut crime and drunkenness generated in some public houses.

The magistrates decided the bars should open at 6am, rather than 5am, and close at 11pm, rather than midnight, though an extra half hour was allowed in a central area covered by the Board of Health.

Sunday hours were fixed at 12.30pm to 2.30pm and 6pm to 9pm. There were grumbles by some folk about the hours being two hours a day fewer than requested, but there really was time for everyone to drink their fill between 6am and 11pm. Opening hours along the same lines were fixed in most rural areas, which had to conform with government guidelines.

JANE PARKIN was skilful and speedy when it came to making clothes.

She could take a roll of material and turn it into an array of garments with remarkable haste.

But there was a secret behind the expert work she did at her home in Middleton: much of the fabric she used was stolen. It had been disappearing over some weeks from other premises in the village.

There was intense interest when she and her husband, John, 40, were arrested in 1881 on charges of theft and receiving stolen property.

Mrs Parkin, 34, was accused of stealing bales of material from the Cross Keys Inn, Middleton, where Joseph Roddam was landlord. It vanished from a room at the inn shortly after being delivered from Featherstone’s drapery in Bishop Auckland. When police called at her home they found a lot of the cloth had already been made up into clothing — suits, jackets, shirts, ulsters and other items.

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The Station Hotel was one of hostelries involved in Bishop Auckland's new opening hours

She was also charged with stealing six parcels of broad braid from Ann Beadle, a grocer and draper in Middleton.

This had also been made into garments, including a number of shirts.

Other items stolen included a table cloth and doormat.

The case caused so much intrigue in Middleton that many villagers travelled to Barnard Castle to hear the details given to magistrates.

Everyone who saw the garments were impressed by their quality and marvelled at the fact that Mrs Parkin was able to make them so rapidly.

There were gasps in court when the sentences were announced.

The couple, who had three children, were both jailed for six months with hard labour. she for stealing the goods and he for receiving them, though she insisted she was to blame and her husband knew nothing about it. They were assured their children would be looked after.

The general feeling was that Mrs Parkin could have made more money as an accomplished seamstress than she ever could by stealing.

WORKMEN’S reading rooms and institutes in the dales bought newspapers and magazines for members’ use. They became pretty ragged after being studied over and over again for weeks or months.

But then they weren’t just thrown out, rather auctioned in bundles. It meant men could buy those they hadn’t read and it put extra money in the kitty.

Typical of the sales was one at Arkengarthdale Institute in 1883. A large bundle of the Darlington and Stockton Times went for sevenpence. Among others on the list were the London Journal, Penrith Observer, Leeds Mercury, Christian Globe and English Mechanic.

All the old news added up to about 15 shillings for institute funds.