Sickle and pubs don’t mix

The bars were busy and tills jingling much more than usual as the toilers, many from Ireland, slaked their thirsts. There was often merriment as the visitors burst into song and local customers joined in. But the jolly atmosphere was shattered at times when arguments started and progressed into fisticuffs.

There were some major disturbances at Bishop Auckland and Spennymoor, with the Paddies, as they were known, involved in punch-ups against local lads. But rural villages were also involved now and again.

An example came in 1866 when a bunch of English navvies employed on a railway project went for a night out in Gainford, which was normally just as peaceful then as it is now.

They were sinking jugs of ale when a gang of Irish farm labourers moved in from fields they had been working in. They were still carrying their sickles.

There was some banter at first but then insults were exchanged. Before long punches were thrown.

The Englishmen then hit out with pokers and the Irish retaliated with their sickles. It must have been a curious piece of action for the villagers to behold.

Police were called but most of the battlers disappeared into the countryside before they arrived.

An Irish pair, John Tonney, 28, and Andrew Carr, 48, were arrested and charged with wounding one of the English squad, William Spencer, who suffered head wounds. The two were committed to Durham Assizes.

Their lawyer pointed out to the judge there that they hit Spencer only with the blunt side of their sickles. If they had wanted to cause serious injury, he declared, they could have used the sharp side.

But the judge wasn’t impressed.

Tonnay was jailed for 18 months and Carr for six months. Irish farm labourers were advised that if they went for a drink after work they should not take their sickles with them.

TWO experienced lead miners were fascinated by sights they came across when they went down into a mine that had been abandoned several decades earlier.

They had heard about the workings and felt it would be a memorable adventure to go down and explore them.

Jeremiah Cameron, of Newbiggin, and his chum Thomas Watson, of Weardale, made their way to the entry shaft some two miles from Langdon Beck on the way to Westgate.

A close-up of the wrong age inscribed on Thomas Kellett’s gravestone

They were in high spirits as they went underground early one morning in 1846, carrying a supply of candles. But it was a foolhardy exploit and they were lucky to escape with their lives.

The pair trudged their way along ancient passages, climbing over piles of waste in some places and having to squeeze through narrow openings in others.

Occasionally they climbed up steps of decaying timbers to move from one level to another, marvelling at how intricate the tunnels were as they twisted and turned in all directions.

They came across vast chambers in which eerie shadows flitted around in the flickering candlelight.

As their supply of candles was close to running out they turned back towards the entrance.

They came upon various junctions in the passages, didn’t know which route to take and realised they were hopelessly lost.

Their last candle faded out so they were left to feel their way along, knowing they might be heading away from safety.

They sang some of the hymns they knew from chapel services, and shivered as their voices echoed spookily. They eventually lay down exhausted after being lost for hours.

There they were found the following morning by three friends who had been told about their venture and became worried when they did not return.

The three rescuers had the sense to leave markers at each junction so they could find their way back.

Cameron and Watson admitted they might never have got out alive if their friends had not arrived.

Gainford was usually a peaceful part of the world, but not when thirsty Irishmen arrived carrying sickles

They reported that the mine must have been worked for many years and that there were signs that a great deal of lead ore had been taken from it. In one part they found the initials of former miners scratched into rocks with the date 1637.

WAS Thomas Kellett really 171 years old?

Following last week’s piece about the Woodland man, the answer is that he was in fact only 71.

The stonemason who carved the inscription somehow made the silly mistake of putting a “1” first. Instead of trying to obscure or change it, or better still starting on a new stone, he just added the 71. He possibly felt it would be too costly to get another stone and carve the correct details.

He wrote an explanation in the parish register, believing this would be enough to let everyone know Kellett’s true age. Instead his blunder has puzzled countless numbers of visitors to St Mary’s churchyard at Cockfield for the past 183 years.

Historian John Hallimond may well be questioned about it today, when he will be at Cockfield Workingmen’s Club, from 11am, supervising his exhibition of more than 400 old photographs of Cockfield people and places.

A1933 Jaguar Heritage car will be a star attraction in a major motor show at Raby Castle on Sunday, August 17.

The colourful open topped SSI 16hp tourer will be in the Jaguar Drivers Club section of the Mark Woodward event. It is sure to be eagerly studied by many enthusiasts.

The valuable vehicle is being borrowed from Jaguar Heritage at Coventry.

The SSI range started in 1931 and was developed in the following years.

The 1933 tourer cost £335 for the 16hp model and an extra £10 for the 20hp one. The 16hp car had a top speed of 75mph and the other one could manage 80mph.

There were 143 tourers in the 1,250 SSI cars made in the 1933 season, and this is one of only 13 known survivors. It was bought by the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust in 2006 after being partly restored. The restoration was completed two years ago.

The 1933 Jaguar car which is to be seen at Raby Castle

The original Browns Lane Jaguar factory in Coventry closed some years ago. A housing estate built on its site is named Swallows Nest, because Jaguar Cars was originally known as Swallow Sidecars (SS).

The firm was started by William Lyons and William Walmsley in Blackpool.