DARLINGTON'S secrets will have to remain secret for the time being, at least. Next week's talk to launch Memories' new book, Secret Darlington, has been postponed for obvious reasons, as has next weekend's signing session, although should you be planning to self-isolate for a week or two, if you wish to hunker down with something to read, it is, of course, available from all good bookshops...

One of the secrets is that Darlington had a dirty, great big mill at its heart. It stood for centuries, employing thousands of people and making the Pease family so wealthy they could afford to invest in speculative train projects.

Peases Mill stood where the Sports Direct multi-storey car park is today and was demolished in 1982, as this amazing set of photos shows.

They were taken by Mick Harris, who was unemployed in late '82 as the mill came down, and so he was able to chronicle its demise.

No child of the 1980s would ever know that such a gargantuan affair once dominated the town centre.

If you have any mill memories, or indeed mill memorabilia as we think various bits of it were salvaged by souvenir hunters, please email chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk