DELVING into the Barnard Castle pictures in The Northern Echo’s library reveals a story of diving into an old well beneath a pub.
Nowadays the pub has a totally understandable name, The Old Well, but in times past it has been known as the Ship Inn – even though Barney is in the centre of the country and so probably further from the sea than most other towns – and then The Railway Hotel, even though it was a long way from the station.
The Old Well Inn on The Bank in Barnard Castle in January 1969 when the diver went down.
The Old Well Inn, which Hannah Latham visited on her last night on earth, when it was called The Ship Hotel.
The Old Well Inn when it was called The Railway Hotel.
It was when it was the Ship that a New Year’s Eve dance ended in tragedy. Hannah Latham, an 18-year-old housemaid, left The Ship at about 10pm on December 31, 1812, to make her way home through the snow to Brignall, where she worked in service.
Her body was found next morning – New Year’s Day – about a mile from Startforth, with her throat cut. Blood stained the snow and showed she had put up a considerable struggle against her attacker.
All Barney dashed out to the murder scene, and trampled whatever evidence might have been left until it was all churned up. John Bacon Sawrey Morritt, of Rokeby Hall, a local Justice of the Peace, conducted interviews, but he found no clues and so could prosecute no murderer.
Hannah’s funeral in Startforth church was well attended, and the first entry in the 1813 parish register simply says: “1st January. Hannah Latham. Found murdered."
Hannah’s 18 years had been filled with sadness. Her mother had died when she was young and her father was discharged from the Army through ill health. He was making his way back to his native Lancashire with her in tow when he arrived in Barnard Castle. With his health deteriorating, he took lodgings in Horsemarket, where he died, leaving Hannah a young orphan.
A kindly couple, the Blenkinsopps, adopted her, and as soon as she was old enough, she went into service over at Brignall.
When she was murdered leaving The Ship, the townspeople held a collection to pay for a headstone which can still be seen over her grave in a corner of Startforth churchyard. It reads:
“Ill fated orphan, tho' no parents' tear
Was fondly shed in anguish o'er thy bier
Yet shall thy murderer while on earth remain
The victim of remorse, despair and pain.”
When the railway arrived in Barnard Castle in the 1850s, The Ship switched its name to recognise the new form of transport.
The Market Place, Barnard Castle, on March 23, 1972.
The Railway Hotel, though, did not offer the most modern form of accommodation. In July 1877, 20 soldiers from the Durham militia were put up in the hotel at 4d per person per night while they were doing a fortnight’s exercise in the town.
But they complained that their beds were made of uneven boards, and their filthy mattresses were only partly filled with chaff so sleep was impossible. An officer inspected and decided the billet was the worst he had seen in 16 years.
Dr Munro, the militia surgeon, ordered landlord John Myers to make the men more comfortable.
He failed to do so and was taken to court under the Mutiny Act. Magistrates inspected the hotel, declared it unfit, fined him £5 and gave him two days to put it right.
He failed to do so once more and was summoned before the court. His wife attended in his stead accompanied by a man from the brewery which owned the hotel. They were fined a further £5, and ordered to make the Railway ship-shape "before this day's sun has gone down".
The brewery man did as ordered, but for years after the hotel was a by-word for a bad night. Anyone in Teesdale who found their bed uncomfortable would complain that it had come from the Railway Hotel.
Perhaps that reputation is why the hotel changed its name once again, to the Old Well – and now its rooms look extremely comfortable.
"I'm diving for a pint" - Rick the diver in The Old Well in January 1969.
In 1969, divers explored the old well beneath The Old Well, an exploration that was repeated in 2018. On both occasions, divers got 25ft down and felt they had not reached the bottom.
The Old Well seems to predate the existing hotel building, which is from about 1800.
If any of the other pictures on here spark any stories, we’d love to hear them. Please email chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk
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