AN era has come to an end with the passing of the last of that hardy breed of men who toiled for their living mining lead far beneath the Yorkshire Dales.

Fremont Hutchinson was one of those men for whom the affectionate phrase "a real character" could have been coined.

Known to all as Fremmie, he was born four years before the First World War broke out and into his 91 years he packed a wealth of experience. His career took him from farming to mining and, after service in the Army in the Second World War, to running pubs - including the renowned Tan Hill.

In later life, he became part of the well-documented Reeth Parliament, swapping tales and putting the world to rights with pensioner friends in a local bus shelter.

Last night his friend, artist Mark Thompson, who runs the Green Dragon Inn, at Hardraw, said: "He was a legend in his own right.

"He lived a full and complete life and was a typical Dalesman of the old school. It is a great shame he never got round to writing the book he always talked about - he had so many stories to tell.

"He saw massive changes in his beloved dale, but he never got in the way of progress, and was active right up to the end."

Fremmie, one of six children, was born in Arkengarthdale, and went to the then-busy local school. After the bell went, he and his friends would play on the spoil heaps above the village.

Lead mining was drawing to an end and, after leaving school at 14, Fremmie went to work on a local estate, becoming an under cowman.

But when the farm was sold in 1934, he joined his father in the mines, first in the chert quarries, extracting the hard, blue flint used for paving.

In the 50s, he worked at Pryse mine, at Hurst, on the moors above Arkengarthdale, where a company was trying to re-establish the once-thriving lead mining industry.

Each day he walked four miles to the mine, then a mile underground, and worked with hammer and drill by candlelight. In the winter, he never saw daylight, but in summer he would play cricket in the evenings.

"Chert mining was the toughest," he once recalled. "But they used to say the streets of Paris were paved with chert from up here."

But mining was doomed, and the remaining miners laid off, although Fremmie continued the work on his own land.

In 1947, he married Gwen, from the Rhonda Valley, the sister of a young Army lad he took under his wing in the war. The couple had two children and kept the Tan Hill pub.

They were snowed in at the pub once for three weeks and were fined for a notorious lock-in one Sunday, when the police counted 64 customers.

Fremmie later ran the Temperance Hotel, in Reeth, and worked at Catterick Camp, before retiring to Reeth, where Gwen died nine years ago.

His funeral is on Saturday, at St Andrew's Church, Grinton, followed by private interment at Grinton cemetery. Family flowers only are requested with donations in lieu, to the district nurses' fund and St Andrew's Church.