100 Years Ago

POLITICS dominated the Craven Herald of 100 years ago this week. The Skipton seat was held by the Liberals and the Conservatives met to decide who would contest the seat at the next election. Walter Morrison "who has long borne the brunt and battle of the day" indicated he did not wish to be considered and so Captain Roundell of Gledstone Hall was unanimously selected.

Meanwhile the sitting MP, Whitley Thompson, held a rally in the Town Hall attended by the Earl of Aberdeen, no less. The Tory-supporting Herald could not disguise its contempt. The speeches were "far too many, far too long", the audience was curiously unenthusiastic, the Earl professed himself to be no great speaker and the Herald heartily agreed and Mr Thompson came on at 9.45pm "when the audience was longing for more freedom and purer air".

The committee finding a site for a new cattle market in Skipton for when the market was moved off the setts came up with Spring Gardens as its preferred option. We are unsure just where this was - but it wasn't Broughton Road, where the cattle market eventually ended up, as the committee rejected this site as prohibitively expensive.

50 Years Ago

A TUNNEL 10 miles in length under the Bowland Hills - then part of the Craven district - was opened. The tunnel carried water from Haweswater to Manchester and disappeared underground near Slaidburn.

The parish council at Langcliffe voted to ask the county council to restore the bridge known as The Locks which had been washed away in the previous month's floods. The Herald reported that the bridge had been built in 1857 by Lorenzo Christie for the convenience of his workers making their way to Langcliffe High Mill.

Barnoldswick Urban District Council turned down an application to keep pigeons in the vicinity of new houses under construction on Park Hill. One councillor said "racing pigeons are a big nuisance; they make a lot of noise and a lot of mess."

25 Years Ago

TWO men who had propped up the bar at the Mason's Arms in Gargrave for more than 100 years broke a bottle of coins, proceeds of which were to go to the pub's annual pensioners' outing to the seaside. Norris Bog, a regular for 58 years, was helped by Reg Jarvis, a comparative newcomer to the pub who had been going in for a mere 50 years. The collection raised £67.85 towards the trip.

Cross Hills boxer Gary Felvus was making a name for himself. He won his third contest boxing for Young England, this time against the might of Young East Germany, who had won the lion's share of medals in the recent European Youth tournament.

Back Lane in Hetton was highly commended in the annual design awards run by the Department of the Environment in conjunction with the Royal Institute of British Architects.

10 Years Ago

THE rugby players of North Ribblesdale returned from their tour of Ireland with a special guest - a 25 feet long inflatable tiger which took pride of place at their Settle clubhouse. There was just one problem - the owners wanted it back and called in the police. A very understanding Irish policeman said he realised it had been taken as a joke and if it was returned to its home at an Esso garage in Limerick then nothing more would be said - indeed he would have a pint of Guinness with the North Ribblesdale boys when he was in Craven. The club's spokesman said the team had seen it as a challenge but began to realise that maybe they had gone too far when the theft was reported in the national newspapers. It was pretty hard to keep a 25 feet inflatable tiger a secret in Settle.

Skipton Station was being revamped by British Rail but they appealed for help from the public for old plans or photographs. The station had been built in 1876 and British Rail wanted to duplicate the ornate original wrought ironwork but the plans had gone missing.

An emergency meeting of Craven District Council decided to go ahead with offering £750,000 for the old Raikeswood Hospital in Skipton to create a new headquarters for the council. However renovation work would use up all the council's funds and that upset 13 councillors from across the political spectrum who wanted to block the purchase. Coun Norman Simpson said the case for purchase was overwhelming: "If we are men of vision then this will succeed; but if we are a load of old washerwomen afraid of spending three and sixpence then we might as well pack up now and go home he said".