Invitation to a historical hike around Haughton

It will be fitting to gain a little exercise in what we hope will be warm sunshine amid the daffodils in a village that once called itself the “Montpelier of the North” such was its healthy position.

An Echo photographer tried out a new wide angle lens in Haughton in 1965

Indeed, so wholesome was it that in 1845, the artist William Bewick, his health shot to pieces by hanging around in the draughty Sistine Chapel, was advised to settle in Haughton by his doctors.

Bewick had been commissioned to paint a copy of Michelangelo’s famous ceiling for the Royal Academy. He had scaffolding 60ft high erected inside the Vatican chapel, and from the top of it, began his work.

An Edwardian postcard looking east along Haughton green

However, Pope Leo XII didn’t like the smell of the paint, and insisted that all the windows in the chapel should be kept open while Bewick was at work.

As it was winter, the unfortunate artist suffered immensely, and once he had finished his commission, his doctors in London suggested he should retire to the “Montpelier of the North” for the sake of his health.

Next Saturday’s walk will go past Bewick’s home and studio on the green.

The walk, arranged by Cllr Chris McEwan and led by Chris Lloyd, who compiles Memories, with local historian Carol Atkinson, will begin at the church – the oldest in Darlington – and end in the Wave Café in the church hall – which is next to the oldest domestic building in Darlington.

A 1905 postcard showing Haughton church

The Grey Horse, Haughton, with licensee Jane Robinson in the centre of her door frame. Here the first football team in Darlington met in 1879

We’ll kick up a stink over the Cheese Affair, start a discussion over Fatty Man’s Squeeze, look at where the first football team in the town had their headquarters, and wonder whether the Highland Laddie pub really is named after a Scottish soldier who was injured in a skirmish with English soldiers during the 1740s Jacobite Rebellion but taken in and cared for by kindly villagers.

The Highland Laddie used to be on one of the most dangerous corners in Durham. Work to remove it began in 1939 but was stopped by the war. A newly built Highland Laddie was eventually opened in 1948

Then we’ll head down Mill Lane to the site of river-powered mill that was one of three mills in the district – the others were at Ketton and in Darlington town centre – that were mentioned in the Boldon Book of 1183.

The Skerne used to meander badly here but a dead straight mill race was built to provide it with greater power and it grew into a large complex straddling the waterway.

Haughton Church reached over a bridge over the meandering Skerne

It ground corn and malt until the late 18th Century when it was taken over by John Kendrew. He had used a mill in the town centre to produce the best spectacle lenses until his methods were stolen by unscrupulous Birmingham businessmen. Then assisted by the Backhouse family, he pioneered the use of steam power to spin flax. He protected his invention with a patent but, despite a lengthy court case in 1787, his idea was stolen by John Marshall of Leeds, forcing him to retire to Haughton.

The mill here was ideally located as flax was being imported into Stockton from the Baltic states and Russia.

Mr Kendrew died in 1800, and the Parker family took over the mill. Their employees were noted marching behind their banners on Tuesday, June 12, 1832, through the town centre with 3,000 other labourers, and with 12,000 spectators, celebrating the passing of the Great Reform Act. The millworkers then returned to the mill where they were “sumptuously regaled with plum pudding and roast beef”.

Once the mill had a stone inscribed “JM 1782 KS” on its gable end, but now nothing of it remains, although as we walk along the Skerne we’ll be able to note how its course has been changed over the centuries as we also talk about the lost Red Hall mansion.

The Red Hall mansion fell derelict from 1966 and was used as a riding stables before it was demolished in 1984

The walk will finish at the church hall where hopefully we’ll be sumptuously regaled with a cup of tea and a slice of cake.

A lovely 1949 picture looking east along Haughton Green taken from The Northern Echo archive. The electricity cables running the length of the road powered the trolley buses which reached the end of their run at the roundabout

• The walk is free will set off from the church at 10am, but the vicar is kindly opening the doors from 9.30am so people can gather and have a look around. We aim to be back for 11.30am. All are welcome. Cllr McEwan has been put in charge of the weather. Bring a brolly, just in case.