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The days when travel didn't get out of first gear
Jan 16, 2008
IF you want to travel between Barnard Castle and
Middleton-in-Teesdale these days, you've got a choice of two good roads, one on
either side of the Tees.
And some of you may also remember the days when you could take a train between Barney and Middleton. It was a journey of less than half an hour - the official timetable said 20 minutes - through some of the finest scenery of any railway in the land.
The line opened in 1868, which was several decades before the roads were improved from their mud-track state and brought up to the standards that modern motorists expect. So, through much of Queen Victoria's reign, the train was the most efficient way of travelling up and down the dale.
But what if we go back a further half a century or more, back into the days of Good King George?
There were no railways in the 18th century and the roads were in a parlous state. In many spots round Teesdale, the drainage was poor and, without the hot summers that we've got used to since 1976, wet ground took a long time to dry out.
Before 1800, you wouldn't often see carts or carriages making long journeys - except perhaps across Stainmore or down to Richmond or Darlington - but not up and down the dale. Packhorses were used for transporting loads since they could pick their way over rough ground. Travellers had to go either on horseback or by shanks's pony.
Let's suppose you wanted to go from Barney to Middleton 200 years ago. If it had been a bit wet, you probably wouldn't choose to go by the ‘low' road through Lartington, Cotherstone, Romaldkirk and Mickleton.
It would make no difference if you had a horse or were going on foot because after heavy rain, the Balder at Cotherstone, and the Lune, at Laithkirk, would be swollen. Bear in mind that there were no reservoirs and dams in those days to control the flow.
One writer who grew up in Victoria's reign and must have heard tales from people who lived in the dale in the 1820s, said that the Balder and the Lune were ‘raging torrents' after heavy rains. You'd be taking quite a risk if you tried to cross them. The bridges seemed to be perpetually in need of repair.
The ‘high' road, through Eggleston, would have been safer. After all, it wasn't a high road just so that travellers could admire the views! For much of its length the Folly Road kept well clear of the wetter ground on the lower slopes. At least that's how a modern visitor might imagine it.
However, there are some clues to the past that can easily go unnoticed. For instance, the Barnard Castle end of that road is called Harmire Road.
This wasn't just a name plucked from the air - it meant something. It got that name because it crossed the Harmire, just north west of the town - so it was boggy!
Not far away is Moss Mire. The first part of this road went through very wet ground, which was only drained after the enclosure of the Town Moor in the 1790s.
Someone writing in the Teesdale Mercury, just over 100 years ago, tried to imagine the scene along the Folly Road in Georgian times.
If - and only if - the November fog lifted, he reckoned, the traveller would be able to see for miles, but there would be nothing cheerful about the view.
He spoke of ‘a dreary expanse of unfenced land soaked in moisture and dotted with stagnant pools'.
He called the Harmire ‘a morass' which was no light task to cross, and complained bitterly about ‘deep furrows, filled with water, and marshy pieces of ground, the passage of which would try the patience of the rider, and the endurance of the horse'.
The journey to Middleton would take the best part of a day and should the Egglesburn be in spate it might be necessary to return to Barnard Castle and try again the following day!
Let's not forget that in the 18th century, even main roads were sometimes in a poor state.
When the Duke of Cumberland's troops marched up the Great North Road in pursuit of Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1746, they had to wait for their baggage train to catch them up. The wagons became stuck in deep mud and were soon a couple of days behind the troops.
The Duke declared that the main road between Northallerton and Darlington was the worst he had ever encountered.
In the country between Barnard Castle and Darlington, things were no better.
It was said that the carriers who brought Durham coal into the North Riding of Yorkshire via the bridge at Winston used to carry axes with them so that they could cut down branches to throw into the ruts in the road ahead of them in the hope of preventing their carts from getting stuck in the mud.
So when you are travelling between Barney and Middleton and get stuck behind a lorry or tractor, just remember that it was once a much slower journey and be thankful for Macadam's invention!
First published in the Mercury January 9, 2008