by Elfie Waren
Today it’s hard to believe anything has ever disturbed the tranquillity of the hills around Hunstanworth other than the lonely call of the curlew or the sad-sounding “Go back, go back, go back” of the red grouse.
But delve a little into newspaper reports, talk to some of the older villagers, probe a few documents in the county archives, and you realise that even Hunstanworth has had its moments of drama, disaster and tragedy.
The parish registers mention an eight-week long storm in 1679, and a woman and child killed by a thunderbolt just four days before it subsided. Local poet Thomas Lough wrote “The Ramshaw Flood” in response to the inundation of August 8 1808 in which, according to historian John Sykes’ Local Records: “A new smelting mill, at Derwent Heads, near Blanchland, was nearly swept away …together with a considerable quantity of lead ore”.
This section looks at some of the events – both natural and man-made – which have shaken the Hunstanworth community.
