Historians turn to Teesdale as part of project to record county's heritage

TEESDALE is to become only the sixth region to have its history recorded in a volume by the Durham Victoria County History Trust.
Now the trust, which has Hamsterley resident Jonathan Peacock as its chairman, is looking for people in the dale to volunteer to help with research.
The trust was formed in 1899 with the intention of producing the history of the county, alongside 35 other county groups.
It produced its first volume, Durham I Natural History, in January 1905.
The volumes are affectionately know as the “Big Red Books”.
The Durham section was suspended in 1928 after producing three volumes on Durham, but reformed in 1993 to produce additional big red books on Darlington and Sunderland.
The latest volume is expected to cover areas of Teesdale that are north of the River Tees. Mr Peacock said: “We think of the river as our boundary.
“We call it North Teesdale to emphasise the fact we are not covering Cotherstone, we are not covering Startforth, or any of the area south of the river.”
He added that the southern areas were not being covered because they are historically part of North Yorkshire.
He said: “Each of these volumes is very accurate. They cover the archaeology of the area, and the medieval period up to fairly modern times.
“They are all in a typical format, but they are not all the same.
“We are setting up volunteer groups and we already have a group in Gainford. We have set one up in Middleton-in-Teesdale. We are starting one in Barnard Castle.”
Contact is also being made with the newly formed Staindrop History Group to see how they can be involved in the work.
The new volume has been initiated in partnership with Teesside University.
The Teesdale project is to be launched at Raby Castle during a fundraising event on Saturday, June 17, at 5.30pm.
During the evening a talk on the history of NE Railway will be given by Chris Lloyd. Tickets cost £10.
To attended or  find out more about volunteering, contact Roger Norris at email roger@cmimusic.com.