Remember When – Rare photo helps shed light on ferryman's cottage riddle

MORE light has been shed on the ruins of Ferryman’s Cottage at Whorlton, but the parish council is still no nearer to uncovering the truth surrounding a possible family tragedy.
Whorlton Parish Council wants to put up a plaque at the site to provide information to people walking along that part of the Teesdale Way, but it can’t do this until they find out more about it.
Legend has it that the ferryman and his family were wiped out when they were swept away in the Tees.
Now a life-long Hutton Magna resident has provided  more information about the derelict house.
Marian Lewis, church warden for the village's St Mary’s Church, still remembers it being occupied.
She has a photograph of it which she found among possessions left by her aunt, Annie Hind, after her
death.
She said: “The last family that lived there before, as far as I can remember, were called Barber and they moved to Whorlton. I reckon it was at least 70 years ago. One of the daughters is still alive and I am certain her name is Ruth.”
Although she has no information of a ferryman’s family being washed away in the Tees, Ms Lewis is aware of a tragedy that left children orphaned after their parents drowned while crossing the river. The parents were buried at Fawcett, she said.
Well versed in Hutton Magna’s history, the church warden wrote a book about the village in 1998 which contains a photograph of the Whorlton bridge toll keeper known as Mrs Bedale.
The book, which she titled Backward Glances, raised more than £1,000 for the village church.
Ms Lewis said: “I wish I had done it when my dad was alive. He knew a lot about the history of things because he was born here. He would have been able to tell me a lot more. I didn’t think it would sell like it did. They went all over to Australia, Canada and New Zealand.”
All 250 copies of the book were snapped up.