What stories made Hexham Courant headlines 150 years ago?

10 years ago

FIERY: A fiery spectacle wowed viewers at Allendale Show, as the death-defying antics of the Stannage International stunt team were the highlight of the day's programme. The sight of a man wreathed in flames jumping from a tower and an exploding coffin had crowds gasping in amazement.

PASS: Tynedale's teens continued to impress after another year of successful GCSE results. 70 per cent of students at Ponteland High School achieved five A* to C grades, including English and Maths, while Haydon Bridge High School celebrated 79 per cent.

HOTLINE: An anonymous crime reporting service was launched to tackle anti-social behaviour across Tynedale. The campaign One Voice brought Northumberland County Council, housing provider Isos, Northumbria Police and the fire service together.

25 years ago

CUTS: The futures of Tynedale's Territorial Army unit and Hexham Drill Hall were in jeopardy following the announcement defence spending was to be cut.

HAVOC: A rainstorm wreaked havoc in the North Pennines as at least two inches of rain fell in a single hour in the area of Carrshields, Coalcleugh, Nenthall and Galligill.

REOPENING: The historic home of George Stephenson's birthplace in Wylam was set to reopen after ten weeks of restoration work.

The Park farm calf (foreground) that got stuck in a cattle grid and had to be cut free by firemen is reunited with its mother and owner Mrs Aline Dodd (Image: Newsquest)

STUCK: A five-month-old calf had to be rescued by firefighters after it got all four legs stuck in a cattle grid in Allendale.

50 years ago

WIN: The town of Wall won Northumberland Rural Community Council's annual best-kept village contest for the second consecutive year.

HISTORIC: Miner Derek Hodge discovered a 110-year-old map of Hexham and a 240-year-old charter drawn up by a Hexham shoemaker's society while fitting a television aerial in the attic of his Hexham flat in Church Row.

75 years ago

PINK PROBLEM: Bardon Mill villagers were alarmed to find water from their taps was coming out pink. Haltwhistle Rural District Council was to investigate.

SALE: Ridley Hall, near Bardon Mill, was put up for sale along with eight farms covering 1,578 acres around the 18th-century hall.

SCHEME: Plans for a new recreation ground at Allendale, to include new tennis courts and a bowling green, were given the thumbs-up by the village's recreation association.

100 years ago 

WINDY WONDER: A whirlwind that sucked up hay 50ft into the air was sighted in a field near Ovington.

DOCTOR DIES: Humshaugh doctor Frederick Bell, secretary of the British Medical Association's Hexham branch, died after he caught an infection from a patient suffering from septic poisoning.

125 years ago

END OF ROAD: The road from Blackburn Bridge to Greencastle, near Alston, was declared a toll road by its owner Mr Horrocks. 

FATALITY: Walter Smith died after being knocked over by a set of tubs of coal at Low Prudhoe Colliery where he worked.

150 years ago

'COUNTESS' OUT: A judge at Newcastle County Court directed that Amelia Radcliffe, the self-styled Countess of Derwentwater, be released from jail where she had been held for contempt of court and referred to the local lunacy commissioners.