The World's First Skew Bridge

In 1830 the very first horse-drawn railway in the area was built between The Slack at Butterknowle and West Auckland. This line followed the River Gaunless and  incorporated the world's first Skew Bridge.

Changing the Law of the Land

In 1878 Butterknowle became the first village to have a Co-Operative store outside of Bishop Auckland. The Co-Op building suffered from mining subsidence and the Co-Op took the Butterknowle Collieries Company (BCC) to court to claim for damages.

The BCC denied liability and joined forces with the Ecclesiastical Commissioners of Durham, who owned vast tracts of land in County Durham, to rebut the claim. The court case went through all the levels of procedure right up to the House of Lords and the Co-Op won the case. This now meant that whoever was responsible for underground workings was now also responsible for any subsidence on the surface - this was a complete turnaround in terms of the previous law, whereby the owners of the surface land were liable. This finding changed the law of the land forever.

There is, however, a twist in the tale - as soon as the House of Lords announced their decision, the BCC went into liquidation. The money available from the receivers was minimal. In addition the verdict also opened the door for the small landowners in the area to claim for subsidence damage on their land. This meant that there were now many claims on an already small receivers' pot and the Co-Op, who had spent a lot of money on the case, found themselves to be well out of pocket. 

The Butterknowle Murder

In 1884 the nationally publicised Butterknowle Murder took place on Diamond Bank, when acting Sergeant William Smith was brutally stoned and kicked to death. Three men were charged with murder; one (Hodgson) was acquitted and two (Lowson & Siddle) were found guilty of murder and sentenced to death.

On appeal, Siddle was reprieved and then a separate private hearing acquitted him altogether. Lowson was subsequently hanged in Durham Jail, only 93 days after the murder. Ironically, on his deathbed many years later, Hodgson confessed to being the instigator and, along with Lowson, the person who kicked the Police Sergeant to death. To read more about this fascinating story, why not buy our book "A Death on Diamond Bank".

The Miners' Strike

In 1887 in Woodland, miners at Crake Scarr Colliery went on strike because the colliery company was trying to crush the newly-formed Union. The colliery company was trying to force conditions upon the workers which were detrimental to their wage-earning capacity so the miners took strike action.

Just like the 1982 miners' strike, it turned father against son, brother against brother and there was bloodshed and criminal damage. Barnard Castle court was inundated with court cases, including the first instance when 43 miners were prosecuted simply for refusing to work. The court found in the colliery owners' favour after hearing the case against only one man out of the 43 (Longstaff) and the rest were tarred with the same brush.

This case continued for most of the year (1887) and gradually dwindled out as men found work elsewhere and a change of management allowed the colliery to begin production again.

Horse hauling full tubs out of mine entrance at Crake Scarr