100 years ago

THE Red Lion was packed as Skipton Castle Estate was selling off several plots of land in the town around Brougham Street. The auctioneer FW Thornton opened by remarking that it had often been said that if Skipton could induce Lord Hothfield's advisers to sell land in small lots and make good roads then the town would extend more rapidly than hitherto. Here was the chance to do so. There were already 500-600 houses in Middletown and the sale of the plots would extend that by 114. Eventually a bridge over the canal to link Middletown with Newtown was envisaged.

At the half-yearly meeting of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal Company the worst balance sheet ever brought before shareholders was presented. There was to be no dividend paid, and the cause was said to be the drought of the previous year. Winterburn Reservoir was to have £200,000 spent on it to better husband water resources.

Major JGB Tottie of Coniston Hall returned from two years of fighting in the Boer War. Bell Busk railway station was covered in bunting to mark his homecoming and a torchlit procession accompanied him back to the hall.

50 years ago

INGLETON was rocked when a couple were found shot dead in their homes. An inquest ruled that the husband had shot his wife with a revolver brought home as a souvenir from the 1914-18 war and then turned the gun on himself. The man worked for the county council and had been under strain at work, the inquest was told.

Settle Town Council complained at litter louts in and around the Market Place, which was described as "a sea of fish and chip papers". The council also said that properties on Chapel Street were a disgrace and a danger. Despite reporting the eyesore on numerous occasions to Settle Rural District Council, nothing was ever done.

Skipton MP Burnaby Drayson was heading to Moscow in the hope that the Soviets would buy textiles from the area. It would have been an interesting trip for staunch Conservative Mr Drayson, who had recently described socialism as "one of the world's greatest evils".

The Herald's diary column remarked that all-out war had been declared on the carrion crow, with 14 dead crows spotted on one farmer's gibbet near Skipton. Crows were almost as common as the curlew and lapwing said the Herald.

25 years ago

CYRIL Turford retired as manager of the Craven Herald shop - a position he had held for 57 years! He joined the Herald in 1919, became manager the next year at a very young age and stayed in post until 1977. Retiring with him was his wife Claire - but she was a relative newcomer to the Herald, she'd only been there 37 years.

One of Craven's best known beauty spots was up for sale. Frank Sharp, of Stoneyber Farm, Airton, had put Gordale Scar in the hands of auctioneers TH Taylor of Skipton for auction at the Listers's Arms.

Earby doctor Arthur Morrison and his wife, who was designated only by her initial, Mrs A Morrison, was retiring. He had come to Earby from the RAF in 1946 and his son, Blake Morrison, was to write an award winning book about his death.

10 years ago

Joan Currie of Rathmell died just two weeks before a fund raising event she organised for Marie Curie Cancer Care at Settle Rugby Club. But there was a huge turnout for the event at which auctioneer Joe Coates sold an ordinary box of chocolates for £25. He then persuaded the bidder to sell off each chocolate at £1 each, making a grand total of £100.