What made Hexham Courant news up to 150 years ago?

10 years ago

CAMPAIGNERS APPALLED: Campaigners who were fighting to keep Hexham bus station in its location at the time were appalled when a study conducted on behalf of Northumberland County Council concluded the bus station should be re-sited to the Loosing Hill car park. 

COURANT CELEBRATION: A special Songs of Praise service at Hexham Abbey was to mark the Hexham Courant's 150th anniversary. 

FREE PARKING CUT: A third of the parking bays in Wentworth car park were to be restricted to two hours waiting only. A total of 200 bays were painted red to indicate drivers would have to move on after two hours or pick up a parking ticket.

SOLAR SIGHTS: A preliminary application was lodged for a solar farm at Blakelaw, Bellingham covering a staggering 160 acres - it was understood another 100 acres at a neighbouring farm were also being investigated. 

25 years ago

CAT KILLINGS: A mysterious black panther-like creature seen in the Hexham area was blamed for killing young lambs. 

Philip Hubbuck feeding a lamb which escaped the attack of a mystery predator in 1999 (Image: Newsquest)

FIRM BUY-OUT: There was hope that Allendale's Hadrian International factory which had gone into receivership could still be saved. Several prospective buyers expressed an interest in taking it over, including its own management team. 

HISTORIC RESCUE: A treasured farm in Prudhoe was saved from the bulldozers after a campaign by local people. The historic Broomhouse Farm was threatened with demolition as developers unveiled plans to build up to 37 new houses on the four-acre site. After months of pressure from locals, the landowner, the Duke of Northumberland, announced a fresh plan which would shield the farm from development.

FIGHT CLUB: Trouble erupted in Prudhoe's United Services Club after Newcastle's 2-0 defeat in the FA Cup Final, seconds after the full-time whistle was blown. Later that evening, police were called to the Fox and Hounds pub in the town after reports a man had been glassed in the face. 

50 years ago

FIRESTARTER: A house in Martin's Close, Haydon Bridge, was gutted by a fire started by a toddler playing with matches. The seven-strong family that lived there were unhurt.

VISITOR TALLY: Record numbers of sightseers had visited Hadrian's Wall sites in Tynedale the previous year, according to figures released by the Department of the Environment. More than 175,000 people had visited Housesteads, near Haydon Bridge, and almost 130,000 had been to Chesters, near Humshaugh, in 1973, it was reported.

HORROR SHOW: The Vincent Price film Theatre of Blood was showing at Haltwhistle's cinema. 

75 years ago

PLAN REJECTED: The Post Office dismissed plans to open a post office at Edgewell in Prudhoe as it would not be the regulation distance away from another in the town.

BRIDGE BID OUT: A bid by the National Coal Board to demolish the old Thomas Surtees-built bridge at Durham Riding Colliery, near Prudhoe, was turned down by urban councillors there. The coal board had planned to channel the stream spanned by the bridge through a pipe and build a land bridge over it, as the original bridge was no longer suitable for accommodating heavy loads.

WAR MEMORIAL: A plaque was unveiled at Bardon Mill Methodist Church in memory of villagers killed in the First and Second World War.

100 years ago

AUCTION OFF: An eight-bedroomed country house at Corbridge, named Byethorne, and 5,634 acres of land next to it were put up for auction in Newcastle but failed to attract any bids. The two lots, offered first together and then separately, were later withdrawn.

FEWER DEATHS: Prudhoe's death rate for the year before was the lowest for more than 12 years, it was reported at an urban district council meeting. Some 77 townsfolk having died, its death rate for 1923 was 8.38, 3.22 below the national average, councillors heard. 

ON THE CARDS: A whist drive held at Settlingstones, near Newbrough, raised £14 along with sundry parcels of butter and eggs, for Hexham War Memorial Hospital. 

125 years ago

JUBILEE FIELD: Alston's six-acre Fair Hill recreation ground, bought from the Lords of the Admiralty for £200 by the committee responsible for arranging the town's celebration of Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee, was declared open.

150 years ago

MINE MAN MOURNED: A Prudhoe Colliery overman was killed in an accident there.