What made headlines years ago?
10 years ago
RETURN: The Mayor of Prudhoe, Councillor Tony Reid, wanted to bring an iconic painting of Prudhoe back to the town. The world-famous artist JMW Turner was thought to have made a watercolour landscape of Prudhoe Castle in approximately 1826.
It was then housed in a collection in the British Museum in London.
The watercolour painting of Prudhoe Castle (Image: Newsquest)
SILVER SALE: The Duke of Northumberland was accused of ‘selling the family silver’ after putting a for sale sign on one of Corbridge’s most historic buildings, the 700-year-old Vicar’s Pele Tower in the village churchyard.
U-TURN: Six months after cutting the maximum time shoppers could park outside the Tesco Hexham store from three hours to two, Tesco restored the three-hour limit.
25 years ago
GREEN LIGHT: Plans to build a parade of new shops were rejected by Tynedale Council’s planning committee. This left the path clear for the £23.2m redevelopment of the new Hexham General Hospital project to proceed on the site instead.
DIVORCE: Sharon Couttz, 33, held a party to celebrate her divorce with local band Netty Sneck performing.
APPROVED: A plan for a 20-metre-high telecommunications mast was approved at Tynedale Rugby Club’s Corbridge ground.
50 years ago
INJURY: A lorry carrying 24 Whitley Bay boy scouts bound for Wark overturned near Chollerford.
BAN: Hexham Urban Council banned use of fibreglass dinghies for hire at Tyne Green following fears they were unsafe.
OPPOSED: Vaux brewery’s plans to build a car park at Blanchland’s Lord Crewe Arms Hotel sparked opposition from both parish and rural councillors.
75 years ago
ROW: Church officials in Hexham were split over plans to open the town’s Sele children’s playground on Sundays.
REFUSED: Northumberland County Council refused a request from Bellingham councillors that it reconsider its refusal to allow sheep grids to be installed on roads in the North Tyne Valley.
RENT: The six-bedroomed house built within the ruins of Prudhoe Castle was put up for rent for £1 a week, though a premium of £800 was also required.
100 years ago
CRASH: A Newcastle-Carlisle express train crashed into the gates at Dilston level crossing, near Corbridge. The train was only slightly damaged.
125 years ago
CLOSE: Miner William Wigham, 70, sustained serious injuries and was lucky to escape alive after almost being buried by falling rocks at the Low Prudhoe pit where he worked.
TRAGEDY: Thomas Sharpe, 19, a pipe finisher at Prudhoe’s Eltringham brickworks, drowned after contracting cramps while swimming in the River Tyne near Mickley.
POPULAR: A picnic at Greenhaugh attracted a turnout of almost 300.
150 years ago
MYSTERY: A small lobster mysteriously turned up in a pond near Great Whittington. The crustacean died four days later after its discovery by Mr Archbold of Matfen Mill.
APPOINTED: Naval chaplain Percy Rogers was appointed rector of Simonburn.