History Of Netherthong

A Memory of Netherthong.

I am currently researching and writing a history of Netherthong and I have well over 200 photos and other ephemera. I have started numerous chapters relating to such subjects as schools, parish council, churches, sport, entertainment, clubs and activities, role of Netherthong lads in the war and as further information becomes available I add, revise and update.
Because NT in the early days was a very small village, there is little information available. One of my ongoing chapters is titled Odds and Bods and I list it below.

Whilst writing and researching this history I kept coming across items of information that were either entertaining, informative or relevant to the times that NT was growing up in but they didn't seem to fit comfortably into any of the main chapters. This chapter seems as good a place as any for them.

One feature of the Holmfirth Express was how it combined news both local, national and international along with sport and detailed reports of social activities. In the early days it was the custom that reports of concerts, fetes, fund raising etc went into great detail listing the names of all the performers and providers of food so that they would buy the paper to see their names in print. Local advertising was obviously a key to the paper's well-being and in addition there were a number of adverts extolling what we now would call quack medicines and miracle cures. They were very cleverly inserted between local reports so that you couldn't really avoid them and often referred to 'real' people who had been 'miraculously cured' by their potions. There was one such advert in the issue of July 26 1913 that specifically mentioned a NT resident and I quote it verbatim:
'Over 2 years ago, Mrs. E. Brook of 22 Dean Brook said "Although I have enjoyed good health practically all my life, I began to suffer from backache. I was almost doubled up with acute pains near my kidneys and I could hardly straighten myself. My water was out of order and I knew my kidneys were the source of the trouble. But DOAN's backache kidney pills have made a wonderful difference. Before long my backache was gone, my water was right and I was back to good health. I can well recommend Doan's pills because they made such a splendid cure."
Signed (Mrs) E. Brooke'

Another 2 liner advert from 1905 stated "To cure a cold in 1 day. Take Laxative Bromo-Quinine Tablets. All outlets refund the money if it fails. E. W. Grove's name on each box. 1/1d." The name of the tablets wouldn't lead one to assume they were for a cold.

A more sensible advert from the same issue was: 'Willie Barker. Car and Waggonette proprietor, Wooldale Town End. Special terms for Picnic Parties and Weddings.'

NT has featured several times in episodes of 'The Last of the Summer Wine' but the most well-known instance occurred in the forerunner called 'The First of the Summer Wine'. The shooting took place in the grocers shop in Giles Street and to maximize the authenticity they cobbled the road in front of the shop. All went well but they neglected to inform the milkman who turned up with his cart to make deliveries and couldn't believe his eyes.

In WW2 a bomb was dropped at Oldfield. The explosion was heard and felt in NT and in Nancy Millican's house - it blew the door open and knocked her mother onto her back. Her father, who was the air raid warden, picked up shrapnel in the school yard the following day. The explosion was confirmed by other NT residents.

On the right hand side of Moor Gate as you travel towards Meltham there is a house referred to in the old maps as Knoll Cottage. It is better known as 'the three half penny cottage' as the sign on the gate shows. There are several possibilities for the name. The first is that a choir from Meltham walked out to the cottage at Christmas time to sing carols for the owner and all they received was three half-penny pieces. The current owner says that there are two further options - that three half-pence was the price of the bus fare from the house either to Meltham or Holmfirth or that the house was originally a toll house and the road came down past it and the toll was, surprisingly, three half-pence.

Cobbler James, a giant of a man with a flowing beard, lived in Upperthong and used to stride over Wolfstone heights of an evening with a kitbag over his shoulder booming greetings to all he met. He repaired boots and would have called in at the various houses on Moor lane and Moor Gate and Wilshaw.

Wolfstone's heights is a well know landmark (over 1000 ft.) and the white pillar at the peak was reputedly erected where the last wolf in the area was killed. Unfortunately there are no details of who killed it and when.

No self respecting village/hamlet could be without its ghost and NT is no exception. A white ghostly horse is supposed to make an appearance at full moon and travel from Hagg Wood up to NT and back to the wood. Unfortunately I was unable to find any witness who had seen it and lived to tell the tale.

On April 29th. 1905 an earthquake was felt in the area. It was called the Doncaster earthquake and the epicenter was a little to the SE of Doncaster. The tremor extended from Scarborough in the N to Spilsby in the E, Bolton in the W and Kettering in the S. There was very little damage other than to the roof of Doncaster station.
Any further items welcome.

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