- PENNY ELLIS -
THORALBY
THROUGH TIME
Thoralby Mill -
Hydro-electricity Station
In 1919, the Middlesbrough Cooperative Society purchased the mill building and replaced the waterwheel with a water turbine that provided electric light and power. The turbine was powered by water from the mill race. The Cooperative Society converted the mill into a milk processing plant that could pasteurise up to 500 gallons of milk a day and turn it into cheese. The machinery used to pasteurise and cool the milk was 'electrically driven'. The mill had eclectic power and light. However, the operation must have been uneconomic because Middlesbrough Cooperative Society’s ownership of Thoralby dairy was short-lived: in April 1922 the Society offered the mill building for sale, as shown in this advert.
Thoralby Mill -
Electricity Generating Station
Alfred Rowntree, who owned Coverham Dairy, purchased the mill building in 1923. He continued operating the dairy and set up a piggery alongside the mill building, feeding whey from the cheese-making process to the pigs. Rowntree used the turbine to generate electricity that powered the dairy machinery and supplied lighting to Thoralby and Newbiggin. The water to power the turbine entered the mill via the launder that had previously fed the waterwheel. The dairy had ceased operation by 1948 when electricity generation was taken over by the national grid.
Darlington & Stockton, 1923
THORALBY MILL, which a few weeks ago was purchased by Mr. A. Rowntree, of Coverham, is already in the hands of the builders. The old wheel which has done duty for so many years, has been taken out, and also the millstones, the latter going to their old owner, Mr. Sayer, who hopes to use them again in a new home. The water power is to be used for an up to-to-date electric plant. It is hoped that both Thoralby and Newbiggin will be able to have electric light by autumn next. The dairy, it is hoped, will be ready to start in the early spring. Mr. Rowntree is putting down an efficient sewage plant, so that the Beck may be kept pure.
Below is a photograph of Thoralby Mill c.1924 when Alfred Rowntree & Son, operated the Dairy and also the provision of electric light to a number of households in Thoralby and Newbiggin. The area in yellow shows the electric pylon?.
Photograph courtesy of Charles Rowntree.
Alfred Rowntree used the turbine to generate electricity that powered the dairy machinery and supplied lighting to Thoralby and Newbiggin. The water to power the turbine entered the mill via the launder that had previously fed the waterwheel.
The photograph opposite is inside Thoralby Mill, showing the electric light and Gilkes turbines, from Kendal.
Photograph courtesy of Charles Rowntree.
The company installing the electric light to the householders of Thoralby and Newbiggin was an Askrigg Millwright, joiner and general builder, Mr. William Handley Burton.
Askrigg Mill Electricity Account Book 1923, courtesy of Andrew Craske.
I have copied all the pages referring to Thoralby and pasted them together in date order, see below:
The above account book was compiled by John S. Banks of Reeth, who was employed by Askrigg Mill, and covers the time period October 1923 - December 1923.
A transcription of the 1st collection of entries for Thoralby is given below:
"Oct 17: Connecting mains up to Blacksmiths shop & Mr. M. Willis + Mr J. Willis & renewing switch wire on a light at Mr T Heseltines. Hours: 8½.
Oct 18: (Omitted from Oct 18th) supplied lamps for new Instalation at Mr J Willis 2 lamps.
Nov 7: Connected mains to Mr. W. Percivals House ran lead cable from outhouse to D & S Board soldered 4 joints fixed D & S Board & meter & fixed meters for following Houses. Mr M. Willis: - Thoralby Blacksmiths Shop :- Mr Kendall:- Newbiggin Mr J W Heseltine Newbiggin.
Nov 21: Started to wire P.M. Chapel layed conduct & wire 5 lights with J Bell."
One of the earliest properties in Thoralby was the blacksmiths forge, owned by Matthew Willis, see image below, courtesy of G.V. & A. Sadler.
Another early property to have five electric lights installed was the Primitive Methodist Chapel, see image below, courtesy of P. & C. Mason.
A view of the second entry for Thoralby is given below:
A transcription of the 2nd collection of entries is given below:
"Nov 22: (at Thoralby) Fixing fittings etc. on ? PM Chapel with M W Banks and helping fix D&S Bound outside mains etc. Hours: 8½.
Nov 23: (at Thoralby) Wired additional lights at M W Wills fixed asses etc. and helped with outside ??. Hours: 9½.
Dec 12: Went to Thoralby with Tools etc. to start wiring Mr. Atkinsons House. Hours: 1½.
Dec 13: (at Thoralby) Started to wire at Mr. Atkinsons House. Taking floor boards up and started laying casing in attic no. of lights: - 6. Hours: 8.
Dec 14: (at Thoralby) laying casing etc. at Atkinson's and also layed 1½ lengths of 5/8 conduit Conduit and casing laid for 5 lights. Hours: 8.
Dec 15: Pluging walls at Atkinsons for switches etc and helping M Burton with outside chimney bracket and ??. Hours: 5½. Paid."
A view of the third entry for Thoralby is given below:
A transcription of the 3rd and final collection of entries is given below:
"Dec 17: (at Thoralby) Fixing outside mains from Pole to Atkinsons chimney and mains to Dis Board soldered joints etc and wiring in 4 lights. Hours: 8.
Dec 18: Finished wiring in Atkinsons laid floor boards etc and fixed accessories Dis ? et. (House completed) 6 Lights. Hours: 8.
Dec 19: Cleared tools from Mr Atkinsons house to Dairy repaired. Hours: 1. Piggery lights and took tools to Mr Bells house taking floor boards up etc. I went to Askrigg for ? and cable. Hours: 8.
Dec 20: Laying conduit at Mr Bells. 2½ lengths used and wires in 2 lights laid floor boards also helping Mr W Burton to connect outside mains and help. Hours: 8."
Low Green House, the former home of John Sayer (1814-1901), corn miller from 1909 took paying guests and from 1924 advertised the fact the property had electric light.
The advertisement from 'The Woman's Leader and The Common Cause' in March 1924, can be seen below.
The Primitive Methodist pamphlet below from 1915, shows that hydro electric village lighting schemes were a specialism of the pioneering and originators of the Yorkshire Dales' Electric Lighting Company of Askrigg.
As the above pamphlet shows 'The Askrigg Electric Lighting Co.' were advertising their services in the Primitive Methodist Annual Synod pamphlet of 1915, saying you could have light both in the morning and evening, a fact which must have changed people's working lives enormously.
Pamphlet courtesy of Andy Souter.
Thoralby Farms with electric light in 1942
The Farm Survey of 1942 asked what electricity supply there was to the farm house and farm. The entry below is an extract from the original form completed by my grandfather, Frank Snaith of Holmeside Farm, Thoralby.
Reproduced courtesy of the National Archives, Reference: MAF 32/1106/421/20.
Below is a table extracted from the Farm Survey, 1942 - Thoralby. The data is in alphabetical order by Surname of the owner or tenant.
It shows that the majority of the 23 farm houses did have public light, provided by Thoralby mill, which was used for household purposes only and not on the farm. However, all the farm houses a distance outside the village did not have public light.
"How Wensleydale Got Its First Electricity" - Darlington & Stockton Times, December 25th 1948. Courtesy of Andrew Craske. The article highlights the fact that Wensleydale had electric light as early as 1908, some forty years before the National Grid.
Transcription of newspaper article below:
“HOW WENSLEYDALE GOT ITS
FIRST ELECTRICITY
A PIONEER WHO HARNESSED MILL
GILL FORCE
A week ago a townsman visiting Wensleydale looked at the shining copper power which has crept across the 13 miles separating Hawes from West Witton during the past five months and wondered what the villagers would think when they got electricity for the first time.
He was a little late with his question. For an answer he would have to go back 40 years for when nearly every home on Tees-side was lit by flickering gas jets Askrigg, on the north bank of the Yore was a sparkling jewel against the back cloth of the dark hills as the bright new lights were switched on in the houses.
The National Electricity Board is only re-doing a job a Dalesman undertook four decades before Nationalisation was heard of.
Italian Inspiration
At the beginning of this century Mr. William Handley Burton [1853-1937], an Askrigg Millwright, joiner and general builder, had a casual conversation with some Lancashire electrical engineers, who told him how in Italy the mountain torrents were to be made to drive electrical generators.
Mr. Burton went back to Askrigg and looked at Mill Gill Force, a mile west of the village, where a tributary of the Yore plunges over a 70-foot limestone cliff. Again and again he looked at the water rushing past his home. Mill Gill House, half a mile below the falls.
In 1908, on a day which nobody thought to record, his son Ernest Burton [1877-1959], was with him when Mill Gill House became the first house in Wensleydale to be lit by electricity.
Now Mr. Ernest Burton, aged 72 is seeing the disappearance of the local electricity supply companies which came into being on that day. His father died six years ago but his work will never be forgotten.
Machine still working
“He had noting much to go on at the start,” said Mr. Ernest Burton. “Nobody in England knew much about water power for electricity, and the biggest difficulty was a speed governor. English firms were not used to the fine control needed, and in the end we had to get permission to make an Italian governor, under license from affirm in Milan. It’s still working” he added.
He told me how the water power which had 300 years before had turned the mill and had won local fame for Askrigg oatmeal, was harnessed to turn generators. There were three attempts before success came and the light went on at Mill Gill House.
Strangely enough the new power was accepted by the people of Askrigg with very little hesitation. The Dales people had modern minds in 1908, and, “apart from one or two diehards the village went in for it extensively,” said Mr. Burton.
Demand for light
The first current was a 115 volts D.C. but after four years it was changed to 150 volts A.C. – and a bit later meters were put in.
“In those days nobody worried abut heating or power. All they wanted was light.” Mr. Burton told me. When it was dry we held the water back in the day and saved it for night.”
During the years before the first world war Mr. Burton and his family with other pioneers, began to use other Dales streams for generating. The lights went on in Reeth in 1910; in Bainbridge in 1912; in 1913 in West Burton and after the war, Hawes, Thoralby, Aysgarth and Carperby.
So it went on until 1928, when the North Eastern Electric Co. sought a bill to empower them to supply County Durham and the North Riding of Yorkshire.
“I went to Newcastle to see if they would leave Wensleydale alone,” said Mr. Burton. “We decided to oppose their bill as we could make nothing of them, and I engaged counsel.”
He reached among his files, “This was the result – the Askrigg and Reeth Special Order, 1929”.
Suppliers Safeguarded
This Order empowered Mr. W.H. Burton and his sons to supply electricity to Askrigg, Low Abbotside, Bainbridge, Reeth and Grinton. It meant altering voltages at Reeth from 230 D.C. to 230 A.C., and at Askrigg from 115 volts D.C. to 230 A.C.
Thus the local suppliers wo had functioned for 20 years were safeguarded. It was 20 years later that the threat to their final existence came in the shape of nationalisation of electricity.
Being “statutory undertakings,” those covered by the 1929 Order were nationalised at once, shares in the company were bought compulsorily and equipment and capital passed to the State.
Mr. Burton is now chief executive officer of the National Electricity Board, Askrigg area – “a servant, not an owner.”
Victory over red tape
But he has cause to be proud of one thing he managed to do, and it is the story of a shrewd Dalesman’s victory over civil servants and red tape.
The 1947 Electricity Act in draft form made no reference of the little supply systems such as those at Bainbridge, Thornton Rust, Aysgarth, Carperby, Thoralby and West Burton, which were not “statutory undertakings”. They were in Mr. Burton’s words, left to swim as best they could until the National Electricity Board came along with the national supply. Then they were sunk – without any compensation.
He became a prime mover in an attempt to safeguard these suppliers as a member of a committee formed of owners of similar undertakings, went to London to fight as he had fought 20 years before.
The result was Clause 48 of the Act, drafted by Mr. Burton and covering the small undertakings. Under it any local supplier may ask for his undertaking to be bought by the National Electricity Board within 12 months of the passing of the Act. The Board must compensate the owners by paying as much as the business mighty have realised when sold as a going concern on the open market by a willing seller to a willing buyer as if the Act had never been passed.
Bainbridge Leads
Already most of the supply systems have been taken over. Some are 100 volt, others 150. Gradually they will be replaced by the national power lines, and the little turbines will cease to turn.
Bainbridge has been the first of 29 villages to be connected. Some houses will have to be re-wired – others will see little change.
But the last word is with Mr. Burton. Mill Gill House, where the first light was switched on, now has heat, radio and ample power for every kind of electrical machine which it contains.
The supply has been free for 40 years and is still not metered. W.A.N.
25 December 1948, Darlington & Stockton Times.
Below is an aerial photograph of Holmeside Farm taken in the 1950s, the National Grid Electricity poles are clearly visible.
The dairy had ceased operation by 1948 when electricity generation was taken over by the national grid.
Thoralby Water Mill and Water Turbine Generating Plant FOR SALE
The development of the National Grid providing a reliable source of electric light and also power meant the end for the water turbine generating plant at Thoralby Mill. In May 1948 the mill was put up for sale by auction at the Bolton Arms Hotel, Leyburn "LOT 3, FREEHOLD COMMERCIAL PREMISES, THORALBY MILL, THORALBY (Bishopdale), nr. AYSGARTH, with land, piggeries, and subsidiary buildings. Site area 7 acres 2 roods 17 perches or thereabouts. VACANT POSSESSION available. Includes also a Water Turbine GENERATING PLANT supplying Thoralby and Newbiggin. ..." See the Advertisement below which appeared in the 'Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer - Saturday 01 May 1948.
On the 8th May 1948 the mill was re-advertised for sale at a price of £945, rather than by auction. "LEYBURN - ... Thoralby Mill, electric plant and over seven acres, £945." See the second Advertisement below which appeared in the 'Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer - Saturday 08 May 1948.
