Yorkshire Dales: Priceless look at rural life in a bygone age

W R Mitchell documented countryside communities in the North of England with an unsurpassed passion for detail after being given the simplest of advice to “put people before things”.

And now photographs from the archive of the renowned journalist and former editor of The Dalesman are to reach a far wider audience with the use of 21st century technology.

The images have been digitised in a scheme run by the arts and heritage charity Settle Stories, with the legacy of Mr Mitchell continuing two years after his death.

The project was designed to support men and women who are out of work gain skills and get back into work.

It included learning about the archive, using computers and spreadsheets and learning to catalogue items. Participants have also received mentoring and the chance to do work placements.

Funded by the European Social Fund, the programme was created by Settle Stories director Sita Brand.

She said: “Engaging in a worthwhile task cataloguing items from the collection and developing a small touring exhibition has provided a fantastic focus for participants. They have been learning on the job and in so doing have made an important contribution to Yorkshire’s heritage.”

Participants in the scheme wished to remain anonymous, but one said going through the one of the North of England’s most important archives charting social history in the countryside had been “incredible”.

“At the same time, I’ve learnt new skills which will help me in getting a job,” one added.

Ms Brand told The Yorkshire Post that the scheme had proved invaluable to the participants, many of whom had been out of work for a significant amount of time and had lost the confidence needed to build new skills.

Another participant in the scheme, who again did not wish to be named, said: “It’s been a new challenge to work on a very interesting project. It’s been great to be active and part of a new friendly group.”

Mr Mitchell was Dalesman editor for two decades and his extraordinary collection of photos of Yorkshire and Cumbria is now housed at Settle Stories.

He joined The Dalesman in 1948 and its founder Harry Scott told him to “put people before things”.

Mr Mitchell took inspiration from the sage advice, and went on to collect more than 600 taped interviews with Dales communities – an invaluable archive of Yorkshire dialect and local and family history.

The stories captured on tape range from the gentry, such as the Dawsons of the Folly in Settle and the Yorkes of Halton Place, to communities scraping a living against the odds in remote Dales settlements. There are Thomas Dugdale’s recollections of early cinema in Settle, whilst John Keavey describes early recreational cycling in the Dales. Bill Alderson describes the life of Susan Peacock, a landlady of the Tan Hill Inn in the early part of the 20th century.

In January 2012, Settle Stories received a £50,000 Heritage Lottery Fund grant to digitise a selection of his collection of cassette tapes, enabling a new generation not only to read history, but to listen to it as well.

Members of Settle Stories have appealed for information about the photographs which have been digitised to shed more light on the moments of rural life which have been captured in the images. Anyone with information is being urged to email the charity via: [email protected]