TRIBUTES have been paid to Teesdale’s “magical soul” Hannah Hauxwell who has died aged 91.
Memories are now all that remain of the world famous daleswoman who never saw herself as a celebrity.
“Yorkshire shepherdess” and writer Amanda Owens, began visiting Hannah when she moved to Ravenseat Farm, in Swaledale, in 1996.
Having heard about Hannah in books and on the television, Ms Owens discovered Hannah’s ancestors had farmed nearby. This led to the pair meeting and sharing many conversations.
Ms Owens said: “Hannah had captured the nation. Everyone was entranced by this lady. When I ended up moving up here from Huddersfield and becoming a shepherdess at Ravenseat, I was oblivious to the fact that she was just over the hill. When I discovered this I could not believe it.
“She was fascinating to talk to. All she wanted to do was talk about cows. They were her passion.
“She was always very welcoming whenever I would go and visit her. She enjoyed talking and would offer to darn my clothes. She often had strange requests for me. She once asked me to take her pig’s trotters the next time I visited.
“She had seen both sides of life – from battling the elements to meeting the Queen. She was so humble and she talked so eloquently.
“She was a woman of the world. Nothing escaped her. She was a star and I think everyone loved her. It is like we have lost a bit of the past. It is terribly sad. She should be celebrated everywhere.”
A former neighbour of Hannah, Jenny Braddy, remembered the daleswoman as “a gentle soul” with a distinct smile.
She said: “My first memory of her was when I was introduced to her at the sale of her neighbour’s property in Baldersdale about 50 years ago. She had a bind of twine round her coat but that was nothing unusual.
“People were selling up after the war. She was quite a lonely figure then because I think she saw that things were changing and she was by herself.
“Hannah had a real feeling for the dale and she liked to do things for the dale. She was a typical daleswoman and had a typical dale deadpan humour.
“She was quite a gentle soul and she wasn’t bothered who she spoke to. She really liked people. It didn’t matter who they were – she treated them the same. It’s an end of an era.”
Hannah is also remembered for taking part in Baldersdale School fair and judging at Cotherstone’s fun weekend.
Mrs Braddy said: “She wanted to be involved. She had lots of very good friends in Teesdale. I remember once offering to take her back up to the dale but she didn’t want to go.
“In all the time I knew her, she never changed really. She was very grateful to Barry co*ckcroft [the filmmaker who introduced Hannah to the world].
“She could not understand why he had made such a fuss of her. He had befriended her and she liked to be friends with people whoever they were. Celebrity was not a word she would understand at all.”
Former dairyman David Rabbitts, of Cotherstone, came to know Hannah through her love of poetry.
He said: “I first got to know Hannah when I was her milkman. I have wonderful memories of her. I really got to know her when she introduced me to Walter Dent Bayles’ work. He was her favourite poet.
“I used to do quite a lot of filming and we recorded a CD of his work called Beautiful Teesdale.
“Hannah was unique. She had an aura that surrounded her. She had great diction and one of the things I liked about her was that she spoke her mind. She never saw herself as a celebrity. Nothing could ever change Hannah.”
Tributes have also poured in on social media sites following the news of Hannah’s death last Wednesday.
Teesdale mountaineer Alan Hinkes wrote: “Yorkshire woman, farmer, born in North Riding of Yorkshire in 1926 – don’t make ‘em like Hannah anymore.”
The owners of Doe Park caravan site in Cotherstone, Keith and Muriel Lamb, wrote: “Daleswoman, farmer, gentle, hardy and sharp as a tack. Our village will miss her.”
Singer and songwriter Jamie Cullum also took to Twitter to pay his respects to Hannah who he described as “a magical soul.”
Jim co*kill, director of Durham Wildlife Trust, said: “Durham Wildlife Trust was fortunate to acquire Hannah’s meadow when she retired.
“Hannah managed the grassland in the traditional way, with no artificial fertilisers which preserved the wide range of wildflowers found there.
Across the UK, 97 per cent of our wildflower meadows have been destroyed since the Second World War and the Wildlife Trust wanted to make sure Hannah’s Meadow didn’t go the same way.
“We have continued the traditional management and every summer visitors can enjoy the meadow just has Hannah and many generations of farmers before her would have seen it. The meadow is her legacy.”
