Dave 892

Ok cheers. What's the difference? I thought they were pretty much the same from the top of the hull downover.

And my mates dad who died recently always used to tell the tale about the Germans bombing Cockfield on a bright sunny day. Everyone initially came out in the streets to jeer as the RAF engaged the bombers - then the bombs started to fall!!!!!

We always used to joke that Hitler specified neutralising the threat of Cockfield before taking on Russia!!

Thats great. When i can  i’ll cycle up and speak to them. I know all the places to which you refer as I used to work up the dale myself for a while and i still get up there (in the normal world) regularly. I had planned to speak to the landowner but for some strange reason i find myself spending all my time at home these days!! Was the family at Clove Lodge called Purvis?

Thanks again Ruxy. Yes ive found the same problem in that despite the huge amount of training and the many thousands who attended, there is so little actually recorded about RAC at Barney. In comparison there is a load more stuff available about the infantry battle school including many record office online photos and even films. There are some good recollections recorded on the StaintonGrove website and also on the BBC Forgotten Voices site - but those that allude to tank training are rather vague or non specific in terms of details. There’s no substitute for speaking to those who were around at the time but unfortunately they are sadly getting thin on the ground. Shame no one sought to document it all 20 years ago when more people remembered. Theres probably no story to this particular relic really - its probably been just dumped, shot up, blown up and forgotten about 60 years ago!!

Dave

4 minutes ago, ruxy said:

QUOTE.   You obviously know the area and im really surprised that it has lain here for so long without anyone apparently knowing or bothering about it (or remembering it!).

True,   I had another cousin I used to go to on a farm at Flitholme ,  @ Warcop .    I have asked my wife to phone her brother and ask the question(s) , he married a girl at the Baldersdale (Yorkshire side) , in fact they probably stint graze sheep on the moor where the tank wreck is.   The problem is very little WW2 was locally recorded much of what I supposedly know is hearsay.   My old man only ever said he was a sapper lifting mines for 6 years.   My old man originated from Cockfield ,  you will appreciate that researching for the location of Luftwaffe several bomb holes on Cockfield Fell would be an impossible task without assistance, extracting this was a difficult task - but I am probably the only living person who knows.   A aunt was the 'station master'  @ Cotherstone during WW2 - she would have been good to know.   My mother trained as a nurse @ Hammersmith pre-WW2  and was then a theatre  sister far east & Egypt ,  a Captain taking her tented hospital ashore at Normandy and into Belgium - I suppose from her I gained my WW2 history interests - that would not extend to thumbing through the archives of the Teesdale Mercury.  The main problem as I see it ,  now my M-in-T cousin is deceased , I can only think of two born and bred local historians and that is general , not military specific.  Most of my relations are upper Teesdale and in the main sheep farmers,  tractors - yes,  tanks - no. 

Do tell. Im open to views. From all my research im told the first tanks to train here were Valentines and Covaneters. Am i missing something?

Thanks for that Ruxy. I have done a bit of digging about general tank training in the area. The only actual live firing by tanks was across at Warcop but thats not to say smoke shells werent used in Teesdale. Creeping artllery barrages ahead of infantry advances also occurred here together with some ground attack practice from RAF Catterick - but only near Battle Hill which is where this tank lies. The Hude Valley (ie Snaisgill) was certainly used by RAC regiments for training. Cromwell tanks were kept at Coldberry lead mine here under guard in the later war years and there were machine gun ranges high up here on the fell sides for tanks and infantry. Inert shells have been found regularly in this valley - as recently as 2018 so there must have been some drills taking place here also. 
You obviously know the area and im really surprised that it has lain here for so long without anyone apparently knowing or bothering about it (or remembering it!). My mate - an ex cop - vaguely recalled stumbling across it about 40 years ago while recovering the body of a murder victim!!

And yes that is my article in the Echo! (albeit much shortened). The paper calls it a ‘Mk3 Valentine’ - but these are not my words. All I know is that it is an ‘Infantry Tank Mk3’ in War Dept terms and a Valentine in Vickers/Armstrong terms. What actual model/mk it is - I have no idea.

Cheers. Dave

Hi All.

Pre- lockdown I blundered across a wrecked Valentine on open access moorland in Teesdale west of Barnard Castle. As well as being famous for it’s eyesight curing qualities, the town was host to 3 training regiments of RAC during the war and this area was widely used. The army camps are long gone with only a small MOD rifle range left nearby run by Catterick but rarely used. Does anyone know anything about this tank? Its existence is barely known even locally due to its isolated and almost hidden location. More photos in Gallery.

Cheers

Dave