ONE of Cotherstone’s longest living residents has teamed up with his son to produce a book about the village.
David Rabbitts arrived in the village at the age of four and became renowned for running a milk delivery business for more than two decades.
Now he has used his extensive knowledge of the village to co-author Cotherstone: A Village in Teesdale with his chartered landscape architect son, Paul, who has written more than 25 other books.
However, the latest book is a bit of departure for the son who usually writes about parks and architecture.
He said: “I have wanted to do it for a while and I wanted to do it with my dad as well because the village means so much to us. I was born there, I went to the county primary school there – I had a very lucky childhood, Cotherstone was my playground.
“It was a joy to do.”
The book delves as far back as the 10th and 11th centuries and reveals interesting details, including that much of it was owned by the Duke of Devonshire. Mr Rabbits said: “There is a boundary stone that marks where the Duke of Devonshire’s land was.”
The pair worked by the son calling his father and taking notes about what his father knew from his 76 years in the village and would then research the facts.
David said: “The research it takes to do a book like that is immense. Paul is absolutely superb at research. He dug out some stuff about a house in Cotherstone – it is one of the older houses – and he had a hell of a job finding out about it, but he did.”
Along with a wide variety of facts about the village, the book also boasts a number of historic and modern photographs and illustrations.
The father and son team will be launching their book at Cotherstone Village Hall on Saturday, September 24, from 7pm to 9pm and everyone is welcome.
![A COUNTY councillor is backing a campaign to get a pedestrian crossing in Staindrop. Frustrated parish councillors in the village summoned their county council representative Cllr George Richardson to their latest meeting to discuss several issues, including the call for a safe way to cross the A688. Earlier this year their request for a crossing was turned down by the county council’s highways officers. Parish council chairman Jonothan Raper described the reasons for the refusal as “spurious” and called on Cllr Richardson to support their campaign. He added: “One of the arguments they made was there is no clear line of desire when they studied the village – well this isn’t a clear line of desire because there isn’t a crossing, people cross whenever they can. “When the lollipop person was there, one of the things I noticed was people would walk all the way down to the lollipop person to cross the road to go to the shop or to go to the school.” He added a problem of parking at the primary school is exacerbated because people are too afraid to walk their children across the road. Cllr Richardson said he had supported previous attempts for a crossing point with the first being made about 15 years ago. He added: “We went fairly well down the road with that and they looked into it. The only recommended place was where the bus stop is and to get the visibility splays, people on the other side of the road would lose their parking. “That didn’t go down well so it just died a death.” Cllr Raper said he suspected the real reason for the officers’ refusal was the cost of installing a crossing. He added that much of the cost could be recovered from savings made on not having to employ a lollipop patrol. Cllr Raper said: “A lollipop person only provides a benefit of crossing for three hours of the day. You are getting 21 extra hours of crossing time [with a pedestrian crossing].” Cllr Richardson said he would raise the issue with the county council’s cabinet member for highways, Cllr John Shuttleworth.](https://teesdalemercury.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/georgeR-120x86.jpg)
