True daughter of the Dales: 'Emblematic' Hannah Hauxwell collection to go under the hammer
The selection of quilts, made using the same pattern of quilting stitches - potentially a family pattern- will go on sale Saturday, February 9, at Tennants Auctioneers.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdHannah caught the eye of the world in January 1973, when a Yorkshire Television documentary, Too Long a Winter, was aired and showcased the lives of a few hardy souls living in the harsh north Pennine winter
She broke the nation's heart with her interview, sharing that she earned less than £200 a year and there was neither running water or electricity in her home - a tumbledown cottage in the Baldersdale valley - but that she felt no right to any more.
Hannah had continued to run the family farm, Low Birk Hatt in Baldersdale, alone after the death of her parents and uncle when she was 34.
The dignity with which she conducted her life, reconnected older viewers especially with a Britain they thought they had lost.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdShe became a household name, and there was an outpour of support - with food parcels arriving by the truckload.
The selection of quilts, from her estate, will be part of the Costume, Fashion and Textile sale at the auctioneers. One of the quilts is initialed ‘E.B’, who is likely Hannah’s grandmother, Elizabeth Bayles.
According to Tennants Auctioneers: "All the women in Hannah's family were known to be accomplished seamstresses, and Hannah herself was very good with a needle. Indeed, she had a mattress filled with straw that she had made from a unique patchwork of fabrics.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad"Most of the quilts have been made using the same pattern of quilting stitches – perhaps a family pattern – and interestingly they each have three rounded and one squared corner."
The collection of quilts from her estate are said to be 'emblematic of the tough, resourceful upland farmers of North Yorkshire and County Durham.'
After Hannah's 'discovery' in the seventies she would eventually move to nearby Cotherstone in 1988. She died at the age of 91, in 2018.
For further details call 01423 531661 or visit www.tennants.co.uk.