Last evening was a first for SPAG when 15 members gathered in a rather warm room at Ashday Lea for a showing of The Shedden Valley Mystery.  This was a talk by Titus Thornber in the last century (!) which had been videoed, transferred to DVD and retained by Titus’ son David.

Titus was a respected local historian who wrote several books on the history of the area, perhaps his most well known being ‘Seen from the Packhorse Trails’ which is still in print today.

Many of us are probably familiar with the Shedden valley, its history of hushing (obtaining buried  limestone) and the strange landscape it has left today.  Interesting and incredibly informative, we all learnt something as the story progressed from Titus buying a farm above the valley, his curiosity, detailed research and surprising conclusion.

Thanks to David Thornber for the loan of the DVD and Andrew Gill for donating his sound system and helping to fathom out how to make it all work!