Hannah’s quilts set to be sold
TRADITIONAL quilts owned by Hannah Hauxwell, whose isolated life on a tiny County Durham farm captivated a national TV audience, are to be sold at auction.
Hannah, who died last year aged 91, lived alone at the 80-acre Low Birk Hatt farm in Bladersdale in the North Pennines in a tumbledown cottage without electricity or running water.
But her solitary life of hardship changed in 1972 when her story was told in Barry Cockcroft’s documentary film Too Long a Winter, which made her a national figure. In her later years she eventually moved to a cottage in the village of Cotherstone, near Barnard Castle.
Her upland hay meadow and grazing pasture, set in the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, are now managed as a nature reserve by Durham Wildlife Trust.
Also a site of special scientific interest, the traditionally managed land is considered to be among the most species-rich in upland Durham
Now 13 lots of quilts and textiles from Hannah’s estate are to be sold by auctioneers Tennants on February 9. “Hannah was a hoarder, and her dilapidated farmhouse was packed to the rafters,” said a Tennants spokesperson.
“Among her possessions were these family quilts, which were stored in a linen press for many years.
“Some appear never to have been used.
“All the women in her family were very accomplished seamstresses, and Hannah herself was very good with a needle.
The quilts are on display in the Garden Rooms at Tennants Gallery, Leyburn, until February 3.