MAY I comment on two of your recent Nostalgia pictures (Craven Herald June 4 and May 28) as there is a connection between the view of Water Street and the one of Chapel Hill and the Corn Mill?

I remember George Leatt, his wife and daughter having a business at the mill but before that they had a shop at the end of the middle row where Edinburgh Woollen Mill now trades from. We were not pleased when they moved from there - much further to walk for dog biscuits.

However, many, many years earlier the mill was owned by a Mr Sidgwick who lived with his wife and family at Stone Gappe, Lothersdale. It was there where Charlotte Bronte worked as a mother's help and found the children to be very badly behaved, though Mrs Sidgwick said they were just high spirited as all children were.

However, Charlotte used the experience in her novel Jane Eyre to describe the behaviour of the Peel children in the early chapters.

The connection with Water Street is that Mr Sidgwick built the small building in the picture (now Calico Jack) but known to locals as the AGA showroom for many years.

In 1844 a law was passed by the government stating that all children aged eight, nine and 10 who worked in the mills of Skipton had to have half a day schooling each week. Mr Sidgwick built the school for that purpose. So he had a compassionate side.

Mairie Heseltine

Skipton