Born in Worcestershire in 1857, Edward Elgar composed some of the country’s best-known works including the Enigma Variations and Pomp and Circumstance. And, he gained some of his inspiration from the Dales.

He struck up a 50-year friendship with Dr Charles Buck, of Giggleswick, and was a regular visitor to his home. The relationship was important in Elgar’s transformation from musician to composer.

“Getting to know the Dales, so different from Elgar’s own Worcestershire, brought new life and inspiration to him,” wrote his godson, W Wulstan Atkins, in a foreword to a book about the two men’s friendship.

Here, on the 75th anniversary of Elgar’s death, we explore that friendship with the book’s author and local historian Dr Bill Mitchell. He first learned of the connection through a chance remark by local resident George Foster. The latter was reminiscing about the old doctor, when he added: “I suppose you know that the composer Elgar used to stay with him.”

That sparked Bill’s interest and he went on to discover a treasure trove of letters between the two men and some signed scores setting out music that had been written in Giggleswick.

During the recession of the early 1930s, when none of the Skipton mill chimneys smoked and money was tight, there was a surge of patriotism.

Schoolchildren were taught English songs, there was country dancing – and a love of the music of Edward Elgar.

Dr Bill Mitchell, of Giggleswick, lived through that period – and, later, learning that Elgar had visited Dr Charles Buck at Giggleswick, he studied the friendship.

He also located a box of letters from Elgar to Buck and some forgotten Elgarian scores – written at Giggleswick and stored in the case of a grandfather clock at a Lakeland farm. Buck had a surgery in the market place at Settle and the Elgarian connection is indicated by a plaque on the wall of the NatWest bank there.

The young Elgar met Buck when the British Medical Association held a centenary gathering in Worcester in 1882. Elgar was persuaded to provide an orchestra for a soiree held on the last evening and Dr Buck, who attended, was asked to take his cello and join in the music-making.

The two young men, chatting with each other, discovered a mutual interest in music, the countryside and dogs. An immediate friendship was formed and Elgar was invited to visit the doctor’s home, Cravendale, at Giggleswick.

The soiree took place on August 16 and, just a few days later, Elgar wrote to his new friend saying he would be pleased to visit and “Monday next would suit me best”.

It was the first of several short holidays at Giggleswick, during which he grew to love the “dale country”. One of his favourite pastimes was to walk along Giggleswick Scar.

Elgar also became close to Buck’s family and even composed a short piano piece for the doctor’s mother – which was signed Ed Elgar and dated September 2 1885.

Bill Mitchell writes: “A visit to Giggleswick in 1888 was particularly productive of music. Several interesting scores were signed and dated as from Giggleswick (one from ‘Giggleswyke’). In July, a letter to ‘My dear Doctor,’ signed EE, expressed the pleasure of anticipation at meeting Buck and his wife and added: ‘Turn on a good pianist if you can raise one: but I forgot, I heard from Alice Beare that Mrs B is taking violently to the piano: I will bring something for her to play.’”

Slowly Elgar’s reputation began to spread and it was the Enigma Variations of 1899 that gave him international fame.

Dream of Gerontius followed the next year, with Pomp and Circumstance being premiered in 1901. It included the famous trio section that was later to become Land of Hope and Glory. Elgar was knighted in 1904 and created a baronet in 1931.

But, throughout, he stayed in touch with his old friend in Giggleswick.

His letters came to light through Buck’s daughter, Monica. She became “a teacher of pianoforte” in London, married and had a pleasant life until the bombing of the Second World War led to the family looking for a home well clear of London.

She and her husband arranged with a Lakeland farmer’s widow to lodge with her and her daughter. Monica and her husband went on to build an extension to the house and later bequeathed to the family all their property and possessions.

During Bill Mitchell’s first visit, when he was editor of Cumbria magazine, Monica produced a cardboard box containing letters from Elgar to Buck over a spell of 50 years.

Following the death of Monica and her husband, Bill was invited, as someone interested in local history, to collect books and musical items.

A highlight was when he opened the door in the body of an ancient grandfather clock. Music spilled across the floor. Among that music were scores, signed by Elgar and dated 1882.

The scores were given to Bill, who distributed facsimile copies free of charge – then donated the originals to the Elgar Foundation.

The finds were used as the basis of Bill’s book, Edward Elgar in the Yorkshire Dales, which is published by Castleberg Books.