Hannah Hauxwell's Grave

The life of Hannah Hauxwell is an incredible one, and one that none of us would know anything about if it hadn't been for a reporter at the Yorkshire Post. In 1970 they wrote an article entitled “How to be Happy on £170 a Year”, and from that day forth her story became known to millions.

On August 1st 1926, Hannah Bayles Tallentire Hauxwell was born in the remote Baldersdale in what was the North Riding of Yorkshire (now part of County Durham). Her parents moved to the 32-hectare hill farm of Low Birk Hatt Farm when Hannah was 3 years old and it was there she lived much of the rest of her life. By 1961, when Hannah was 35 years old, both her parents and her uncle had died, leaving her to run the farm alone. The farm itself had no electricity or running water, relying on water from a stream and oil lamps to light it, and few other 20th century home comforts. Each year Hannah would sell a single Bullock for £250 - £280 and that would be her income, well below the poverty line.

Following the publication of the article about her life, a producer, Barry Cockcroft from Yorkshire Television, proposed a documentary should be made to reveal her incredible life to the world. In 1973 the documentary “Too Long a Winter” was broadcast, immediately turning the quiet Daleswoman into an overnight celebrity. The opening scene of Hauxwell leading a cow through a blizzard in knee-high snow caught the attention of millions who were captivated by her simple life and incredible spirit. Yorkshire Television was inundated with phone calls from people who wanted to help the “old lady in the Yorkshire Dales”, donations poured in from around the world, and that helped to pay for the installation of electricity to Low Birk Hatt Farm.

A further documentary followed 20 years later, Hannah having not changed a bit in the intervening years, titled “A Winter Too Many”. It sadly documented Hannah's failing health and increasing difficulty in running the farm, ending with Hannah having to sell Low Birk Hatt Farm and animals, “In summer I live, and in winter I exist” she confessed at one stage. The sale of the farm and royalties from the many books about her, kept her comfortable for the remainder of her life. Living in Cotherstone in a cottage that had an indoor bathroom and central heating it was a far cry from her early life.

Her time in the public eye didn't end with her retirement from farming, the 1992 series “Innocent Abroad” chronicled her journeys around Europe and the United States where she met the Pope, ate at the Savoy Hotel and was guest of honour at the Woman of the Year Awards in London. Through all of this she displayed her usual down to earth attitude and humility.

As her health declined further, she spent time in a care home in Barnard Castle and then finally a nursing home in West Auckland, County Durham, where she died on 30th January 2018 at the age of 91. Following a funeral service at Barnard Castle Methodist Church, Hannah Hauxwell was laid to rest at Romaldkirk Cemetery a short distance from her beloved Low Birk Hatt Farm. Her grave is a modest boulder with a carved face that looks out towards the Dales beyond, often adorned with flowers and notes from people who admired her during her life, it is a beautiful place with wonderful views.

Her legacy is not limited to a lesson in how to live life without the usual distractions of modernity, but the meadows around Low Birk Hatt Farm, which she never seeded or treated were designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and are managed by the Durham Wildlife Trust. A living result of traditional farming methods which have created and preserved a rich and unique Upland Hay Meadow ecosystem, the fields have been renamed Hannah's Meadow in her memory.