Myers Flat

An article in the North Echo entitled ‘How railway builders took on the fairies’ was published on Monday 16 June 2008. It concerns the building of the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1823 and refers to the local belief that fairies hindered progress at Myers Flat. ‘The biggest problem Stephenson faced in 1823 was at Myers Flat, a marshy patch of land between Heighington and Darlington. However many tons of soil he had poured into the bog, when he returned next morning the rails and the fences had moved as the soil sunk. Locals believed that fairies like Will o’Wisp and Jenny o’t’Lantern were responsible for the strange shiftings, but Stephenson persevered and eventually Myers Flat was conquered.’