At a public meeting held in Tow Law on Friday, 6th April, residents of the village (really a small town) learned that a former opencast mine at Inkerman was to become the burial site for perhaps as many as a quarter of a million animal carcasses.

The site had been proposed by MAFF and approved by the Environment Agency and Durham County Council the previous afternoon.

The land had been owned by H.J. Banks and been purchased by the Crown during the preceding days. As infected farms already surround the area, MAFF argued that as the animals have to be burned or buried somewhere, the Tow Law site was a good as any.

This feeling was met with initial sympathy by many Tow Law inhabitants. The 200 acre site had been a working mine up to six years ago. All the farms around had already lost their animals to foot-and-mouth. The site seemed to be remote, and the carcasses had to be disposed of somewhere.

However, during the days that followed, the suitability of the site became subject to criticism - the initial and most obvious one being that it is within a few hundred yards both of people's homes and the Blessed John Duckett Primary School

As time has allowed more critical scrutiny of MAFF's choice of this site, so problems, which should have been self-evident from the start, to both MAFF and the Environment Agency, have become apparent.

Situated in the north-eastern angle between the Lanchester road (the B6301) and the A68 from running up from Consett, the particular plot chosen by MAFF has proved to be a piece of planning of spectacular inspiration. (Click here for more details)

At the top of a hill, the site potentially drains into four different catchments. Ground seepage could end up in the River Browney to the north, the Deerness to the south or the Wear to the west.

However, the major part of any runoff and seepage would most probably be into Hedleyhope Burn, from where it would run down into Esh Winning village, the Deerness and ultimately the Wear at Spennymoor - a course of over thirty miles before one could imagine sufficient dilution to prevent severe toxic repercussions.

This on its own would make it a remarkable choice for such a site. However, the ground itself is notoriously unstable as a result of at least half a millennium of mine workings.

The hamlet at these crossroads is known locally as Inkerman, after the very messy battle of 1854. Within weeks, the Inkerman site was destined to witness a tiny but messy battle of its own.

The first public demonstration of protest took place on the afternoon of the following Tuesday, 10th April, outside one of the gates into the site.

Residents tied themselves to lorries, to prevent the waggons from entering the site, and the whole operation was effectively brought to a halt for several hours.

There was a general feeling that the village as a whole had been both misled and kept in the dark. A prominent local resident, Irene McFadden, stated that she did not expect to win, but that her grandchildren deserved that at least they should try.

One result was the formation of an ad hoc liaison group, on which are represented members of the village, MAFF and the Environment Agency.

By the end of the second week, MAFF, under pressure from the village and with the school a few hundred yards away, had abandoned plans to use the site to incinerate carcasses or slaughter animals.

Burials of animals slaughtered elsewhere were, however, to continue.

"I hope that now the protestors will stop. They did not represent the whole of Tow Law anyway."  
Hilary Armstrong,    MP for Tow Law,    Tuesday, 17th April

The first truck of dead animals arrived at a quarter to seven on the evening of Wednesday, 2nd May, following a promise made to residents that no lorries would enter after 6pm.

"Technically, we have gone back on our word, but the decision to do so was made in exceptional circumstances."   
MAFF spokesman,    Wednesday, 2nd May

The following week saw police actions that appear to a disinterested observer to be somewhat peculiar.

"All we want to do is find a peaceful resolution to the situation."  
Inspector Ivan Wood of Bishop Auckland police     Tuesday, 9th April

People were arrested, charged and will appear before Magistrates at Sedgefield on Tuesday morning (22nd May).