Alfred's Guide to the North East of England's Landmarks and Curosity

22/02/2022

Grants to support community-led projects that aim to further the nation’s collective understanding of the past.

07/01/2022

Fifty-five years ago, the body of murdered money collector Angus Sibbet was found in his car under a bridge in County Durham - it would become one of the region's most notorious crimes

18/06/2021

The Rime is an exciting new project creating a sound journal of Amble. They want to hear about
- your EARLIEST or STRONGEST MEMORIES of living or growing up here
- your favourite places or activities, especially near or by the sea
- SIGHTS AND SOUNDS you associate with living here
Deadline is 25 June.
See more on www.matthewtuckey.co.uk/the-rime-digital-scrapbook or send them your contribution on www.matthewtuckey.co.uk/the-rime or leave a 3 min voicemail on 01914325467

02/06/2021

Visitors have been flocking to the Northumberland coast in recent days but sea fog has been a regular threat.

01/06/2021

☺️☀️

24/04/2021

From the Kuch family in World War I, to Eddie Chapman and 'B***y' Brown in World War II, to Rudolf Abel in the Cold War, we recall tales of North East spies and spying

07/04/2021

A list of beer garden pubs opening in County Durham next week

IT's less than a week to go until pubs, restaurants and cafes reopen to customers outside - and these County Durham venues are too.

16/02/2021

Though Alfred isn’t fond of cats. He salutes this hero cat who he saved two young children from being bitten from a deadly snake. Sadly the brave cat passed away from his injuries.

A mischievous pet cat has died after bravely fighting off Australia’s most deadly snake to protect two young children. The children were playing in the back garden of their Queensland home with the cat when an eastern brown snake slithered in right next to the children. The eastern brown is...

07/02/2021

The pandemic has had an unprecedented effect on the economy, and thousands of people have lost their jobs

26/08/2020

Happy National Dog Day

29/06/2020

Category D : Doomed for Destruction
Village 22 : Sunniside

In the County Durham Development Plan of 1951 there was nine villages in the area of Crook and Willington Urban District Council deemed D status. Sunniside was one of them.
This village has two pubs and is on of the highest within County Durham at 1,000 ft above sea level.

25/06/2020

Stanley : West Stanley Colliery Memorials.

On the 16 February 1909 a huge explosion rocked this Colliery and killed 168 men and boys.

The Memorial next to the school was unveiled by Kevin Keegan those grandfather helped in the rescue effort.

The other memorial is in the local cemetery and was erected by the social clubs in the district. The gravestone is in St Andrews Church.

22/06/2020

Gateshead: Riverside Rivets

Underneath the King Edward Bridge is this monument by Andrew McKeown. It was helped in its creation with workshops with local children and represents the history of Gateshead and the North East’s proud engineering background.

18/06/2020

Category D : Doomed for Destruction
Village 21 : North Bitchburn (North Beechburn)

Beechburn or Bitchburn that is the question. The hamlet is called North Bitchburn, the stream is called Beechburn Beck. Near here is Beechburn Farm and Beechburn Grange. The former railway station was called Beechburn Station. So is it Beechburn or Bitchburn?

In the 19th century an attempt to change the spelling was made. The word ‘Bitch’ wasn’t seen as acceptable. As you can see it wasn’t successful.

The Colliery was called North Beechburn in the 1880s by 1910s it was under the name North Bitchburn. Clearly those doing the County Durham Development Plan didn’t like the word bitch.

17/06/2020

Stanhope: Stanhope Fossil Tree

Built into the wall is a tree from the Carboniferous Period which was around 320 million years ago. The tree is a Sigillaria species. It was found in a quarry in 1915 and was transported to the churchyard in 1964.

16/06/2020

Lanchester Walk
Following Alfred’s Consett Walk we have followed it up with a Lanchester walk.

The answers are in the comments. Don’t cheat!

05/06/2020

Stanhope : Stanhope Ford and Stepping Stones

Here is a popular spot that people visit when they come to Stanhope. The ford was closed to motor vehicles in 2012 after a lot of people started getting stuck mid stream.

The steps are made of concrete and Alfred wasn’t a fan of them!

04/06/2020

Category D : Doomed for Destruction
Village 20 : Woodside (Ryton Woodside)

In the 1951 County Durham Development Plan in Ryton Urban District Council one of the pit villages in this area deemed doomed for destruction was Ryton Woodside.

Historically it was classed as a Township and a ecclesiastical parish. The parish bears the name Greenside and the township includes Greenside, Crawcrook, Ryton Woodside.

03/06/2020

Willington: Rocking Strike Memorial

Last summer I was recommended by Councillor Fraser Tinsley to highlight this monument. It’s been the elusive one as it’s been difficult to find.

The 1863 strike is believed to have been the first time miners laid down tools in protest. This involved the miners at Brancepeth, Sunnybrow and Oakenshaw pits whose wages were docked if there carts weren’t full, which went against an 1861 law which said pay was by weight and not by tub.

At Sunnybrow the miners found the tubs they filled to capacity underground only for the keeker, an official employed by the owners to deem the tubs unsatisfactory. Many tubs were laid out and the keeker received commission.

The dispute led to miners and families being evicted from their Colliery houses. This memorial was unveiled by NUM President Joe Gormley in 1976. The tub was restored in 2013 and the benches were added in 2018.

30/05/2020

Crawcrook: Emma Colliery Memorial

Also known as the Towneley Colliery this pit opened in 1845 and operated till 1968. In the County Durham Development Plan Crawcrook was Category A.
Emma Colliery was operated by the Stella Coal Company until 1947 when the coal industry was nationalised and renamed N.C.B.

28/05/2020

Category D : Doomed for Destruction
Village 19 : High Spen

Under the County Durham Development Plan, High Spen was classed as Category D. Though it came under Blaydon Urban District Council this council was behind the residents in the battle to have ‘D’ status removed.

Bob Woof Labour MP for Blaydon brought the matter to the Houses of Commons. It was also said the Excelsior Club had a waiting list of members. (It’s a very sad sight now.)

BUDC hired a lawyer and a barrister to fight Durham County Council. The High Spen Action Commitee was formed in 1971 and local songwriter Alex Glasgow recorded a song about Category D villages. (If you know what it is please tell me.)

But the situation didn’t change for High Spen till 1974 when High Spen became part of Gateshead Metropolitan District Council and in the new county of Tyne & Wear.

D status does one thing to a village. It unites it.

26/05/2020

Blackhill: St Aidans Church

This redundant church is a Grade II listed building and was built on land donated by Consett Iron Company in 1885. The church closed in the mid 90s, though the bells of St Aidans can still be heard at St Hildas in South Shields.

The building is part of Blackhill Conservation Area and the church isn’t on an at risk register. But if the building is left any longer in this state surely it soon will be.

24/05/2020

Happy Northumberland Day

21/05/2020

Forging links with the past to preserve history

This is a new and exciting project I am involved with. If you worked at Consett Steelworks please get in touch.

A WEBSITE dedicated to preserving the history and heritage of the steelworks in Consett has been launched.

21/05/2020

Category D : Doomed for Destruction
Village 18 : Blackhall Mill

Sandwiched between Hamsterley Colliery, Chopwell and Derwent Cottages (Milkwell Burn) is Blackhall Mill. Situated on the north bank of the River Derwent this village came under Blaydon Urban District Council.

The school closed in 1981 having been at this location since 1916. However it was originally opened in 1896 over the river and was called Hamsterley Colliery Public Elementary School.

In the 18th century there was a forge on the same site as where the school was.

Blackhall Mill saw iron, steel and paper making driven by the water here. It also had coal mining at Tongue Burns Drift but coal mining was carried out at a much larger scale at Chopwell and Hamsterley Colliery.

19/05/2020

Newcastle: Moot Hall

This Grade I listed building was designed by John Stokoe and completed in 1812. It was the Northumberland County Court and Prisons and replaced the building in its place also called Moot Hall.

In its day as a court it held the inquiry into the loss of the ship SS Ina Mactavish which was wreaked just of the coast at Amble. It also held the the notorious trials of Mary Bell, Robert Black and Albert Dryden.

Thanks to Alfreds Agents for these pictures.

15/05/2020

Category D : Doomed for Destruction
Village 17 : Hamsterley Colliery

In the 1951 County Durham Development Plan, Hamsterley Colliery was in the area covered by Consett Urban District Council.

In the revised plan of 1964 it said 61 houses in this area had to go. In 1974 a further 73 homes were planned for demolition. A lot has changed in Hamsterley Colliery a lot of grassland were houses once stood. This village was greatly hit by Category D status.

13/05/2020

Consett : Battle of the Blue Heaps

In the early days of Consett there was deep seated animosity between English and Irish workers at Consett Iron Company. There had been a number of incidents with Protestant rioters attacking St Mary’s at Blackhill the symbol of Catholicism in the area. But all this came to a head at the Battle of the Blue Heaps.

Six months previously the Northumberland and Durham District Bank had collapsed. (See previous post on this.) this threatened the future of the steelworks but the unskilled Irishmen felt they would bear the brunt. With bitter fighting and ill feeling after some English workers had attacked a number of opponents a mob gathered.

700 Irishmen gathered on a field at No 1, an area of Consett which still bears the name. They marched to the Commercial Inn at Blackhill, a pub which allowed no Irish in a pub owned by Joseph Curry. Curry refused to let them in and they started to smash the place up. Curry fired two shots from a gun and made his escape along with his family. The pub was ransacked and destroyed, money stolen. The Irish then left but gathered in greater numbers the following day armed with sickles and scythes. A party of Englishmen gathered armed with guns and a cannon on the fields of the Blue Heaps.

With the English and Irish 300 yards ready to face off, carnage would have certainly have happened if it were not for a 200 strong soldiers Newcastle garrison the Nottingham Militia (Sherwood Foresters) to arrive.

A number of the rioters were brought before the Magistrates and the ring leaders send to trial.

But to this day the Battle of the Blue Heaps is still spoken about.

09/05/2020

Delves Lane : What’s in a village name.

In the 1850s this area was called Delft. It comes from old English and means at the ditches. There has been evidence of an old village here from the Bronze Age. There is a carved sandstone block bearing over twenty cup and ring marks which was found at Delves. It is now in Fulling Mill Museum of Archaeology in Durham. This may have been carved for religious purposes by the same people who made the Neolithic stone axe which was found nearby.

Delves House existed here well before the founding of Consett Iron Company.

The Welfare Hall was built in 1925 and it’s upkeep was paid for with deductions from local miners wages. It was given to the local residents in 1979 by the NCB.

07/05/2020

Newcastle: Marlborough Crescent Bus Station to Science Station

Marlborough Crescent bus station was built in the 1920s and served those from North West Durham. By the late 80s it had served its last ticket and the station became derelict.

In 2000 the International Centre for Life was opened on the site. The International Centre for Life is a charity, built on an entrepreneurial business model which ensures that all of the income needed to cover operating costs is self-generated. Only 25% of operating revenue comes from mission-related activities, such as admission tickets to Life Science Centre.