Dunston
Dunston Carnival
The first Dunston Carnivals were held in the early 20's. This photograph dates from the early 30's. The parade started on Wellington Road and then went around the four main roads.
Memories of Dunston and World War II
Jack Dixon recalls life in Dunston during World War II.
Read by Pete Keen.
Available on: A Miscellany of Twentieth Century Memories from the Old Whickham Urban District.
Listen to Podcast (12MB download)
Medical Services in Dunston
| Timaru House | Health Centre (built 1970) | Glenpark(built 1905 |
| Drs. Foster | Drs. Fairbairn ret'd 1975 | Drs. Dougal |
| Summerville | Brown ret'd 1976 | Dougal (jnr) |
| Fairbairn | Dale ret'd 1961 | |
| Brown | 1961 Aitchison ret'd 1980 | |
| 1963 Cross re'td 1990 | ||
| 1974 Julia Gibson ret'd 1996 | ||
| 1976 Holmes | ||
| 1980 Prudhoe |
Timaru House Surgery
Timaru House Surgery
This was a small terraced cottage, from where the Doctors lived and worked. It was diagonally opposite the Dun Cow and was demolished in the early 1970s(?)
When Dr.Foster worked from Timaru House patients waited in the backyard and then moved into the back kitchen to sit on wooden benches.
In Dr. Summerville's time patients came in through the front door and waited in the hall until it was their turn, sometimes for as long as two hours. At a certain time the door would be locked and no more patients would be admitted for that surgery. A large grandfather clock ticked away as everybody sat in silence. The doctor would examine and treat patients, stitching, bandaging and mixing medicines. There was no nurse. After being seen patients would leave through the back door into the yard and out into the back lane.
In about the early 1940s a young Dr Fairbairn took over the Practice. He introduced an appointment system (new at that time). When he, his young wife and two sons later moved to Holmeside Avenue he had a dispensary built in the back yard and employed a dispenser. The treatment room became a waiting room. His house in Holmeside Avenue had a treatment room at the front, just off the hall, which Dr Brown used as an anti-natal clinic.
Dr. Brown who became Dr. Fairbairn's partner lived at the bottom of Carr's Bank (now Dunston Bank)
The Health Centre
A new Health Centre was built in 1970, on the field at the Four Lane Ends, and the Timaru Practice moved there. When Dr. Fairbairn retired in 1975 Dr. Brown joined with Dr. Cross and Dr Aitchison. The two practices now use the Medical Centre and Glenpark Surgery on Ravensworth Road. In 1976 Dr. Holmes joined the Practice, followed by Dr. Prudhoe in 1980.
Other Practices
At one time in the 1930's to 1950's there were four doctors in Dunston, all working in their own practices:-
Dr. Summerville
Dr. Wilther or Wilthew
Dr. Dougall and
Dr. Hanson
Dr. Wilther had his Practice in a terraced house on Ravensworth Road. When he retired in about the 1940's Dr. Kelly took over. After the War Dr J M Finnerty joined the Practice followed by a lady doctor, Brannigan and later by Dr. Pannu.
The surgery moved to the top of Ravensworth Road when Dr. Ranu joined.
1994 - 1999 Drs. Pannu, Ranu, Rajan
2000 Drs. Pannu, Ranu and Roberts.
This practice now has surgeries at Bensham and Lobley Hill.
Dr Dougall started up on his own at Glenpark, which he built in 1905. He married two years later. After the three children were born he bought the house at right angles to Glenpark in the road running up the left side and knocked through, so the family could live there, away from the hustle and bustle of the very busy practice. The original nursery was immediately above the surgery and they found it impossible to keep the children quiet during surgery hours.
Later he took on a partner, Dr Alec Hanson, who became a great family friend. Dr Dougall died in 1935. His wife then ran the practise with locums until his son qualified in about 1936 or 37, when he took over at Glenpark. Dr Alec Hanson was still there too at the outbreak of war and held the fort until the end of the war when Dr Dougall’s son was released from the services and returned to Glenpark. He then sold the practice (to his mother’s great horror – she felt quite betrayed) and he moved to Bath.
In 1914 Dr Dougall presented a cup to the Scouts to be competed for annually. It was for Ambulance work. In 1978 the competition was changed to Emergencies. The cup was still being competed for in 1988.
Dr. Hanson a very flamboyant man always wore a flower in his buttonhole. He practised from his house in The Crescent. He was succeeded by Dr Thompson, followed by Dr Simpson. The Practice moved then to Chirton House, 1 Spoor Street.
At one time all the doctors' wives helped in the Practice. Before the National Health Service was introduced in 19? a way of paying for treatment, at that time, was a payment of a weekly amount of a few pence. This was collected each week and was called "The Panel", a type of insurance.
Nurses
There were two nurses in Dunston, Nurse Simpson and Nurse Porteous who was also a midwife. She attended mothers before, during and after birth. Few people went to hospital to have their babies.
She was very brisk and efficient, dressed in her starched white apron. Both nurses ran a baby clinic, which was opposite the Dun Cow, in a large building below the library. They weighed babies, gave advice to mothers and handed out powered milk and jars of cod liver oil and malt. In the clinic there was also a room where children could have sun-ray treatment.
The nurses helped the doctors' visits to schools where children were physically examined, had a simple eye test and heads checked for lice. Nurse Porteous also took guides through their First aid and Home Craft badges. Before nurses were directly employed by GPs Sisters Pearson and Brown were the district midwives. Later Sisters Annabelle (Moon) and Berelay were district nurses aligned to Glenpark.
Advertisement for a pharmacy
in Dunston (around 1911).
Libraries
No record of when a library service to Dunston or Whickham started but they were among the first communities to have libraries.
Dunston Library was situated in Brompton House and was a small divisional library from where Whickham, Swalwell, Sunniside and Marley Hill were served. The staff were all based in Dunston and would work in various locations. Most of the smaller communities, including Whickham, had collections of books delivered by vans and left in village halls and staffed for a few hours every week.
Whickham Library had a number of different premises, including a room in The Hermitage and a shop in Front Street, but in February 1968 they moved into a purpose built building in Chase Park. As the community of Whickham grew with the building of new housing estates the management of the sub libraries was transferred from Dunston to Whickham. This became a divisional library.
The population continued to increase and when the shopping centre in St. Mary's Green was planned, a new library was included. This opened on 26th September 1975 and is still well used but is once again proving too small.
Whickham Library is now open 49 hours per week and issues 176,000 items per year. It has approx. 9,000 members and a stock of 25,000 books.
The population of Dunston declined and the old building in Brompton House became totally unsuitable and past repair - at one time the chimney fell through the roof - so a decision was made to include the library in a new Activities Centre which opened on 17th July 1986.
Swalwell Library
The library was in the old Claxton's Hall behind Holy Trinity church. It was closed in the 1950s and Blaydon or Whickham were then the nearest County Durham libraries.
Claxton's Hall
The libraries were part of the Durham County Library Service but now are run by Gateshead Council.
The Imperial, Dunston (The Bottom Hall)
The Imperial Cinema
The cinema was located on Ravensworth Road and was known locally as the 'Bottom Hall'. It was opened in 1910 and eventually closed in 1961 when it became a tyre depot before demolition. It opened twice-nightly six nights a week, changing films each Monday and Thursday, and had a film and a "short" as well as the Pathe News. Films were then classified into A and B films.
There was also a Saturday matinee for children, which was very popular. Entry was one penny, or twopence for the back two rows which had plush seats. Some parents gave their children two pence with the intention of keeping them away from the riff-raff in the penny seats. Little did they know that one penny was spent on sweets and their offspring met their friends in the penny seats!
When there was a film on involving Cavalry and Indians or Cowboys chasing Baddies the row of the stamping feet and the yelling was deafening! Mr Morrison did a wonderful job of controlling the children (and the fleas), by continuously going around and squirting 'Jeyes Fluid' everywhere.
At Christmas-time before the Second World War every child was given an orange. He also provided the tea at the Dunston Church School Christmas party.
Later, it was owned by a Mr Scott who had a small circuit of cinemas in the area.
Regretfully it was demolished for road developments.
The Albert, Dunston (The Top Hall)
The Albert Picture Palace
Opened in 1912 on Ravensworth Road and locally known as "The Top Hall". It had a ground floor and a balcony and was owned by a local syndicate. In 1959 it boasted that it had "The most modern cinemascope equipment in the north". When it first opened it showed silent films and had various types of acts and performers. It closed in 1960 when it was briefly a club and then a bingo hall before eventual demolition to make way for the Derwent Court re-development scheme.
Dunston - Farming
Thinking about Dunston certainly doesn't conjure up images of lush pastures, yet on the 1858 Ordnance Survey Map no fewer than nine farms are shown on the area now covered by Dunston.
Seven farms have all disappeared without trace.
Mount Hooley Farm lives on in name only as a housing estate.
Low Glebe Farm on Carr's Bank was on church ground.
Cowheel Farm was built at the Duncow end of Ravensworth Road and took its name from the small hamlet which grew up around the crossroads.
Jacks Leazes, Market Lane and Baldwin Flat are all gone the latter lives on as Rochester and Elsdon Gardens.
Whitegate Farm was built in the eighteenth century and was one of the area's first listed buildings. It formed part of the Bute Hall Estate but had gone downhill in the seventies. In 1983 a local firm, Holly Construction, restored the farmhouse as the centre of a small local housing development.
Whickham Thorns Farm on Market Lane was restored as an Inner City Farm Project and is the focal point for school visits and local history studies.
Picture Gallery - Shops' Advertisements
| Click on boxes to enlarge the adverts |  Whickham Butchers Charlie Young's |  Whickham Butchers William Armstrong's |
 Grainger & Percy Building Society |  Elite Fish & Chips |  Wilson & Ritson Newsagents |
 Bert T Armstrong Barber |  Sam Curry, TV,Radio and Cycle Shop |  Mrs Rainbow |
 R Hill Chemist |  W Henry Gents Hair Stylist |  Lily Butler, Milliner |
 Scott Butchers |  Laws Stores |  Swalwell Co-op |
 Dunston Travel |
Trams
The first Gateshead trams were steam driven but by the time the Dunston line was built the system was electrified. The route was single line along Pine Street then double line past the Gas Works. The line turned single again past the Team Gut, then a short double stretch, and another single stretch led to the double line terminus.
Dunston tram terminus
The Dunston route was withdrawn on 4th August 1951 and crowds of people turned out to see what was the the last tramcar to run on Tyneside. Commemorative tickets were issued to the passengers.
Industry in Dunston in the second part of the Century.
All Vent Systems moved onto the site which had previously been the site of "The Old Collingwood Hotel".
The Sewage and Treatment Works are on the site of Dunston Power Station.
Woodhead RSR, Lancaster Road.
Saltwell Signs, Staithes Road Dunston.
Rope Works
Glass Works
Dewsons, Dunston Saw Mills, Flour Mills Road, Dunston.
Dunston Federation Brewery, Wellington Road.
More information available on the Tyneside History Website at:- http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/north_east_england_history_page/Tyneside.htm
Emmerson Walkers
Emmerson Walkers made windlasses and capstans for ships.
Clayton and Davie, Limited
When a ship grows old and becomes uneconomical and a liability to the owners, the shipbrokers of the world offer her for sale to the ship-breakers. Many ships have ended their days at the jetty of Clayton and Davie Ltd., Dunston.
This famous firm, (a founder member of the British Ship-breakers Association), was formed in 1926 by Mr. Herbert Clayton after returning from World War One. A little later Mr. William Alexander Davie joined him by buying into the company.
A German ship waiting
to be broken up.
Torpedo boat "Walrus"
in Scarborough harbour.
Since 1926 many vessels, famous and infamous, including destroyers, German U-boats, frigates, passenger ships, tankers, submarines, dredgers, fishing boats, tug-boats and cross-channel steamers have fallen into the hands of the Clayton and Davie acetylene cutters.
Acetylene torch cutters divided huge sections of steel and other metals. They were then lifted onto the waiting trucks by a crane carrying a lightweight electric lifting magnet, 45 inches in diameter, capable of handling 1,250lbs.of metal in a single lift. Some of this metal was exported to European countries.
In the fifties when the yard was fully operational, between 75 and 100 men were employed. Many had worked for the firm since boyhood. When an employee completed 25 years service he was presented with a gold watch from the management. Many watches were presented.
The firm was managed in the sixties by Mr.William Alexander Davie and Mr. Herbert William Clayton
Here are some interesting stories connected with Clayton and Davies.
Killed in action
The ship, which had been in action, had had many casualties, and the emergency repairs necessary to keep the ship afloat concealed the presence of some dead sailors, who sailed in this floating hearse until found by the men at Dunston.
There had to be an inquest, then the bodies of the unidentified were buried in Garden House Cemetery.
Tom Goulbourn tells us that he was on board when the bodies were found and that his father Thomas Thompson Goulbourn was Foreman of the Jury at the Inquest.
Reprieve
The veteran paddle wheel tug 'Eppleton Hall' built in 1914 was bought to scrap by Clayton and Davie in 1967.
The news of the tug's fate reached the ears of Mr. Karl Kortum, director of the San Francisco Maritime Museum in the U.S.A. He told Scott Newall who did a "United States Marine Act" by crossing the Atlantic in haste to reprieve the 'old lady' by buying her from the Dunston firm.
A book, The Eppleton Hall, written by Scott Newall, tells the story of the discovery, restoration and journey from the Tyne to San Francisco of the ship. (Howell-North Books, Berkeley, CA, 1971) and is available from local libraries or second hand bookshops - try the Internet.
The "Eppleton Hall" paddle
steamer now in San
Francisco Maritime Mueum
Mr Scott Newall
Plaque for the "Eppleton
Hall" at San Francisco's
Maritime Musuem
Mr. Scott Newall spent £41,600 to rebuild the tug. Then after many trials and tribulations, set sail on her last voyage on the 16th July 1969 - not to a breakers yard - but to honourable retirement as a show-piece in the San Francisco Maritime Museum.
The "Eppleton Hall"
at San Francisco Maritime
Museum - picture supplied by
Norman Lees
The "Eppleton Hall"
pictured at San Francisco's
Maritime Museum
The "Eppleton Hall"
pictured at San Francisco's
Maritme Museum
The Cruel Sea
When the film "The Cruel Sea" was being made, the Elstree Studio camera team visited the breakers' yard of Clayton and Davie at Dunston to shoot scenes aboard an ex-Royal Navy corvette awaiting demolition.
Later most of the superstructure of the vessel was sent off to the studio to be re-assembled.
Some of the name-plates of ships of the past hung on the walls of the yard fitting shop which could be likened to a Naval Museum. Names which quicken the heart-beat of a naval man-'Plucky', 'Paladin', 'Linnet', 'Echo' all ships of war. Ships of commerce include 'Thornaby', Hallmoor', 'Lievvroukerk','City of Christiana', etc.
We would be pleased to have more stories about this and of other Dunston Riverside Industries.
Taylor Pallister Limited
Taylor Pallister commenced ship repairing in 1900 from a small workshop near the Dunston Staiths, servicing the small ships that came up the River Tyne to the Staiths and Derwenthaugh. During and after the 1914-1918 war, the firm provided lifting gear and items for steering and mooring of much larger vessels. During the Second World War many demands were made upon the firm. Taylor Pallister Warping Guides were used to moor tank landing craft.
In 1958 they took over the site of the original Dunston Colliery.
Dunston was world famous among sailors because of the 'Rollos' or 'fair leads'* on ships, which were made at Taylor Pallisters. More recently, some of the world's largest ships, including the Q.E.2, were fitted with Taylor Pallister Fair Leads.
* A fairlead is a hole, set of holes or a more elaborate device for guiding a rope etc. to reduce friction!
Dunston Staiths
West Staiths
Dunston basin
Dunston Staiths were opened by the North Eastern Railway Company in 1893 to meet the growing output of export coal and to save the rail journey to the docks at the mouth of the river. A second set of staiths was built adjoining the first in 1903 and a tidal basin dug out, providing six berths in all, at which ships could be loaded at all states of the tide. Each berth was provided with two gravity spouts and there were three conveyor belts. The staiths also occasionally loaded fluorospar and pitch.
The two staiths were separate in construction and pitch pine was the wood used white-leaded as a preservative, beams of 12 by 12 being used with mortise and tenon joints. Railway fitters did any repairs, the staiths being railway owned. The spouts were numbered from 1 to 12 starting at the west end of the River Staith (on the Tyne) with spout numbers 1 to 6, then moving from east to west along the Basin Staith, numbers 7 to 12. The electrically-driven conveyor belts were used when the tide made loading by the spouts impractical. The railway wagons were shunted into position by a locomotive known as the 'pup', and the staiths were built with a gradient of 1 in 96, rising from west to east so that wagons could be allowed to run downhill into position over the spout hoppers and the wheels chocked. Men known as teemers were responsible for this and for opening the wagon bottoms to allow the teeming of the coal or coke down the chutes or spouts into the ships hold. The counter-balanced spouts could be easily raised or lowered by the teemers according both to the state of the tide and the height of the ship as it sank lower in the water as it filled up, and they also moved from side to side. When the coal jammed or was frozen in the wagons the trimmers would have to free it. Because some customers preferred their coal and coke in larger lumps and unbroken, a device called an anti-coal breaker could be used to prevent breakage. This was electrically operated, the coal coming down the spout and onto a continuous belt at an angle, and thence into the ships hold.
When the ship's holds were filled gangs of men called trimmers moved onto the pile of coal and levelled it to ensure the ships' stability. Triangular shovels were used, four or five men to a hold. This was a time consuming job and a dirty and uncomfortable one, done in all weathers, in daylight or darkness (though the staiths were lit), and the trimmers were accordingly better paid than the teemers.
Ships were also supplied with bunkers (coal for the boilers) and the hatch or bunker hole for this being small, a temporary wooden 'funnel' would be built by the teemers to guide the coal into the bunker hole as it was teemed down the spout. Fresh water was also supplied to ships, this was a private business owned by a man who lived in the white house in Dunston Road near the present filling station.
The statihs were 526 metres long (1725 feet) and 20 metres (66 feet) high above high water. They handled on average 140,000 tons of coal a week in the 1920s but only 3000 a week in the 1970s. Dunston staiths closed on 4 March 1980 and the Basin staiths were dismantled in 1985, leaving the River statihs which survive today.
In 1923 West Dunston Staiths were opened by the LNER (London and North Eastern Railway) to meet the greatly increased demand for facilities at Dunston and by the following year the two Dunston Staiths handled a third of all coal and coke shipments from the Tyne. West Dunston staiths had three loading berths but with the decline of coal shipments they closed in 1934. An embankment carried the railway feeding the staiths over a bridge across the main railway line between Gateshead and Blaydon and there were numerous sidings. This land was reclaimed in the 1990s and is now a car and coach park together with a new road running parallel to the railway.
Embankment on line to
West Dunston staiths
looking west.
Sidings near staiths embankment
with Dunston Power Station.
Trackbed of West Dunston
Staiths line, looking east
with main line at right.
East Dunston Staiths handled coal from Marley Hill, Watergate, Ouston and Kibblesworth. It was solely concerned with the shipment of coal and coke from the Norwood Coke Ovens. Some of the coal was exported to countries such as Sweden and Germany and many foriegn shops loaded coal there. West Dunston Staiths received coal from the collieries in the Derwent Valley, competing with Derwenthaugh staiths. Also it handled oil and tar from Consett Coke Works and shipped coal to the Ford Motor Company at Dagenham. About one million tons of coal and coke were shipped per annum.
Staiths had existed from the 1630s and possibly earlier but these were built on a much smaller scale than those shown above. Fordyce's map of 1846 shows 43 Staiths on the Tyne and a list made in 1792 shows nearly forty thousand individuals employed and dependent on the coal trade of the river. The keelboats were used to carry coals from the staiths to the colliers (larger vessels) which then took the coal downriver and on to its destination.
The Staiths built in the early 1800s extended further into the river and coal could be dropped directly into the holds of the colliers thus cutting out the need for the keel man or middleman.
Don't think that strikes and new technology are peculiar to the present day. Although it is difficult to think of Staiths as new technology, they posed a threat to the keel men which led to the great strike of 1822.
During the 1822 strike involving riot and disorder, soldiers were billeted at public houses and Bute Hall in Dunston. A bill dated November 23rd, 1822, states that:
"Peaceable inhabitants should keep within their houses during the times the keels are passing from the Staiths, as the marines have orders to fire on the first man to throw a stone at them."
So much for the miners' strike of 1984. Dunston had seen it all before.
The Staiths, no longer in use, is now a Grade II listed building and reputedly the largest wooden structure in Europe. At the National Garden Festival held in Gateshead in 1990 it was open to tne public and it was possible to walk along the top of the staiths and view the chutes and other machinery used in loading the ships.
Staiths Gallery
Various views of Dunston Staiths from the 1960's.
Elsie Cork's Recollections of the Dunston CWS Soap Works.
Elsie Cork, nee Muncaster, began work at the Soap Works in Dunston when she was eighteen years old. Her Mother, who was friendly with Mrs. Baxter, the wife of the Manager, managed to get her the job in the hope that Elsie would not have to go into the forces. However, in 1942 she joined the ATS
At the Soap Works Elsie did a variety of jobs, from waiting on the tables in the canteen, working in the "dry soap" department, to canvassing and finally, because the men had been called up, to checking the supplies going onto the lorries.
She remembers being paid 18 shillings a week for the 7.30am to 5.30pm job. There was a ten minute break in the morning and an hour for lunch. In bad snowy weather she would walk from Whickham to Dunston, leaving home at 6.30am.
At the Soap Works there were three departments:- the Dry Soap (washing powder such as Solvo and Paddy), the Frame Department (household soap) and the scented soap and perfumery department.
The canvassers went around the area with free samples of soap. They had a bag over their shoulders and wore a white coat and a white beret. A van would follow them with supplies. Elsie remembers often being invited into homes for a cup of tea and even for bacon and eggs!
Soap Works
The Co-operative Wholesale Society's Soap Works were sited next to the Flour Mill. The Soap Works was a further early example of reinforced concrete construction, opening on 15th February 1909. Oils used in the manufacture of soap were brought up the River Tyne from the West Indies and the West Coast of Africa. The Soap Works provided employment for many local people and catered for staff leisure pursuits including an Amateur Dramatic Society. Both the Flour Mills and the Soap Works are now closed and demolished.
CWS Flour Mills
Dunston Flour Mill
This was the most prominent building in Dunston and was built between 1887 and 1891. It was one of the first reinforced concrete buildings and electric lighting was used throughout the mills. The grain silos had a capacity of 2,500 tons and the mills produced 5,600 sacks of flour per week. Grain was imported mainly from Canada but also from Argentina, Australia and USA. All grain coming in, with the exception of local wheat, was brought up the River Tyne and unloaded into large silos at their own private wharf. Finished products were dispatched by rail.The premises were extended in 1908 with the construction of the Soap Works next to the mill.
Dunston Saw Mills. (Palmer Hall Company, Ltd.)
The Dunston Saw Mills were among the largest in the country. The firm supplied timber to builders, joiners and cabinet makers throughout the North of England. There were two circular saws in the Mills which were used to saw pit props for the many local collieries.
Dunston Power Station
Dunston Power Station
The power station was constructed in the early 1900s when the railway had to be diverted south of its original route. It was rebuilt from 1933 to 1950 for the North Eastern Supply Company, to a design by Merz and McLellan using glass, rather than brick, walls to enclose the machinery. It took water from the River Tyne for the coolers and used coal from various pits in the North Durham Coalfields such as Marley Hill. The electricity was supplied to the grid system for Cumberland to Yorkshire and north to Galashields.
Dunston Power Station was the first one in the world to use super re-heated steam.
Hedworth Boat Yard
Built all kinds of racing boats.
Saddler's Boat Building Yard
Saddlers Boat Building Yard was famous for the building of Keelboats. Later on the building of Wherries and Yachts was carried out at the same yard.
Dunston Engine Works
Dunston Engine Works made all types of pumping and winding engines and iron and steel boilers, etc. This company also had a world wide reputation for stone breaking and ore crushing machinery.
Burn Concrete
Owned by Thomas Thompson Goulbourn
Burn concrete works
Help with information about this photograph and the firm would be appreciated.
Atlas Concrete and Stone Works Footballl Team
The picture was taken in Dunston Park before the last war. Far left, middle row, George Nealey. far right, middle row, brother Harold Nealey and 2nd from far right, middle row is another brother Wilfred Nealey. Middle row, second from the left in the photograph is Archie Thompson (Senior). Click 'Comments' for more information.
Help with information about the firm would be appreciated.
Atlas Rivet Works
The Atlas Rivet Works which belonged to Mc Farlane and Whitfield, produced one hundred tons of rivets per week and was once the largest rivet factory in England.
The firm supplied all the rivets for the Mauritania.
Industries in Dunston in 1903/4
The Dunston Ferry Co Ltd Direct ferry to Water Street, Newcastle and to Elswick.
The Tyne General Ferry Co. Boat Landing
Marsh Thamas & co. Ltd. manufactures of iron and steel stern frames, keel bars, rudders, marine and other forgings, general smiths.
Dunston Engine Works Co Engineers and makers of stone ore and cement crushing machines, land steering gear and all kinds of colliery work and ship repairers, also Capell Patent fans
River Plate Fresh Meat Co. Ltd ,10 Rothesay Terrace.
Robert Thubron & Co oting works and sawmill
Younger & Gallon Iron founders (High Dunston)
Dunston Industries
The main area of industry has always been concentrated near the River Tyne at Dunston and Swalwell.
Dunston is believed to have its origins in fishing. Historians believe that the settlements original houses were built along the Teams and the Tyne because of the rich pickings on offer. The advent of heavy industry along the riverside put paid to that. Now it is all gone, salmon are back in the Tyne!
The River Tyne provided a good method of transport as it was navigable for ships of about 8,000 tons beyond Derwenthaugh and in the 1950s was dredged to about 30 feet.The factories were also connected to a branch railway.
Long before the end of the century all had changed. The old industries were replaced by light industry, retail and service trade sited at the industrial estates in Dunston and Swalwell. At the Metro Centre, various supermarkets, hotels and food outlets became the main employers. Sadly much of the work is part-time and or shift work.
Francis Newman
A Boy on the Railway
Francis Newman
At the age of 15 I worked for British Railways as a Messenger Boy reporting to the main office, next to the Staiths at Dunston. I picked up all the mail and used to deliver to all signal boxes from Dunston to Blaydon, bringing mail back to Dunston, then picking up the mail for delivery up the line to Marley Hill. I used to hitch a lift on the coal trucks cable set up to Lobley Hill top.
I sometimes sat on the front with the Onsetter, the man responsible for detaching the cable. We jumped off as the set ran on to bump into the other empties. The empties ran up from Dunston to Lobley Hill, an engine took them along to Watergate where the cable took them up to Pennyfine. If my luck was in I hitched a lift all the way up on the empty sets and all the way back down on the full sets. An engine from Marley Hill pit brought the coal trucks down to the bank top at Pennyfine and took the empties back to the pit. The engine drivers often let me drive the engine up, through Pennyfine gates and into the pit. I used to enjoy blowing the hooter and if I helped the fireman throw coal onto the fire he sometimes made me a bacon sandwich, cooking the bacon on a shovel held above the coals.
I was sometimes out of luck and had to walk all the way up from Dunston to Marley Hill and back again. On route I used to help the railway workers fill the signal lamps with oil and climb up to replace them. I became quite an
expert hammering nails into the sleepers to keep the rails in.
It was a great job in good weather but horrendous in bad weather. We often trudged miles during the blizzards, fighting our way through giant snow drifts. We had to deliver and collect the mail regardless of the elements. Because of my route I knew every worker on the line, the Brakes-man who slowed the sets down with a huge wheel in his box, the Gate-keepers who opened and shut the road gates, the Signalmen , the Linesmen, the Guards. I have happy memories of the way they all treat me as a young lad, with great friendliness, good
humoured banter, and sharing their food with me. I must have been the best fed lad in Sunniside in the 1950`s, such a kind hearted lot of men.
In later years when I worked at Marley Hill pit on the screens filling the trucks with stone free coal I used to watch the trucks coming and going with a different perspective. I think I was the only one who knew exactly how the coal
reached the Staiths and onto the ships at Dunston. For a month or two I had worked as a switch lad on top of the Staiths guiding the trucks to the bays where the coal dropped into the chutes sliding down into the ship`s hold.
Again, when I think of the On/Off Setters sitting on the front of the sets moving at about 60m.p.h. with a hammer in their hand ready to knock the washer off the hawser at the top/bottom of the banks, I shudder to think that they wore no safety harness and could have met an instant but horrific death. Even when they detached the hawser they had to climb on the truck side and jump clear, often falling down, especially in icy weather.
Tanfield Railway (The Bowes Incline)
Click On Map to View
Can you imagine the serenity of the countryside between Bowes Bridge and Lobley Hill being shattered by the noise of trucks clattering their way down through the fields, carrying their load of coal from the local mines of Marley Hill, Byermoor, Hobson, Dipton and Tanfield, on their way to the Staiths at
Dunston? A distance of some 7 miles.
This was the Bowes Incline, part of the Tanfield Railway which is the oldest railway in the world. Originally, in the 17th Century, coal was carried by horse-drawn wagons on wooden rails but by the 1950s a loco-hauled railway was in operation. From Bakers Head Bank, near Sunniside, the wagons were lowered down a self-acting incline with a gradient of 1:11. At the top were two kips, one on each side of a central track. The loaded wagons, with a Bank-rider on the back, travelled down the central track whilst coming up, the empty trucks with a Bank-rider riding on the front, were led alternatively to the left and right kips. There was a passing place near Frugal Bridge and then a single line to Watergate Colliery. The Brakes-man controlled the journeys from the Bank Cabin. Locomotives took over at the bottom of the incline and hauled the wagons to Lobley Hill where they were marshalled ready for the next incline.
.Brakesman Will Harrison
The line eventually closed on the 7th September 1962. The Bank-rider that day was Mr. Norman Christer and the Brakes-man was Mr. Will Harrison. Mr. Harrison had spent all his working life on the railway and he recorded some of his memories in 1997.
Mining Memories
Mr. Tommy Wharton, Whickham. Coalminer.
Tommy Wharton
Tommy went to Whickham Front Street School until he was 14 years of age then after working for a short time on a farm he obtained a job in Axwell Park colliery. He worked there until it closed in 1954 then transferred to Blackburn Fell Drift mine where he stayed for 20 years. He then went to Marley Hill colliery where he did development work until 1982. Tommy and other miners were then moved to Monkwearmouth colliery at Sunderland, where he worked 15 miles out under the North Sea. In 1984-1985 the miners went on strike to prevent the wholesale closure of the mining industry. In September 1986 Tommy retired after working for 40 years "down the pit".
George Wallace
Taken from 21 Eleanor terrace,
looking up Whickham Banktowards the pit head
and pit yard, about 1940
During the strikes in the mid 1920s, my Grandfather, who had trained as a saddler in the first world war, was employed by the pit management as clerk and company weighman. My father and uncle were on strike and worked in the cobbler's shed to make a little money. This photograph was taken from his garden.
The Miners Strike 1926
We endured hard times in the village of Whickham in the depression years especially during the miners strike in 1926 as 60% of people were connected with Whickham, Whaggs, and Watergate pits. The strike was a very testing 26 weeks.
A soup kitchen was formed and run successfully in the grounds of Whickham Social Club. Boilers, which were coal fired gave a satisfying smell throughout the village.
The produce to supply these boilers was all given by local trades-people. Coal came from the colliery, bags of spuds plus turnips from the farmers, leeks, carrots, parsnips, etc., and from the market gardeners. The butcher would supply a barrowful of bones, often with a bit of meat on them, the grocer would provide a tin of bully beef or something similar and all labour was voluntary.
Basins, bowls, jugs and cans were prominent in the queue on soup days, in fact it was more of broth. If there was still a queue when the soup was running out, in went a bucket of hot water and every person received a ladle full. On special days uncooked fish was given out.
The Soup Kitchen Committee arranged comic football matches, including ladies, and various games and parades. These events raised money to purchase equipment and utensils such as ladles, scrubbing brushes, dishcloths, tea towels etc.
When the miner's strike was about two weeks old, games, chores, pastimes and pleasures almost ceased one afternoon when word was passed around that the Pit Galloways were being brought to Bank. Lads and men who had handled these ponies in the past collected at Whickham Pit gates to welcome their favourites.
They came up in the cage two at a time in care of the horse keeper and his assistant. Stepping out of the cage into daylight each pony was soon recognised by the lads who shouted out their names. There were Tip and Darky, Doctor and Dragon, Bullar and Freddie, Saxon and Sweep and so on. Lads were invited by the horse keeper to hold a pony in the pit yard until all (approximately 25) had been brought up.
Now some of these ponies had been underground for months, some even years. They were hard working, docile and very friendly. Now in the bright sunshine after two weeks rest they took some handling, there was plenty of hoof flying, (fortunately the shoes had been removed), prancing, neighing, squealing and kicking all round quite exciting.
All assembled they left the pit yard still prancing, neighing and kicking. Each handler had his work cut out to keep control.
As the strike was in the summer months, men and lads spent most of their time, after a few home chores, playing football and cricket on Cooks Field or taking a few favourite walks around the area. Fellside, Meadows, Sandy Lane, Washingwell Woods, Back Lonnon etc. were all popular places to walk.
Political meetings were often held off Front Street opposite the Hermitage, or on the ground behind Spoor P.M. Chapel . The speaker would often stand on a soapbox. Mr W. Whitely M.P. for the Blaydon division and Mr E. Shinwell from Seaham addressed and gave speeches to large gatherings of men.
Soup Kitchen in Dunston
In 1926 during the General Strike a soup kitchen was set up to help the needy during those hard times.
Hundreds of breakfasts and dinners were served in Christ Church, Church Hall, commonly known as "The Tin Mission".
Dunston Colliery
Dunston Colliery
Dunston Colliery
This colliery was located very near to the River Tyne and the Staiths. It was sunk in 1874 but closed after 12 months and remained idle for 15 years until reopened in 1890. The mine employed 400 men and boys to work the Beaumont seam at 45 fathoms and the Brockwell seam at 74 fathoms. All of the shallower seams had been exhausted in previous centuries. Dunston Pit closed finally in 1947.
In 1958 the site was taken over by Taylor-Pallister & Company (Engineering).
Dunston Miners 1920
Pit Screens at Dunston Colliery
James Fitspatrick and his brother Bob worked at Dunston Pit from 1938 to 1942, they worked on the screens sorting the stones from the coal.
They were in a big, cold building with a corrugated roof, which was broken in places so the weather - wind rain and snow - came blowing through. At night the whole place was lit by a ghostly green light.
At the top of the building was the tipler, a machine which emptied the coal tubs onto a steel belt. Their job was to take out the stones and help the two men in charge to weigh and bag the coal. The iron belt pushed the coal towards the waggons which were under the screens. The machinery screeched and the noise was deafening. The young people who worked there hated the place, they likened it to Dante's Inferno. As they became used to the noise it had a hypnotic effect and lulled them into a trance-like stupor. This would be shattered by one of the bag-men throwing a stone or lump of coal at their frozen hands.
During the time the pit was waiting on, which meant no coal was coming up the cage, they would go downstairs to the bait cabin where a big open fire was blazing. The cabin was in a dreadful state, full of old coal sacks, bits of bait and some big, sprightly mice. They put their bottles of cold tea on the hob to warm up, if they forgot to loosen the cork, the bottle burst with the heat. An old man called Cloughie looked after this cabin.
During the winter months, they would get so sleepy in the warm cabin that Jack Lowes, the keeker, a slang name for a gaffer, would bang a lump of iron on a girder to wake them up and get them back to work. If this failed, he would appeal to their patriotism, "Come on lads, don't you know there's a war on?" Feeling ashamed they would go back to work.
One the lads working on the screens at that time was a local artist and would draw pictures of horror - Dracula and Frankenstein - all over the place. Another twist to his macabre humour was to hang bits of wire with faces on them in dark places. It was a frightening experience to feel these horrid figures touching their faces as they passed them in the dark. Another lad, nicknamed Tarzan, would swing on the topmost girder and drop into a moving coal truck below. To show his flexibility, he would, on occasion, drop 20 ft and at the last moment catch another girder to break his fall.
The conditions and existence were so insufferable that all the lads longed for the day when they would be able to go down the pit proper.
Above the screens, but part of the same building, was the coal cleaning plant where the small coal or duff was cleared of stones. This was done by taking the small coal along a series of rubber conveyor belts higher and higher until it was stored and crushed in a hopper at the very top of the building. Bill, the man in charge of the plant, had a wooden leg from an accident down the pit, and he patrolled the stairs up to the hopper. One lad always called him Captain Blythe, and was often heard to say, "I see Captain Blythe is on the bridge again".
The whole machinery of the plant was driven by two big fly-wheels with a shaft running between. One day when attending the plant, James got too near the shaft, his coat coiled around it and he was swung of his feet, his head just missing the floor. He went round and round with the shaft until he coat tightened and started to slow the fly-wheels down. He shouted frantically. Scullion, a screen lad, stopped the plant and untangled his coat. He was laid out on the stinking concrete floor covered in blood, and later dumped in a coal lorry and taken home.
As the country was at war they worked a Saturday shift 2a.m. to 8a.m. some of the youngsters didn't go to bed that day. They sometimes went to the ' Imperial' or 'Albert' cinema and often would fall asleep, paying the admission price just for a good sleep.
Some miners think pits like Dunston should be kept as museums, exactly as they were, so that the children of today could find out what it was like to work down the pits in 'The Good Old Days'!
Mining
Introduction
Coal was mined in the Manor of Whickham prior to the 13th century and as early as 1356 the Bishop of Durham had five mines on lease in the Manor. Originally coal was obtained from near to the surface, pits being merely holes in the ground and the small quantities of coal extracted were largely for domestic use. In the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries coal production in the Manor of Whickham increased. Bell pits were sunk with shafts 3 metres in diameter to a depth of 10 metres at first increasing to over 100 metres. Coal was mined in all directions from the bottom of the shaft. It was possible to have an output of 90 tons per day from the most productive of these bell pits. By the beginning of the 18th century the shallow seams of coal in the area were becoming exhausted but coal continued to be mined from seams such as the Beaumont, Hutton and Busty which occurred at great depths.
Farming
Introduction
Coal mining and heavy industry played a major part in the development of Whickham and the surrounding area, but agriculture also played its part. Much of the land above ground was given over to farming and market gardening. On the Ordnance Survey Map of 1897 there are many farms to be found. Today there are very few working farms and market gardens. There are still allotments to be found in the area.
Most of the farms in the area were owned by the Ravensworth or the Carr-Ellison Estates.
Dunston Millennium Festival held in Dunston Park, June 2000.
The Dunston Band (1968)
Dunston Band had a successful trip to Heererween, Holland, where they took part in an International Music Festival and Contest. In addition to the Festival, they also played in various Dutch towns and conveyed to the Mayors greetings from Councillor C.B. Westgarth, the Chairman of the Council.
Christmas Time is Party Time 1952
Dunston Junior school pupils acted two little plays at Christmas. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and "Who Killed The Giant."
Party games were in full swing at Byermoor Infants School Christmas Party.
Children at Whickham Infants School Christmas Party took time off from party games to sing carols.
Santa Claus was a popular visitor to Swalwell Infants School Christmas Party.
The League of Friends of Dunston Hill & Whickham Cottage Hospitals
The League held its annual dance on Saturday, March 29th in the Recreation Hall of the hospital. Evening Dress optional. Licensed Bar. Tickets 10/6d. Buffet Refreshments included.
A Grand Draw was held. The prize a day trip to Paris for two people. Tickets 1/- each.
Westway VE Street Party 1945.
Victory Street Party, Athol Steet Dunston, 1918
The adults, then the children, enjoying the celebrations.
Reports from Dr. Andrew Smith, Medical Officer of Health.
1900 Sanitary Requirements
1. All slaughter houses to be registered.
2. An isolation hospital should be erected as soon as possible.
1908 The main drainage scheme has been completed by the inclusion of Whaggs Lane, Cornmoor Road, Millfield Road, Sunniside and part of Marley Hill. It has now been decided to connect up the remainder of Marley Hill. Byermoor is still drained by open ditches.
Slaughter houses still remain unregistered but are subject to regular inspections.
Police
WPC Dorothy Hall
Portrait of Miss Dorothy Hall, born 1st April 1921, in her Woman's Auxiliary Corps uniform. She joined the WAPC in November 1941 and was stationed at Whickham in a shed behind the Sergeant's house. In 1944 she was moved to Barnard Castle.
Fire Service
Dunston Fire Brigade-(Circa1904) in Beresford Street, Dunston. This was an unofficial fire service started by Jimmmy Goulburn
The officer in charge was Mr Jimmy Goulbourn (sitting on the waggon).
Trams
The first Gateshead trams were steam driven but by the time the Dunston line was built the system was electrified. The route was single line along Pine Street then double line past the Gas Works. The line turned single again past the Team Gut, then a short double stretch, and another single stretch led to the double line terminus. The Dunston route was withdrawn on 4th August 1951 and crowds of people turned out to see what was the the last tramcar to run on Tyneside. Commemorative tickets were issued to the passengers.
Dunston Station
Dunston station in 1905.
Another view of the station.
Dunston station in 1984.
Dunston railway employees.
An outing from Dunston station.
kThe line was opened in 1907 but the station did not open until 1909, trains running from Newcastle via the King Edward Bridge, but only as far as Dunston which was the terminus for passenger services, although goods trains continued to Blaydon and beyond. The population served by the station in 1911 was 6,050 but there were 44,780 tickets issued that year. There was previously another line through Dunston, which ran from Carlisle to Gateshead closer to the riverside and running up the Redheugh incline at Rabbit Banks. During World War 1 the Dunston passenger service was suspended from May 1918 to October 1919, when it recommenced. The infrequency of the passenger train service compared to the tram service led to its withdrawal following the General Strike in May 1926, although the line was still in use for other trains running westwards to Hexham and Carlisle. The station continued in use for goods traffic until 1965. The principal goods loaded at the station in 1913 were flour/bran, creosote/tar and timber.
In 1982 all Newcastle - Hexham - Carlisle train services were diverted to run south of the River Tyne, and Dunston station was re-opened for passengers on the 1st October 1984, none of the original station buildings remain, however. Access is down a ramp from the main road.
North Eastern Railway ticket
Dunston Ferries
Tom Brymar's Ferry
In the 20s the smallest ferry across the Tyne was run by Tom Brymar who was known for his odd sayings and manners. Tom's ferry, a small rowing boat, operated near Clayton & Davies the ship breakers to Vickers Armstrongs. He would row across for only a penny, by the second world war he charged 6d. Between trips he was to be found at The Skiff Public House
Bob Gardener's Ferry
Some information would be helpful.
Roads in Dunston
Road making in Dunston In 1925 a road was made to join Holmeside Avenue to Ellison Road. Mrs. Hilda Thompson moved into her house in 1924. Beyond these houses lay the fields of Baldwin Flat farm. During the next ten years Holmeside Avenue was continued and Rochester, Horsley and Elsdon Gardens were built on this farmland.
Holmeside Avenue was known as Soap Works Avenue because so many C.W.S. Soap Works employees lived there. The decades from the twenties to the seventies saw the farm land behind Holmeside Avenue to Whickham Highway gradually disappear.
What did they do to our Street? They turned it into the Western By-pass.
Westway had a footpath, a wide grass verge, the road, then the same on the other side. Our end was a cricket pitch, a football pitch and a rounders park. We played cannon, relievo and hide-and-seek in the hedge at the end and round the corner of the end house where the occupant used to chase us away. Our Street was a cycle track, a roller skating rink and a river, where we enacted Tarzan swimming away from the alligators and then swinging on the lamp posts with the aid of our mams' washing lines, also used for mass skip-ins.
At the other end of our street were allotments and a railway line while we had a hedge with a large field and allotments behind it. There was also a short cut through to Wilson Street and the main road. The other cut through went behind the Masonic Hall and out onto Holmeside Avenue.
They pulled down the other side - all our playmates' (grown up now and moved on) parents moved away leaving our side, parents missing their friends and neighbours. They had shared their joys and sorrows, two Victory teas - with the dining tables down the middle of the street and the wind-up gramophone - the wartime air-raid shelters, dried fruit for special occasion cakes - everything was shared.
Some of us went to our weddings - there were babies born and there were funerals - all shared.
In May 1968 the then County Council had a meeting with the public.
November 1968. A Public Enquiry and compulsory purchase orders.
It was found that the conditions of those still living next to boarded up houses on Westway, Rochester Gardens and Dunston Road were becoming intolerable.
In 1971 Ellison Road was temporarily closed - the By-pass would go under Ellison and Dunston Roads to lessen the noise.
In 1972 the new link up from the new Redheugh Bridge, past Askew Road to link up with the Western By-pass near Westway was to commence with traffic diversion at Wood Street.
November/December 1973. Wood Street back to normal - that's what they said in the Focus. Sadly there would be no going back to normal for our street - Westway.
Winifred Robson, (née Britton)
Western Bypass under construction
Dunston Schools
Dunston "Board" School
Dunston Junior and Infant Schools were built on the site of an old orchard and opened as Board Schools by Ralph Carr-Ellison on December 14th 1874. They came under the auspices of the Whickham School Board. Under the Education Act of 1902 School Boards ceased to exist and the schools were taken over by Durham County Council from April 1st 1904. The name, "Board School" still lives on and even in 1974 it was still known as the Board School. It has been known as Durham Council School and Durham County School. In April 1974 it came under Gateshead MBC with the reorganisation of county boundaries and renamed Dunston Junior and Infant Schools. It is now called Dunston Riverside County School.
Pupils of Dunston Board School.
Dunston Church School
Dunston Church School was opened on November 4th 1818. The Church of England Mission was built opposite the school and later became Mission Cottages. These buildings continued in use as school and lecture rooms until the outbreak of the Second World War.
Dunston Hill School
Kingsmeadow Community Comprehensive School
At Easter 1959 the senior departments of Dunston Hill School and Dunston County School combined to form Dunston Hill Modern School, moving in to new premises on Market Lane. The Headmaster was Mr Henry Nattress who was succeeded by his Deputy Alan Johnson.
It became Dunston Comprehensive School in 1973. This coincided with the raising of the school leaving to sixteen. An extensive building programme was started comprising of a large dining hall and kitchen, until then the meals had been cooked at a central kitchen and brought to the school. At the same time a Science, Art and Handicraft Block was built with provision for two Year Group Assembly rooms and offices. The School at this time was organised on a Year Group system with a Head of Year.
In 1975 with the reorganisation of boundaries the School was transferred from Durham County Council to Gateshead Metropolitan Borough and the building programme was suspended. Other Headteachers were Mr Winwood and Mr Robinson.
In 1990 with the reorganisation of Secondary schools in Gateshead a new school was created, taking pupils and some teachers from Dunston Comprehensive, Saltwell Senior High School and Hillhead Junior High School. The school was
Dunston Shops
Stan MacRae's Memories of Shopping at the beginning of the century
The great difference between shopping before the War and now is the disappearance of the small specialist shops, often dealing in only one commodity compared with the multiple retailers and department stores of the present time. Along with this goes the disappearance of the old-time personal service of the small shopkeeper. Many shops greeted you at the door with attentive shop assistants and even chairs for the use of customers. You would be hard pressed to find a customer's chair anywhere in Asda or Tesco and even high class shops like Fenwicks, Bainbridges or House of Frazer.
The other difference is the disappearance of the street trader and the door-to-door salesmen, Ringtons being a notable exception with regular deliveries of tea, coffee etc. to your door even today. I remember the time when bread, vegetables, vinegar, lino dealers, haberdashery pedlars (usually Indians in colourful turbans), clothes prop men, umbrella repairers, knife sharpeners, pan and kettle menders (tinkers) and even dentists regularly visited the village of Dunston. My Grandmother told the tale of having her teeth pulled, without anaesthetic, in the kitchen by an itinerant dentist. Most of the milkmen have disappeared, not being able to compete with the price of milk at the big supermarkets.
Shopping in Ravensworth Road
There were eight grocers in Ravensworth Road. Some have gone out of business but others, like Walter Willsons and the Gateshead Co-operative Society still exist, whilst others have been absorbed by the large supermarket chains. The small independent grocers however have all gone. I remember the system at the Co-op was butter, bacon, lard etc. were on one side of the shop and dry goods such as sugar, peas, lentils etc. were on the other side, which meant getting into the queue twice. There was no such thing as self-service. An assistant stood patiently whilst the customer decided what she wanted, and then weighed it out, put it on the counter and proceeded to the next purchase. Shopping was an art form in those days. The price was then calculated and money paid out of a big leather purse, not forgetting the dividend cheque of course. I can still remember my mother's and granny's cheque numbers - 829, 1945- my granny's being the lower as she had been a member for much longer. The dividend varied each quarter, depending on the profits made, anything between a shilling in the pound 5%, and 2/6 in the pound 12½ %. You could buy everything you needed on Ravensworth Road, from shoe repairs to a new wireless set, a new hat to a handmade corset. I had a good business collecting glass accumulators from neighbours and taking them to be charged at Rowells. I got a penny for each one. Another good scam was collecting bottles and getting the deposit, usually a penny, on returning them to the off-licence, of which there were many. Shops stayed open late in those days. I loved the smell and warmth of the gas lights lighting the shops, especially at Christmas time when the fruit shops had all their piled up on the pavement outside. Shopkeepers were characters - Fred Creed was a small man with a waxed moustache, straw boater on the back of his head, bustling about the shop exchanging gossip with the customers and jollying up the young shop assistant. Larner, the butcher, was a big man with a ruddy face, wearing a blue and white striped apron over a brilliant white coat, wielding a meat cleaver or saw and sharpening his knife on a steel rod. In contrast when you went into Miss Barnard's drapery shop you were met by a small bird-like lady dressed all in black, her hair drawn back in a bun, wearing gold rimmed spectacles perched on the end of her nose. She sold everything, from safety pins to hats, ribbons to elastic of various width and types. She even sold lace curtains. One of my favourite shops was McCoys, the pork butcher and I lingered there many a time savouring the smell of the roast pork, saveloys and other mouth- watering delicacies. I occasionally spent a penny on a saveloy dip, a large bread bun dipped in gravy with coloured sausage sticking out of it. I remember getting pig's trotters there, which I thought disgusting. Not far from McCoys was Culeys, the bakers. My Auntie worked there, so I sometimes got a broken cream cake or sly cake passed to me. Culeys had a bakery on Ravensworth Terrace, just where the library used to be in Brompton House. I often called there to see my Auntie Minnie, who was the pasty cook. Always I came away with something to eat.Return to map of Dunston Shops
| 1903/4 | 1930s | |||
| 1 | Mary Charlton | Fancy draper | Laws Stores | |
| 2 | Robt Aggio | shopkeeper | Geo Shanley | grocer |
| 4 | Stephenson & Mallams | grocers confectioners | ||
| 7 | Marg. Gillies | shopkeeper | ||
| 10 | Jos Coulthard | baker | ||
| 11 | Geo Bell | fried fish | ||
| 12 | Robt Hopper | hairdresser | ||
| 15 | Police Station | |||
| 17 | Norwood & Wilson | greengrocers | ||
| 18 | Albert Scott | butcher | ||
| 24 | Jos Eastland | hairdresser | ||
| 31 | Gateshead Industrial Co-op Soc Ltd | |||
| 38 | Mary Halliday | shopkeeper | ||
| 49 | John Wharrier | butcher & fruiterer | ||
| 56 | George Hall | draper | ||
| 59 | Geo Coates | butcher | ||
| 62 | Thos Johnston | shopkeeper | ||
| 66 | Henry Davidson | shopkeeper | ||
| 82 | Ralph Broadbent | fancy draper | ||
| 83 | Archibald Thompson | grocer | ||
| 85 | Lawrence Wigston | draper | ||
| 89 | Thos Surtees & Sons | boot dealers | ||
| 90 | Geo Charlton | fishmonger | ||
| 97 | Benj Chas Attwood | fruiterer | ||
| 101 | Septimus Bullock | confectioner | ||
| 102 | Mark Sherington | confectioner | ||
| 106 | Robt Carr | newsagent | ||
| 110 | Rebecca Binnie | confectioner | ||
| 116 | Wm Barrett | baker | ||
| 119 | Fred Creed | grocer | ||
| 121 | Progressive Co | fancy dealers | ||
| 125 | Eliz Surtees | boots | ||
| 128 | Arthur Charlton | outfitter | ||
| 129 | John McCoy | pork butcher | ||
| 132 | Jos Wm Bonner | newsagent | ||
| 133 | John Robinson | draper | ||
| 136 | Mary Menzies | hosier | Alex Usher | confectioner |
| 137 | James Goulburn | butcher | Ann Johnston | confectioner |
| 147 | W & E Bell | draper | ||
| 151 | Lily Winter | confectioner | ||
| 167 | Irene Robinson | confectioner | ||
| 186 | A&A Fletcher | stationers | ||
| 188 | Jane Baggott | confectioner | ||
| 192 | Geo Armour & Son | confectioner | ||
| 196 | Horn & Son | grocer | ||
| 204 | Wm Gray | beer retailer | ||
| 206 | Walter Willson Ltd | grocer | ||
| 208 | Emerson Shepherd | boot dealer | ||
| 210 | (Rachael Bernard | draper | ||
| (Rachael Larner | butcher | |||
| 212 | Matt Tait | confectioner | ||
| 214 | Wm Gale | pharmacist | ||
| 218 | Geo Noble | grocer | ||
| 222 | Norwood & Wilson | greengrocers | ||
| 224 | John Newman | grocer | ||
| 228 | Kate Taylor | general dealer | ||
| 232 | Gallons Ltd | grocer | ||
| 234 | Henry Jarron | newsagent | ||
| Thos Wilkinson | butcher | |||
| 238 | Susan Perkins | draper | ||
| Miss Isabella Alcraft | grocer | Clifford Brayson | fried fish | |
| Arthur T Brunswick | butcher | Jos Eastland | hairdresser | |
| Thos Coulson | hardware | Cassie Hackney | confectioner | |
| Lambton House | Robt Hall | fried fish | ||
| Coulthard & Co | grocer | |||
| Benj Dixon | grocer | |||
| Mary Gallon | millener | |||
Return to map of Dunston Shops
Ravensworth Road (AA)
| 1903/4 | 1930s | |||
| 1 | Mary Charlton | Fancy draper | Laws Stores | |
| 2 | Robt Aggio | shopkeeper | Geo Shanley | grocer |
| 4 | Stephenson & Mallams | grocers confectioners | ||
| 7 | Marg. Gillies | shopkeeper | ||
| 10 | Jos Coulthard | baker | ||
| 11 | Geo Bell | fried fish | ||
| 12 | Robt Hopper | hairdresser | ||
| 15 | Police Station | |||
| 17 | Norwood & Wilson | greengrocers | ||
| 18 | Albert Scott | butcher | ||
| 24 | Jos Eastland | hairdresser | ||
| 31 | Gateshead Industrial Co-op Soc Ltd | |||
| 38 | Mary Halliday | shopkeeper | ||
| 49 | John Wharrier | butcher & fruiterer | ||
| 56 | George Hall | draper | ||
| 59 | Geo Coates | butcher | ||
| 62 | Thos Johnston | shopkeeper | ||
| 66 | Henry Davidson | shopkeeper | ||
| 82 | Ralph Broadbent | fancy draper | ||
| 83 | Archibald Thompson | grocer | ||
| 85 | Lawrence Wigston | draper | ||
| 89 | Thos Surtees & Sons | boot dealers | ||
| 90 | Geo Charlton | fishmonger | ||
| 97 | Benj Chas Attwood | fruiterer | ||
| 101 | Septimus Bullock | confectioner | ||
| 102 | Mark Sherington | confectioner | ||
| 106 | Robt Carr | newsagent | ||
| 110 | Rebecca Binnie | confectioner | ||
| 116 | Wm Barrett | baker | ||
| 119 | Fred Creed | grocer | ||
| 121 | Progressive Co | fancy dealers | ||
| 125 | Eliz Surtees | boots | ||
| 128 | Arthur Charlton | outfitter | ||
| 129 | John McCoy | pork butcher | ||
| 132 | Jos Wm Bonner | newsagent | ||
| 133 | John Robinson | draper | ||
| 136 | Mary Menzies | hosier | Alex Usher | confectioner |
| 137 | James Goulburn | butcher | Ann Johnston | confectioner |
| 147 | W & E Bell | draper | ||
| 151 | Lily Winter | confectioner | ||
| 167 | Irene Robinson | confectioner | ||
| 186 | A&A Fletcher | |||