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Streetgate - Introduction
Streetgate is situated on the A692 adjoining the larger village of Sunniside. The land originally belonged to the Ravensworth estate. The name, Streetgate, is thought to be derived from the location of the waggonway (now a walkway) running down from Marley Hill Colliery to the staiths at Dunston. It ran straight through the gates at Pennyfine and down Bakers bank, combining 'straight and gate', and eventually becoming Streetgate.
From 1908 to 1914 Shepton Cottages, Bewley Cottages and a number of substantial houses were built which gave a new lease of life to the village. Over the past 25 years a number of houses have been erected, some at the entrance to the village at Lobley Hill and a new estate at the bottom of Pennyfine Lane on land which belonged to Douglas's Market Garden.
When Gateshead Council sold East Sunniside Farm forty-five acres of land were sold to the Woodlands Trust, who have planted numerous trees of various sorts. The name of the wood is Lotties Wood named after the caretaker of the White Elephant school, who wa a well known character in the village. Lottie lived in the cottage next door to the school, the site of which now has two ex-police houses built upon it.
Rose Villa is a modernised stone cottage, which was part of a row of three cottages in the mid-nineteenth century. The cottage was partly rebuilt about 1870 on the end of a row of four cottages. In the early 1920's Lily Place lived here. Her family worked on the railway.
