Marley Hill
A Glimpse of Twentieth Century Life along the Turnpike Road from Streetgate to Byermoor.
The first in a series of illustrated leaflets depicting life in the 20th century in the old Whickham Urban District, this leaflet covers Streetgate, Sunniside, Marley Hill and Byermoor and is available free from all Gateshead Metropolitan Borough libraries. Leaflets covering Dunston, Swalwell and Whickham will be available in 2010.
Unsolved Crime at Marley Hill
Missing Money Still A Mystery. (from an old article).
Miners' wages to the amount of £12,900 were stolen from Marley Hill Colliery Offices on Thursday, 15th September, 1949. The money, made up into wage packets, was put into the strong room on Thursday night, and when it was opened on the Friday morning at 8.0 a.m. by the cashier, Mr. J. Bell and Mr. D. Dormerhill, head bill clerk, the money was missing. No force was used to gain entry into the colliery office or strongroom itself, and the supposition was that a duplicate key had been used. When Thursday became the day for collecting the money from the bank it was necessary to guard it overnight at the colliery itself. A night watchman's rota was instituted comprising colliery officials. Mr. Ralph Shield, foreman drainer, was the night guard on duty in a room. Thursday was his usual night on duty and during his period on guard he was visited at regular intervals by colliery firemen from a nearby building.
Mr. W. Welsh, N.C.B. area general manager, stated that all 1540 men affected by the robbery would be paid on Saturday. Fourteen men and girls worked (under police prtoection) all over again to remake the miners' wage packets and the paying out proceeded smoothly on the Saturday morning. The money was in soiled pound and ten shilling notes and £1,000 in silver and copper and the thief left nothing. He even struggled away with a hundredweight of copper and silver.
Detectives form Blaydon and Felling pursued inquiries led by Supt W Wilson and Chief Inspector A.S. Thornton. Durham County's Asst. Chief constable, Mr A. Reay and Detective Superintendents R Hall and R Lee are also involved. Firms who offered a key-cutting service were checked on the theory that duplicate keys were used. Pay packets for men at Burnopfield and Byermoor Collieries were taken too.
The N.C.B. offered a reward of £500 for any information which would lead to the arrest of the thieves and the recovery of the stolen money. Now 18 years have passed since the robbery. Not a single clue has been found that would help the police in their investigations and today the North East's perfect crime still remains unsolved.
£12,900 was worth about £330,000 in 2007.
Marley Hill - Community Centre
The former Miners' Institute now Marley Hill and District Community Centre was built by Shield Brothers, Clavering Works, Swalwell. It was opened in 1936 by their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of York shortly before they became King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. It replaced the old institute and reading room in Post Office Row.
Marley Hill - Football
Marley Hill School Football Team 1914
Marley Hill School Football Team 1963
1963 football team (Kenny Baxter. Alan Wales.Earl Smith. Tony Forster. Billy Harrison. front row John Taskas. Steve Kendal. Alan Walby John Morton. John Douglas. Steve Knight. Mr Sykes.)
Marley Hill Spankers
Marley Hill shops
The only shop
in Marley Hill,
near Church Street
and St. Cuthbert's Street
In spite of being a busy mining community Marley Hill had very few shops. At the end of the twentieth century there were no shops open in the village.
High Row (A)
High Row had at one time, a small shop run by a Mrs Ellison. There was no shop window, which suggests that the business was in her home. She sold sweets, pop, cooked meats, threads and needles.
Return to map of Marley Hill Shops
Post Office Row (B)
There was a shop here in 1860 run by a family called Bean. In 1882 it was taken over by Thomas Brabban, who in 1890 added the Post Office which gave the street its name. The Post Office was located nearer the southern end of the street at bottom right of the map. Thomas stayed there until 1922. The shop was then taken over by Hannah Hutchinson as a Post Office and General Dealers. Hannah retired in 1965. The shop closed in 1973.
Return to map of Marley Hill Shops
The Hut Shop (A)
This shop was opened at the west end of Church Street in 1925 by John Aimers. Later in the 20's it was owned by Bob Wintrip, as a General Dealers and Post Office, until 1951. The shop, which was a wooden structure, was then rebuilt in brick. Tommy Gibson had the shop and Post Office until 1974. Sometime in the 1980's the Post Office part was closed and residents of Marley Hill had to travel to the Post Office in Sunniside. The shop closed in 1994.
Street Traders (D)
Street TradersFrom about 1914 Marley Hill was served by traders coming round the doors. First there was Margaret Davy selling fish from her creel. In the 1930's John Davy continued the family tradition but selling from a van. Barty Phelphs from High Row sold fish for a short time. In 1948 Norman Curry from Burnopfield Co-op came round with fish.
A McCourt in the early part of the century sold items necessary for the pitmen such as carbide for their lamps and lamp oil. He also sold kitchen utensils. There was also a muffin man, a trader selling eggs and yeast and a woman with haberdashery in her pack.In the 1930's Harry Ismay came in with his horse and cart selling fruit and vegetables. Bobby Lowden began coming round in a van, with a counter, in 1950's selling fruit and vegetables.
Return to map of Marley Hill Shops
Marley Hill - Farming
The fields of Longfield Farm Marley Hill are used for grazing.
Will Harrison's reflection of a job on the railway
Will Harrison-Reflections of a job on the Railway
I was born on the 28th. March 1904 in a pit house at High Row, Marley Hill. When the houses were being altered we were offered a house in the "hole" but my mother wouldn't go because her sister had lived there in one which had been washed away, so an exchange was made with Mr. Prinn and we moved into a house in Thirlaway Terrace, through the chapel opening. There were 6 of us :- mother father grandmother and 3 children all in a one -bedroomed house. (My sister used to say "how did we all get in? Where did we all sleep Will?" I said "I don't know, but we managed" )
I had a dangerous job on the incline. When I got the job my father was a pitman earning 38s.0d per week and my mother was having hard pickings. I was earning a lot less. When the job on the incline came up the boss came to me one day and asked why I had not sent in the application form. I said I had been applying but I hadn't heard anything. He said, I want your letter on the Monday morning. So I sent my application in and he came back at the weekend and told me I had the job. My wages went from 35s.0d. per week to £3.15s 0d. My mother was over the moon. I had that job from 1923 and I closed the line on the 7th. September 1962, I was the last brakesman, and Norman Christer was the Bank-rider.. They closed the old railway and that was the oldest railway in the world.
We used to get visits from the Ravensworths at the castle, the Lord and Lady Ravensworth. Lord Ravensworth often used to come over and have a ride up on the incline. He was a single lad, just a bit older than me and he often used to come across regular to ride on the incline and then at about half eleven you would hear the bell at the castle and that was his time to get away. He set away off home, there was no colliery there then, no Watergate there was just the wood at each side.
loved my job and I made a friend there, a little robin, I used to come in in the morning and open my lunch bag and feed him right away, I used to shout Dick! Dick! and he would come straight out of the trees in the wood on to my seat in the cabin and he would have his lunch and he would have his feed and he would just sit there,. He came regular for two years and then the next time he came he sat on the hard floor and he only had a stump as it had been frozen in the winter and I christened him Peg Leg.
An interesting story. I was a boy of 15 year old and you can imagine at 15 what size you were. And the tool vans, there was three engines and a large crane and the big van and the long fat wagon and they would go up to Tanfield and it took three engines to get them up the incline.
So one time they got them up the incline and I was a switch lad at the bottom of the bank and everybody went home and left me, a little lad, to look after this runaway switch which was supposed to run them into a field . They came down the incline and took the outside lane passed my Cabin where I was and passed my runaway switch onto the flat on towards the top of Lobley Hill . The switch was in the cabin, and I closed it down and fastened it down and went along and put chocks in the blades so that they kept shut. I was there till two lads come down from Sunniside to keep me company. The two lads liked the idea of being on the railway and I had already sanded the road and we were just waiting when the chap who minded the gates and signal box at Lobley Hill, come along and he said they were a long time coming. He said "have you heard anything?"
I said "no I have been phoning but I cannot get no word where they are" And it was about half past eight or nine o'clock at night . There was a lamp coming down the incline and some men walking. You could see where they were. When he came back he said, "ring the bell son, give them four rings on the bell." This was an electric bell in the cabin which rang at the top of the incline and when I rang, the driver, who was sitting on the step outside the cabin at the top, heard the bell ring, so he knew then that we were ready for him.
They set away to go down the incline. They got to about the Marquis. The Driver was Jenny Jackson's father and he reversed his engine and the lever flew back and hit him in the jaw and he fractured his jaw. The fireman got on the step to jump off but he dare not jump off because it was going that fast. So they were worried about what I was going to do with it a runaway train , But it went straight on passed the runaway switch so I was pleased when it went passed, I had saved the runaway train.
That railway was important to Sunniside and Street Gate it gave people a lot of jobs. Everybody had an interest in the railway. Holmeside Terrace was built by the Inspector. There was a cottage at the top of Alexandra Terrace The name of the cottage was Bracken House, and I can remember the two old people who lived in it. They had a family of two boys and they both were railway guards and a sister May Dobson. She was in the first world war as a Police Woman. I can remember the old man sitting outside the door of Bracken House when I used to come home from the Chapel.
There is no sign of the railway there now only the Tanfield Railway.
Will Harrison on his 90th birthday in 1994
Sadly Will Harrison died in 1998 aged 94 after what he described as a "marvellous life".
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 Accidents
Nicholas Marr
In 1911 Nicholas Marr, aged 15, a pony driver at Andrew's House pit, was killed while riding on top of a set of wagons laden with coal going down Baker's Bank. His head hit Swan's Bridge and he fell onto the railway line. He normally travelled to work from his parent's home in Whitehall Road, Gateshead, by pushbike and had no authority to be riding on the trucks. The bank riders at this period were John Eltringham and Joe Harrison and they warned people not to ride on trucks but it went on just the same.
Jane Courtley
Another fatality occurred on May 7th 1909, when Mrs. Jane Courtley, aged 23, of the Teams, was killed by a coal wagon at the bottom of the bank near Watergate. She had ridden down on a set of wagons and was crushed as she got off. It was most unusual for a woman to risk life and limb in this way.
Explosion in Watergate Mine
On Thursday afternoon July 3rd 1947,an explosion of gas killed Henry Morgan, coal hewer, at the coal face in the North District, 3rd West, in the Stone Coal seam, about a mile from the shaft, 60 fathoms below ground. The under manager, Mr H.W. Storey, and some of the officials decided to go inbye at once to see if they could help, instead of waiting as was normal practise for the Fire and Rescue brigade. The outcome was that they got into difficulties and were overcome by gas.
The rescue teams from Elswick, Houghton and Crook duly arrived under superintendent F.Mills and rescued them but not before William Hopper, one of the fore-overmen collapsed and died.
Doctor Edward Smith, the colliery doctor, went below to give assistance while his brother doctor Wilkie stayed at the First Aid station on the bank. Seven men were sent to Newcastle Infirmary for treatment - deputy overmen R.Meek, G.Armstrong, R.Walters and S.G.Sinclair; Fore overman A.French, bargain man J.W.Thorpe; and H.Storey the under manager. They all recovered. Will Winter, stoneman and Bob Birkett, deputy were allowed home after treatment at the pit head.
Roof fall at Blaydon Burn Pit, December 1954
Swalwell resident, Patrick (Paddy) King, a Deputy at Blaydon Burn Pit and a Councillor for Whickham Urban District, was killed whilst trying to help another miner who had been killed by a roof fall. There was no compensation in those days but his widow did continue to get the regular coal allowance.
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".
Marley Hill
Marley Hill
At the start of the Twentieth Century there was a thriving industrial community in Marley Hill, with two collieries and a coke works with chemical works.
Marley Hill Colliery
Marley Hill Colliery
Coal had been mined in the area as early as the fifteenth century. Marley Hill Pit was in production by 1760. There was a break in production from about 1814 when it was abandoned as unproductive then reopened in1840.
Marley Hill Banner
The original shafts at Marley Hill were sunk to a depth of 550 feet to win coal from the Brockwell seam. Eventually these were extended more than two miles from the shaft. After geological difficulties in the Brockwell seam, two mechanised faces were established. The 7 feet thick Hutton seam and the 5 feet Busty seam were worked by pneumatic picks. The 2 feet 3 inch Tilly seam was developed and mechanised output began in 1970. Marley Hill Colliery employed 850 men, 700 worked underground.
From the end of 1981 there had been a run down in production leading to two thirds of the men being transferred to other mines.
It finally ceased production in 1983. In March that year, almost half of the staff were either moved to other areas or made redundant. A skeleton staff (of 160) was left to salvage materials for use in other mines. Of the thirteen pit ponies, ten were sent to rest homes or "adopted" by families while the remainder continued their working life at Sacriston Colliery
The colliery was situated to the south of the main road now running through Marley Hill and was Gateshead's last working colliery.
Clockburn Drift
The drift opened in 1952 between Winlaton Mill and Marley Hill Colliery, and coal was brought out near Winlaton Mill from where it was taken by rail to nearby Derwenthaugh coke works. It closed with Marley Hill pit in 1983.
Andrew's Houses Pit
Like Marley Hill Colliery there is evidence of early mining. This was within half a mile south of Marley Hill. Coal mining on a large scale stopped in the late 1770's, but was renewed in 1839. The colliery had many owners until its closure in 1921. It was dismantled in the late 1920's but it was not until the 1980's that the shaft was finally filled in.
Marley Hill Coke Works
These were situated to the west of Marley Hill Pit. In 1848 there were 330 bee hive ovens but by 1902 only 210 were in production. In 1907 sixty Hussener by - product ovens were built. These were known as the "German Ovens". In 1929 the coke was sold as Marley Hill Wytot graded nuts and exported to Canada, USA, Argentine, Australia, China and Europe. The Coke works ceased production in 1937.
Marley Hill Chemical Company
These were opened to process the by-products of the Coke Works and were situated immediately to the north. They produced benzole, sulphate of ammonia, coal tar and creosote. They closed in 1937 with the loss of 250 jobs.
Blackburn Fell Drift
Blackburn Fell Drift, located south of Sunniside, was opened in 1937 and closed in 1979.
Blackburn Fell Drift
This drift mine on the open fell south of Sunniside had an incline of 1 in 12 and the Black Fell seam was worked 150 feet down by means of pneumatic picks. 250 men were employed and they produced 70,000 tons of coal per year. There were also many pit ponies working, some stabled underground and some on the surface. The underground workings reached almost as far as the Ravensworth Estate to the east and Beamish to the south.
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.
Celebrating the Coronation of King George 5th at High Marley Hill 1911
The bonfire was built by local people. The boy in the centre holding the kite is Bob Craig who lived in Prospect Terrace, Sunniside. He married Lily Douglas one of the Lingey Fine triplets.
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.
District Nursing As I Remember It 40 Years Ago.(1961)
Whickham at this time was part of Durham County. My interview for the post of District Nurse was with the Medical Officer of Health and the Health Committee.
My appointment covered Byermoor, Marley Hill and Sunniside. At that period District Nurses worked in a specific geographical area and cared for the patients of all Doctor's in that area. Nurse Hill's area was Swalwell and Whickham; Nurse Robinson was responsible for Dunston.
I was supplied with a uniform, which consisted of a navy blue dress with a starched collar, white apron and storm cap. I wore black stockings and sturdy shoes as my mode of transport was by bus or my two feet. Each nurse was responsible for the laundering of her uniform. I was very lucky that my mother was one of the breed used to possticks and starching in the old fashioned way.
There were very specific teachings regarding uniform.
1. Apron must not touch the lining of coat, therefore it was pinned up.
2. In a patient's house the coat must be removed, folded with the lining inside and placed on clean paper. These actions were to prevent contamination.
I was supplied with a nursing bag. It was made of metal with a linen lining. This had to be washed and changed every week. It contained various surgical instruments, glass syringe with needles, douche can with tubing, funnel with rubber tubing, kidney dish, bowl, dressing towel, soap and nail brush and towel for use of nurse. This was a time when disposable equipment was not in use and it was quite a performance when a douche was ordered, remembering that all equipment had to be boiled and we used the patients' pans.
At this time requests for my services was by a phone call from a Doctor but more often by a message being left at Tommy White's newsagent shop in Sunniside where I called each morning.
I won't go into detail of the nursing procedures of that day but I would like to describe how injections were prepared. Hypodermic syringe with the barrel removed and two needles were put into a saucepan {supplied by the patient} covered with cold water and boiled for five minutes. After rinsing they were boiled again replaced in the nursing bag ready to go through the same procedure when needed again. Nurse always carried a jar of cotton wool swabs soaked in surgical spirit used for sterilising the skin.
Surgical dressings was quite a complicated procedure, apart from having to boil all instruments in the patient's home, dressings were prepared by the nurse. Gauze, cotton wool swabs and pads were placed in a clean tin and baked in an oven for one hour. This tin would then be left at the patient's house. It was very rare to have white dressings they always looked slightly sunburned. Luckily this was the time of open fires and disposing of soiled material was no problem.
As I said before my method of travel was either by bus or shanks pony. I'm amazed on looking back how much walking I did, especially in snowy weather when buses weren't running, walking to Byermoor wasn't much fun. I remember when doing relief work at Swalwell, it was a Sunday and in those days buses from Swalwell to Whickham were infrequent and I was more than grateful when Charley Kidd who was our local undertaker offered me a lift in his hearse (I would like to point out there was no coffin in at that time).
Life became much easier when I passed my driving test in 1963. I bought a beautiful pale blue MINI for £500. The money for this was provided in the shape of a loan from Durham County Council, which was repaid by a certain amount being deducted from my salary over the next five years.
Later on many changes were made. Boundaries were changed. Whickham became part of Gateshead so my employer changed. There were many more changes too numerous to mention. I know I will always remember the kindnesses and friends I made in my first district.My district covered Byermoor, Marley Hill and Sunniside.
Freda Spriggs, nee Grundy
Buses
Venture Bus Company
After the 1914-18 war, a Mr. Harper and a Mr Lockey commenced a daily bus service between Shotley Bridge and Newcastle. The service was started with converted army lorries and was the beginning of the present route no.11. After a few years the business was acquired by two brothers-in-law, G.R Harrison and W. T. Richardson. They operated under the fleet name Venture. They chose this name, because of the four-in-hand "Venture" coach belonging to a local colliery proprietor Major Priestman who was pleased to have the name carried on by the new Venture Buses.
At the same time as Harper and Lockey were commencing operations after the 1914-18 war, the Reed Brothers of Sunniside were preparing to recommence carrying passengers by road, a business which had lapsed as a result of that war. There were five Reed brothers who before the war had carried on a motor repair garage business at Sunniside with private cars for hire and an agency for Overtime Farm Tractors. They started operating a service between Bensham Tramcar terminus and the villages of Whickham, Sunniside, Marley Hill and Burnopfield.
In April 1914 they took delivery of a new 28 seat Halley charabanc which had only a short spell in service before being commandeered by the government for war service in September of that year . The chassis only was taken and the Reeds had to dispose of the body at a greatly reduced price after the war.
With the advent of war, four of the brothers joined His Majesty's Forces.
New bus
The fifth brother took a job on munitions and so the business lapsed until early 1918. In 1919 the business was formed into a limited company Reed Brothers Limited. Early in 1930, Reed Brothers Limited and Venture Bus Service Limited agreed to operate their services jointly and to pool their receipts. They operated under the fleet name Venture and Reed Brothers.
Reed's 'new' bus
In the 30s the business grew with the acquisition of other smaller companies and new bus routes. These included, in 1930, J E Walker of Edmundbyers (The Pioneer Bus Service), JR and RB Parker and J Clydesdale, both of Chopwell, also in 1930, and Robson Brothers whose Consett-based operation was acquired in 1933, with their High Spen services (the Yellow Bus Service) being taken over in 1934, these two services being run under the name of Robson Brothers Ltd. Finally, the business of Mrs Annie Bessford of High Spen was bought out in 1934 and became part of Robson Brothers Ltd.. All these services - Reed Brothers, Venture, and Robsons were eventually put into a new limited company, The Venture Transport Company (Newcastle ) Limited in 1938. The common livery for all its buses was yellow and maroon.
The situation at the outbreak of the Second World War was a newly formed company with a varied fleet of vehicles. Fortunately 34 vehicles had been delivered between 1937 and 1939. Throughout the war years only two vehicles were taken into stock.
During this time vehicles were often required at short notice to operate on troop transport under direction from the government. Due to fuel rationing several routes were withdrawn or curtailed, including the moor land route between Shotley Bridge and Stanhope.
After the war the company again began to expand and benefit from the lucrative traffic, which was available to most bus operators in the early post war years. In common with most other bus operators, the company, by 1959, had felt the decline in passenger traffic, which had been steadily taking place since the middle 1950s. In order to make economies, particularly on the money losing rural services, one-man operation was introduced in 1959.
Northern bus ticket
The original Reed Brother Limited liveries were green and cream, and the fleet of Venture services were red, maroon and white. When the pooling arrangement was in force the vehicles were painted yellow and maroon. In 1959 cream was introduced in the livery. In 1967 the company's head office was in Consett and the main depot and workshops were in Blackhill. In 1969 the Venture fleet, which comprised 85 vehicles with a yellow, maroon and cream livery, was sold the Northern Bus Company.
Fare Table
Marley Hill
Marley Hill CPSMarley Hill Community Primary School, a stone building facing the road, celebrated its centenary in 1995. Over the years there have been only 7 Head Teachers, namely: - Mr. Dewhurst 1895 - 1913, Mr. Bellerby 1913 - 1945, Mr. Atkinson 1947 - 1965, Mr. Gardener 1965 - 1971, Mr. Sykes 1971 - 1991, Mr. Rowland 1991 - 1999, Mrs. Westgate 1999 - to the present day.
The school started off, under the control of Durham Council, as a small village school catering for children aged 5 - 14 years old. The Senior Pupils transferred to Burnopfield Modern School in 1958. In 1974 the Infant and Junior school was taken over by the Gateshead Authority.
Over the years the numbers of children on the roll have fluctuated. In 1895 there were 240 pupils, but by 1977 there were 330. Since Cloverhill School opened in 1977 the roll has dropped and today there are approximately 150 children in five classes.
Marley HillThe school was first extended in 1964 with the addition of a hall, inside toilets and a classroom. It was further extended in 1974 with another classroom. Gas central heating was installed in 1978, so the caretaker no longer had to stoke the boilers!
Today, in spite of many changes, it is still the happy caring school with the family atmosphere that most past pupils and former staff remember with nostalgia. It can look back with pride over more than a hundred years at the achievements of others.
Billy Kendall (born 1906)
Mr Kendall was born in 1906 at High Row, Marley Hill. 
At the age of 14 he went down Marley Hill Pit for 10 shillings a week, working shifts of 9 to 10 hours. He worked at the pit for 48 years.
In 1938 he sat his Deputies Certificate, after being coached by a teacher from Marley Hill School. He also had to take a hearing and sight test.
As a deputy he had to take a Glenny Lamp down the pit to test for gas - the smaller the flame the more gas there was. He had to go down on Sundays to take measurements.
Eventually Bill became a Training Officer at Marley Hill Colliery following a 3 months safety-training course at Middlesbrough. He had to take the trainees for six weeks to the Morrison Busty at Annfield Plain. He retired at 64 years.
Bill was Secretary of Marley Hill Welfare Hall, which is now Marley Hill Community Centre.
Bill remembers:-
* the grass on the football pitch being withered as the result of its proximity to the acid plant at the Chemical Works.
*Elizabeth Kendall, nee Simpson had a shop in her house. She made meat pies for sale and sold basic foods, black bullets and yeast, as most women baked their own bread.
*Once a week the storeman from Burnopfield CWS coming round with his horse and cart selling everyday necessities.
*Eating chocolate sandwiches and ones with just sugar in them.
*When canaries were used to check for gas.
*When the pit ponies were pensioned off.
*Allotments, pigeons, leeks and chrysanthemums.
*The many deaths and accidents down the mines, particularly one when a man had his leg blown off.
*When the pits were taken over by the N C B in 1947.
*He is still known as his nickname of Lovely, which came about when he was an overman. If he wanted to compliment some one on their work he would say "lovely, lovely".
Mrs Ellis, caretaker at Marley Hill School (born 1908)
Mrs Ellis started in 1945 and was there for 18½ years.
There were 10 outside toilets, which regularly froze in the winter.
She was paid an extra 4 shillings for lime washing the toilets.
The meals for 150 pupils arrived in containers from Burnopfield Central Kitchen. There were 3 helpers.
Mr Bellerby, the Headmaster, lived in the School House for which he paid 2 guineas a week rent.
4 tons of coke was delivered to the school each month. It was dumped in the yard and she had to shovel it into the boiler house. There was often a heap of coke lying in the schoolyard.
Mrs Elllis helped at the Coronation celebrations in 1953, which was held in Marley Hill Welfare Hall. The Burnopfield Co op loaned a television set for the day and it poured down with rain. Mrs Ellis was responsible for the staff toilets.
Her salary when she retired was £4.14.6d per week with 2 days extra pay for her length of service!
Mrs. Nellie Ralph
Nellie sold fish and chips from her scullery that she had cooked in her set-pot!
Mrs Polly Wringer
Polly had a shop in her front room selling sweets and pop. When she was she ninety had a boy friend who was ninety three. He used to visit her in his pony and trap.
Mr. Jack Johnston
Jack was born in 1901 and died in 1980. He was a well-known character in the area being the butcher in Reed's shop. He used to slaughter animals in a yard at the back of the shop. Jack was a very cheery person who always had time to ' pass the time of day' with you. When he retired he became 'Lollipop Man' for the children at Marley Hill School never failing to be on duty in all weathers.
Marley Hill Dates
1904 Will Harrison, last brakesman, was born on 25th. March in High Marley Hill.
1926 Railway accident at East Tanfield on the 13th of April.
1932 The railway line originally known as the Pontop and Jarrow is now to be known as the Bowes Incline.
1936 Miners' Welfare Hall opened by Duke and Duchess or York (the present Queen Mother)
1937 "German" Coke Ovens closed.
1958 Senior pupils transferred to Burnopfield Modern School.
1962 Bowes Incline was closed on September the second.
1964 The Tanfield line was closed.
1964 First extension to Primary School, including indoor toilets.
1974 Additional classroom built by Durham CC, then school transferred to Gateshead MBC
1978 The Tanfield Line was taken over by amateurs and the first stage opened was from Marley Hill to Bowes Bridge.
1982 The Tanfield railway was extended to Sunniside.
1983 Marley Hill Colliery closed.
1995 Marley Hill School Centenary.
1998 Will Harrison, the last brakesman, died on the second of February.
Rev. Alan Gales
The Rev. Gales was the longest serving vicar of St. Cuthbert's Church, Marley Hill from 1963 - 1994. He was very popular with all his parishioners, always being available and mixing freely in the community.
Mr. Vic Dillon
A well-known builder in the area, Mr. Dillon dedicated his life to the Federation Brewery and Sunniside Social Club in particular. He was on the board of management at the Northern Club Federation Brewery from 1968 and was Brewery Chairman from 1974 until his death in 1984.
Mr. Lawrence Dewhurst
Mr. Dewhurst was Headmaster of Marley Hill Council School from 1885 -1913. He was highly respected in the area and was involved in all aspects of life in the community. Even in retirement people would consult him for advice. Mr. & Mrs. Dewhurst and their 7 children were the first occupants of the School House. On retirement they moved to a new house on Metal Bank (Sunniside Road) called 'San Souci' (translated - 'care free'). He was organist of St. Cuthbert's 1883-1920 and died in 1926. He is buried in the churchyard. Dewhurst Terrace in Sunniside is named after him.
Tess Larmour (born 7th January 1923).
She spent the Second World War Years in the ATS.
Tess remembers sad and happy times.
When the German Coke works employed 200 people and the acid plant and the tar beds were another source of employment.
Tthe miners in Middle Row, back -to -back houses with six shared toilets at the end of each street.
The deputies living in Post Office Row and these houses had "proper" toilets.
The pit communities were very close, everyone helping each other.
How the miners’ lives revolved around the pit, the chapel and their allotments.
How the women’s lives revolved around the pit, the children and their home, they had to rise early for washing, cleaning, cooking. They led very busy lives but always made time to tidy up and to get washed and changed before their man came home from the pit. They had to have the hot water ready for the bath at the end of the shift. In an evening the women’s entertainment was to sit outside in the street and chat to their neighbours.
The fear when the pit siren sounded and everyone gathering at the pit yard for news of casualties. The ambulance was kept at the Hobson Colliery and unfortunately was frequently in use.
1949 she remembers the wages robbery at Marley Hill pit.
Social life revolving around the Primitive and Wesleyan Chapels.
One of her earliest chapel memories is learning and saying her “piece�? for the Easter Anniversary.
Making mistletoes with holly and mistletoe at Christmas, the smell of the fruit and vegetables at Harvest Festivals and the yearly chapel trip.
The yearly school trip on the first Friday in July when the children and their mothers filled two buses.
Polly Winger who had a shop in her front room selling sweets and pop who, when she was ninety had a boy friend who was ninety three and used to visit her in his pony and trap.
Nellie Ralph selling fish and chips from her scullery on Fridays that she had cooked in her set-pot. She still managed to have a wash as good as anyone else.
Tess moved from Marley Hill when she was eight years old.
Violet Watts born 1912.
The cokeworks at Marley Hill
Violet moved to Bensham when 8 months old but spent a great deal of time with her grandparents at Marley Hill until going to work in London in 1932. Her Grandfather worked at Marley Hill Cokeworks (known as the "German Cokeworks"). She remembers watching him looking after his pigeons and him sitting on the back doorstep knitting socks.
St. Cuthbert's Church - Marley Hill
St.Cuthbert's Church at Marley Hill was built in Gothic Style in 1877 and was capable of seating 254 persons. It was built at a cost of £3000, was paid for by Public Subscription and was consecrated by the Bishop of Durham on 15th November of that year, whereupon the Ecclesiastical District automatically became a Parish.
Previously services were held in the old Methodist mission. When the Wesleyans vacated their old chapel in 1870, the Church of England began to use the former mission for Sunday worship only; the building being used as a National School from Monday to Friday. The original mission had a communion table, font, pulpit, harmonium, and a vestry partitioned off by curtains to suit the needs of Church of England services.
The first recorded baptism took place on 18th November 1877. The first burial was on 17th December 1877 and the first marriage, William Spencer Telford to Mary Gray Thirlaway was on the 16th of January 1878.
There are three stained glass windows in St Cuthbert's, one on the East Side, 'A Memorial Window' inscribed "I was sick and you visited me" which was paid for by public subscription. Two other windows were dedicated to a former churchwarden, Mr Cuthbert Berkley.
The Organ in St Cuthbert's Church was by Nicholson of Newcastle. A second hand organ was bought for £275 and installed in 1922, replacing the piano used since 1910, which was replaced by an electronic organ in 1955. In 1960 the Choir Vestry was enlarged, the cost being met from the sale of the old Chapel, to the Over 60's Club and a gift of £100 from Mrs S. Liddle.
The longest serving Vicar was The Reverend Alan Gales who was at the parish for over 31 years. He was born on 28th November 1929 and originated from Birtley. To find out more about him go to people of note Marley Hill.
In the thirties and forties many groups met at the vicarage including the Sunniside Guides and Scouts and a Boys' Youth Club. After the War, Harry Roddam held woodwork classes for the young men and the Youth Club Soccer team also trained there. In 1952, an Over 60's Club was formed at Sunniside and the building was widely known as the Over 60's club 'Headquarters'. It was sold in 1995.
Marley Hill Wireless Station
Marley Hill Regional Wireless Station was one of eight similar stations opened in 1942 by the Home Office Communications Branch. Its function was to transmit messages to police cars located anywhere from the Scottish border to the North Riding of Yorkshire - an area which amazingly included 12 county, borough and city police forces. The various police force headquarters passed messages to Marley Hill by private-wire telephone, and operators there transmitted the messages to cars using a powerful transmitter and a giant 140-foot mast, which dominated the site. This was a one-way morse system - the cars could not reply - and the cars of all forces heard all of the messages, even those from other forces. Marley Hill and the eight other stations together covered the whole of England.
This early scheme, known as the Medium Frequency Regional Scheme, was superseded in the early 1950s by individual two-way VHF radio schemes for each police force. These schemes did not utilize any of the nine existing sites - the masts and transmitters for the new schemes were situated on numerous new hilltop sites chosen to optimise coverage of the desired areas.
Having lost its communications function, Marley Hill, like the other eight establishments, became a Regional Wireless Depot responsible for maintaining the fixed, mobile and portable radio equipment used by police forces - and later by fire brigades too. The giant transmitting mast disappeared and was replaced by the much smaller mast we see today. This mast has a very mundane function; it provides communications between the depot and service engineers working around the area.
In the mid-1990s the depots were privatised - Marley Hill is now operated by NTL.
Marley Hill - Category "D"
In 1951 Durham County Council designated Marley Hill a "Category D Village". With the demise of industry and the subsequent decrease in population it was felt that there was no way of sustaining the village in the future. This meant that no new building or development could take place. In 1974 Gateshead MBC undertook an investigation into its Category "D" villages. It was not until the 1990s that new building took place in Marley Hill for the first time in fifty years. Sandygate Mews and St. Cuthbert's Park were built along the former Pit Road.
Marley Hill - Large Detached Houses
The following houses were in existence at the start of the century but have now been demolished:- Bread & Milk (condemned in the late 1920's), Fen House, which was the colliery farm, and Wood House. These houses are still in existence:-Redlands, School House, Longfield House, The Grange, Greenfield House and Sandygate House.
Marley Hill - The Pre-Fabs
Noble Street and Dean Street were built after World War 2, in 1948, as emergency housing. They were opposite the school and were demolished in 1969.
Marley Hill - Aged Miners Homes
The Aged Miners Homes were built by the Durham Aged Mineworkers Association for the Marley Hill Group. It was opened in May 1937 by Lord Glamis.
Marley Hill - Andrews Houses
Andrews Houses were situated near to Andrew's Houses Pit and very close to the Bowes Railway Line. They were originally part of Chester-le Street Rural District until 1936 when they transferred to Whickham Urban District. This area consisted of Bowes Terrace, Gibraltar Row and Marley Hill Terrace. Bowes Terrace was built 1871 as back-to-back houses but in 1921 was converted into through houses. They were demolished in 1938 when the occupants were re-housed in Fernville Avenue, Sunniside. Gibraltar Row was built 1874 and later Marley Hill Terrace. These rows of houses were demolished in 1960, when the occupants were rehoused in Neill Drive, Sunniside.
Marley Hill - Waggonway Row
Waggonway Row was built in the 1840s right alongside the Pontop & Jarrow Railway, near to the Coke works. In 1901 fifty-five families occupied the houses with a population of 290. It became known as High Row. A 1959 map shows the west end of the row to be in ruins and the whole row was demolished in 1960.
Marley Hill - Post Office Row
This row of houses was built in 1845, with a shop being added in 1860. However it was not called Post Office Row until a post office opened in the shop in 1890. The row was demolished in 1973.
The Name of Marley Hill
The origin of the name Marley Hill may have come from the fact that Marley means a clearing near to a boundary or from a corruption of the name of the owners of the land in the twelfth century- the de Merleys. It is of course on a hill!
Marley Hill - Church Street, Cuthbert Street and Glamis Terrace
These streets were built in the early 1900's by John Bowes and Partners, the first being Church Street North and St. Cuthbert's Street. Church Street South was built in 1913 for colliery officials and had front and back gardens. Gas lighting was installed in 1914. Glamis Terrace was built in 1925 behind Church Street South and the houses were much superior to the others, having three bedrooms, inside toilets and electric lighting. These houses are on the main road through Marley Hill and are still standing. When the pit closed in 1983 sitting tenants were given the opportunity to buy the properties from the National Coal Board.
Marley Hill - Pit Rows
Chapel Row, Coke Row, also known as Cinderburn Row, and Middle Row
-were situated nearest to Marley Hill Pit. Chapel Row was originally called Front Row until a Primitive Methodist Chapel was built on the end of it in 1853. In 1901 twenty-seven families lived there with a population of 176. It was demolished in 1936. Coke Row was demolished sometime before 1939, and Middle Row was the last to go in 1960.
Marley Hill - The Hole
Built in 1840's on the Pit Road. Some of these houses were affected by a mud-slide, which occurred when the families were at the Durham Miners' Gala, in 1901. Whether this is true or not it is said that on hearing that any family whose house was wrecked would get one of the new houses being built on Church Street, families started shovelling back inside the mud they had removed!
The Hole, or Valley as it became known, was demolished in 1920 on the recommendation of the Deputy County Medical Officer of Health. They were the first of the old pit rows to be demolished. In 1980 The Hole became a landfill site.
The Streets of Marley Hill
The buildings in Marley Hill were typical of a pit village. There were rows and terraces of back-to-back houses, all within walking distance of the pits. The pitmen's homes were very basic, usually with one room downstairs and one upstairs, which was reached by a ladder from the downstairs room. The floors were stone and in front of the fire would be a proggy mat. This was made from old clothes, which were cut up and "progged" into hessian. As there were no kitchens all the cooking was done on the open fire or in the oven, which was attached at the side of the fire. There were no inside toilets but ash middens outside across the road. Water came from a cold-water tap on the wall.
As Marley Hill had been a thriving industrial village since the nineteenth century many of the colliery houses had been built in the early to mid 1800's.
Memories of WW2
"The first memory I have of the war was when the proprietor of the local shop (Mr. L. Jarron) came down the street shouting that war had been declared. Everyone was standing at their doors."
"Concrete barricade blocks were built on certain roads. There was just enough space for one vehicle to pass through. Do you remember where these were?"
"One day while on the way to the hairdresser's in Back Row a plane came overhead and a man pushed me over a wall by Spoor's Chapel. The plane was a German one and it machine-gunned children playing in the schoolyard in Rye Hill."
"The night they bombed the Derwent instead of the Tyne the sky was lit like illuminations with flares and incendiary bombs."
Home Guard Certificate
"All the women of the pit streets used to hold Beetle drives (no Bingo then) to raise money for a victory party after England won the war."
"Air raid sirens were sounded after the Chamberlain broadcast on the wireless, which woke the baby."
"If bananas appeared in fruit shops there were big queues. Bartering food for goods and services was usual in the village. People grew their own vegetables. Patterson's nursery on Grange Lane was where the prisoners of war were put to work."
"A shell came across the park and landed in a lady's back yard. We thought it was German but it came from the big gun in Lobley Hill known as Big Bertha, The heavy Ack Ack battery sited on Fellside Road. Everyone was evacuated from their homes and came to our house."
"An army camp of the Kent's regiment was on Fellside Road and Larkspur."
"My father and others used to bring them (soldiers) home for supper and we even had their wives come to stay."
"I used to deliver the newspaper (to the army camp) every day and used to look forward to my huge mug of tea and a big jam sandwich."
"Holidays were spent at home. Bands played and we had dances. The army played football matches against Whickham in fancy dress."
June moved to the trading estate making filters for gas masks while other buildings were being adapted for producing shell cases. The pay was five pounds a week. The pay was increased when working on furnaces.
"Working on the furnaces was alright in winter."
Marley Hill Home Guard
"The Gibside Estate was used during the last war as a training ground for the Army and the Home Guard for grenade and Sten gun practise etc., the canteen being in the now derelict hall."
"My daughter was getting christened in church, another lady was a godfather short. So one of the young soldiers who had just arrived from France stood as a godfather for her."
"At a time of very heavy bombing in London, Cockney evacuees arrived on Tyneside. A group of children, mothers and grandmothers were billeted in the disused church school building in Dunston. My grandmother was in the WRVS. I went with her when she went to see how they were coping. I remember being fascinated by their Cockney accents."
"We did not go to school full time from 1940."
"There wasn't a lot of room so the Catholic school children and the Board school children would go in the morning one week and the Hill school children would go in the afternoon. The next week it was reversed."
"I was playing in the street with my sisters and some friends because of course there was no traffic. Suddenly and simultaneously we heard a plane and a machine-gun firing and realised in fact they were above our heads and the bullets were bouncing along the street and our mother was shrieking at us to get in the house.
Our main interest was in looking round to see if we could pick up some shrapnel."
"Someone came knocking round the doors saying that the Dunston Board school was going to be opened and soldiers from Dunkirk would be billeted there and could people manage to offer a bath and a hot meal to one or two soldiers."