Tag: Local History
Christmas With Nout
Christmas once again, that magic time of year, and the usual spending sprees that seem to be part of our lives. But it wasn’t always...
Christmas in Consett – A Mixed Bag
Christmas was always a special time for me. We may not have had much money but our parents always made sure we had something...
Knitsley Viaduct and an Alarming Incident
Knitsley Viaduct, which spanned the valley between Knitsley and Lanchester,
was built in 1862 as part of the North-East Railway. It was a picturesque construction...
Lighting The Coal Fire
Coal fires in the mining villages of North West Durham
This feature length piece by local history writer Mike Bowden takes a look into the...
October Winds
Consett has always been famed for its inclement weather with its giant snow falls that had been known to devoured houses and cars, especially...
The Sinking of a Pit and birth of Delves Lane
There were numerous pits sunk over the years encompassed by the Crookhall Colliery, the most important, I suppose, to me and for this story,...
The Hermit of Allensford
The hermit of Allensford, Tommy Thompson, was born at Stanhope about the year 1857. Tommy was sexton there for 20 years, later moving to...
The Night Soil Men
These intrepid workers carried out their occupation in the dead of night, and removed night soil, which was a respectable term for human waste....
The Consett Iron Works
The Derwent Iron Company, the original owners of the Consett Iron Works, realised from the very start that they would need to amass a...
An Unusual Find – The Yager Story
Recently, while looking through a popular auction site, I came across a very unusual item of interest; a pair of old spectacles linked to...
