Tudhoe & Spennymoor Local History Society
October Talk - Monday 26th Oct 2026 at 7.30pm - AGM + The First Draft of Local History: The Role of Community Newspapers. by Archie Mackay.
Held at St. David's Church Hall, Tudhoe Lane, Tudhoe, DL16 6LL.
Free Entry.
Please note tea and biscuits will be served from 7pm at a charge of £1.
November Talk - Monday 23rd Nov 2026 at 7.30pm - The Old Halls of Co. Durham in the context of Gainford Hall. by Martin Roberts.
Members free, Visitors £4.
Click to view our 2026 programme.
October 1930 - Church, Mines, Sport, Weddings, Insurance/ Sample Family/ Rates.
Hosted by DurhamWeb.
Item of interest for the Langsdale family who managed hotels in Stanley, Spennymoor and Croxdale, Co. Durham.
We have received information from Scott in Austin, Texas about an item going to auction, it is an early 20th-century French Neoclassical style architectural onyx mantel clock and matching pair of gazebo-form garnitures containing standing figures in suits of armor. The entire 3-piece set weighs approximately 47 lbs. Mounted on the front of the clock is a clear brass dedication plaque that reads:
"Presented to Mr. & Mrs. J. Langsdale as a token of esteem on the occasion of their leaving The Commercial Hotel, Stanley. Nov 2nd 1911."
The Society has previously done research on John Langsdale's family when he left Stanley to manage the North Eastern Hotel in Spennymoor and the Nicky Nack Bridge Hotel at Tudhoe Colliery. Langsdale Family
Scott is asking us to share this information with local historians or potential living descendants (such as branches of the Langsdale, Hall, or Cummings families).
Auction Listing Details:
Austin Auction Gallery (Austin, TX, US) - Lot Number: 3484
Auction Date/Time: November 1, 2026, at 9:00 AM CST
Current Status: The item has an estimate of $300–$500, with a starting bid set at $200. The mechanical time-and-strike movement is by Japy Freres and is currently observed operating.
You can view the full description, photos of the inscription, and keep track of live bidding here:
Austin Auction Gallery.
He has provided us with some Family Tree information for possible living relatives.
The Children: John and Georgina had two children who survived into adulthood: William Langsdale (1895–1976) and Mona Langsdale (1906–1963).
The Hall Line: Mona married John Thomas Hall in 1927 and lived out her later years at Pear Tree House in Hamsterley, County Durham.
The Cummings Line: William married Hilda Cummings in 1924, whose father was a well-known local blast furnace manager.
The Society is unable to confirm the authenticity of this information and is supplying it in good faith.
If you have any further information please email us at tslhs@btinternet.com
Two Norman Cornish Exhibitions.
Click for details of a refreshed Norman Cornish Coming Home exhibition. at the Bob Abley Gallery at Spennymoor Town Hall.
Click for details of a Norman Cornish exhibition at the Bowes Museum (A life in Sketchbooks).
McGuinness Centenary
Click for details of McGuinness Centenary - New improved edition of the art of an underground miner.To celebrate the centenary of the artist’s birth in 1926, Robert McManners and Gillian Wales have produced a new, improved, edition of their 1997 book. This is on sale for £15.95 at the Mining Art Gallery in the Market Place in Bishop Auckland. For details see: Auckland Project McGuinness Centenary Exhibition.
The Society was formed in 1988 and its aims are to organise an annual programme of talks and outings and attend events promoting local history. For more details go to TSLHS History.
Click to view our Time Line. - 2024 is Spennymoor Town Council's 50th anniversary year so we have produced a Time Line covering those years. This started as part of a much longer time line originally compiled by Eric Coombes.
Click to view our Photo Archive - over 1,000 photographs of Tudhoe, Spennymoor and surrounding areas. These images are protected by copyright licensing regulations and are for personal use only, they cannot be copied, published or distributed.
Click to view our Requests for Information If you can help please e-mail tslhs@btinternet.com
Behind the Lines: a First World War Nurse and the fight for Survival. Our film about medical services on the Western Front and the contribution of Spennymoor people to them is free to view on YouTube under a creative commons licence.
To view the film, see more information about Kate Maxey, photos of the Film Premiere, details of DVDs, Education packs and film presentations go to Behind the Lines.
Situated on the south side of the Wear Valley, midway between the ancient settlements of Bishop Auckland and Durham, Spennymoor only came into existence during the mid 19C. Previously, eight villages, all now satellites of this small market town, surrounded the open common known as the Spenny Moor. Most of these, including Tudhoe, already existed when the Boldon Book, the North East’s equivalent to the earlier Domesday Book, was compiled in 1183.
650 years later, exploitation of County Durham's mineral wealth, principally its huge reserves of coal, began to help satisfy the needs of Britain's industrial revolution. This resulted in the creation or expansion of many towns and villages in the eastern half of the County. Spennymoor is one such example of this change.
By 1840, coal pits were being sunk around the Moor, soon accompanied by houses to accommodate the ever growing number of miners. An iron and steel works quickly followed, established here to exploit the large quantities of coal now being produced around the expanding settlement. While never completely absorbing any of the villages, it is now physically linked to Tudhoe.
By the turn of the 20th Century coal and steel had long given way to service and manufacturing industries while the expanded town now also functioned more widely as a dormitory to the large coastal conurbations set around the mouths of the Tyne, Wear and Tees. For more details go to History.