Tudhoe & Spennymoor Local History Society
Hume Street/Percival Family - Terry contacted us to ask if we had any photos of Hume Street in Merrington Lane, I have found photos of similar streets but none of Hume Street. Thomas Percival, b1846 a puddler at the ironworks, and his wife Eliza Jane moved from Sedgley, Staffordshire in 1870s. They lived at Barnfield Blocks in 1881, Chapel Street in 1891 and Hume Street in 1901. Eliza had 10 children, six surviving by 1911.
In 1911 there were seven adults and six children living in 5 rooms at Hume Street. Thomas and Eliza lived with one son, Enoch Joseph, an adopted son, Harry Heath aged 6, a grand-daughter Phoebe Isobel aged 3, a daughter Ethel Harris aged 32, her husband and three children. Also another daughter, Esther Allison aged 23, with her husband and one child.
In 1911 another daughter Martha Percival, aged 28, was a servant at 49 Duke Street, Darlington for the MacKenzie family, William, aged 68, was a widower and a builder and contractor.
In 1921 the Harris family are at Rise Carr, Darlington as George has moved to the rolling mills there after the closure of Tudhoe Ironworks. In 1939 several of the family members have moved to Bradford.
The Prince of Rome Has Been Found - Since 1913 a pigeon from Tudhoe Colliery has held the record for the longest distance ever flown by an English racing pigeon. He has now been found in Derby Museum by Kalwinder Singh Dhindsa. The bird was hailed The Prince of Rome after coming second in the race.
Kal is hoping someone knows the name of the pigeon before he received his new title and we would also be interested in contacting Chas. Thompson, or his relatives, who donated the bird to Derby Museum.
To see the full story of this remarkable bird click here.
In 1911 Nathan Benson (b1881) and Alice Orton (b1881) were living at 7 Rosa Street having recently married, they had three children Leo Orton Benson (b1911), Mary Elizabeth Benson (b1912) and Alice Benson (b1914). Sadly Nathan was killed in WWI serving in the Suffolk Regiment at the battle of Arris in 1917 and Alice died in 1918 leaving the children orphaned. Three of Alice's sisters stepped forward to look after and bring up Leo, who was taken by the Rutters, Mary, who was taken by the Ramshaw’s and Alice who was taken by the Keirl’s.
Alice Orton's parents were Robert Orton (b1835 Houghall) and Elizabeth Jane Wilkinson (b1841 South Hetton), who were living in Spennymoor in 1861 with their in-laws. By 1871 they were at Woodhouses, near Whitworth Hall, and Robert was a plate layer. In 1881 they were living at 11 Villiers Street and Robert was a foreman at the Coke Works, they had two sons and six daughters. In 1891 the family had moved to Ox Close Farm with another son. The family stayed at Ox Close Farm until they sold it to Mr. Jewitt in 1939. In 1963 the land was sold to Yuill who built a housing estate and a school was built on the site of the farm. (Spennymoor Remembered 2, Bob Abley.)
Leo Orton Benson was placed with his aunt Elizabeth Jane Orton (b1862) and her husband Robert Bulmer Rutter (b1864) at 60 South Street. Their daughter Mary Elizabeth (b1903), a milliner at 6 Market Buildings, Spennymoor, also lived with them.
Robert, a postman, and his twin brother were born in New York, USA, when the family lived there for a short period.
Leo worked hard and gained a scholarship to the local Grammar School but he wasn't allowed to continue his schooling. He left home and with the help of the Baptist Church he was given passage to Canada. It was a tough life for a young boy, working on farms for many different and often cruel owners but he worked hard and eventually became a manager of a large ranch. He lived until he was 94.
Mary Elizabeth Benson was placed with her aunt Dorothy Ann Orton (b1873) and her husband John Ramshaw (b1873) at 253 Tudhoe Colliery. They lived with daughter Elsie (b1900) an accounts clerk for J W Fleming, rates and taxes, and a son Thomas (b1904) a clerk at Weardale Steel, Coal & Coke Co.
John Ramshaw was a hewer who was out of work in 1921, as many miner's were at the time, he was born in Tudhoe and lived there all his life, he died in January 1939. He was Deacon of the Spennymoor Baptist Congregation and a member of the Tudhoe Colliery "George Pattinson" Lodge of Good Templars. His wife Dorothy Ann was buried at the start of August 1939 at York Hill Cemetery. She was a devoted member of Spennymoor Baptist Church for 50 years and was one of the first Sunday school scholars and a vice-president of the "Women's Own". The cortege was headed by the members of the "Women's Own" and also present were members of the Women's Institute and Temperance organisations.
Mary Elizabeth never married, she became a nurse and moved to Hertfordshire and later in life moved to Rugby where she ran a boy’s home for the local council for many years. She died aged 84.
Alice Benson was placed with her aunt Judith Orton (b1870) and her husband William Henry Keirl (b1867 Somersetshire) at 11 Villiers Street. They lived with four sons and six daughters.
Henry was a colliery banksman at Weardale Coal & Coke Co. Tudhoe Colliery. His sons worked at Tudhoe Colliery and one daughter, Edith Annie (b1898), was a shop assistant at Doggarts Clothier & Drapers. In 1891 and 1901 William and Judith lived at No. 1 Cottage Ox Close Farm. In 1939 Judith was living at Ivy House in Tudhoe Village with her daughter, Norah, and son-in-law, Dick Dobson, a gamekeeper and auxiliary fireman.
Alice, aged about 16, went south to work in service for a very kind family at Swalcliffe Park. She married a local boy in the village and they had 3 sons, she died in 2016 aged 102.
Michael Davitt Kelly - Michael was born in 1883 in County Derry, Ireland. In 1911 he was working as a Publican's Manager in Newcastle and in 1921 he is boarding with Thomas Smith, his wife Mary, and their daughter Blanche Selina, at 16 Villiers Street, Spennymoor. Thomas was a wagonwright at the Weardale Iron Coal Company. Michael was working as a Billiard marker in Tudhoe and Spennymoor Working Men's Club. By 1925 Michael had returned to Co.Derry where he died. Brenda is interested in his life in England as she says it was shrouded in mystery and the family rumour is that he was in the war and then suffered from shell-shock. If anyone has additional information please let us know.
Noah Grainger - The Grainger family moved from Dudley to Durham in the mid 1800s to work in the local mines. James, who was born in Half Moon Lane, would be interested to find any military information about his father Noah (1897-1976). Many thanks to John Grainger who has sent us the following information.
Noah Grainger (b 18.4.1897 & d 4.5.1976) enlisted as Private 6/2763 Durham Light Infantry (6th Battalion) and entered France on 2nd October 1915. He was living at 64 Salvin Street, Spennymoor when he enlisted. He was attached to the 3rd Entrenching Battalion when he was wounded (GSW) in the chest on 23rd April 1916 and this resulted in his discharge from the army on 22nd May 1917, he was awarded a Silver War Badge and also a 1915 Star, BWM & Victory medals for his service. The 6th Battalion were near Ypres in March/April 1916 and moved to Albert, Somme in mid August 1916.
In 1921 Noah is a butcher for the Co-op living at 64 Salvin Street. In 1926 he has his own butcher's shop in Half Moon Lane and is advertising in the Spennymoor Official Guide.
Centenary of the Spennymoor Cenotaph, unveiled on 15th October 1922.
Mr J.H.B. Forster J.P. of the Weardale Steel, Coal & Coke Co. Ltd. performed the unveiling.
Mr E.C. Kenmir designed the memorial which cost £1025 and was made of Greenlaw Stone by Lowes of Durham. The names of the fallen from the 1939-45 World War were added to the Memorial in 1982.
Further information can be found on the North East War Memorials Website
Robert Gray, grocer Tudhoe Colliery David wondered if there was a photo of his ancestor Robert Gray or his grocer's shop in Tudhoe in 1890's before he moved to Grosvenor Road in Newcastle. Robert was born in 1844 in Durham City and he married Monica Frances Pickering in 1881, she was born in Tudhoe in 1853. She died in 1893 aged 40 and was buried at St Charles Roman Catholic Church.
Looking at the 1891 census his address says Tudhoe Colliery but appears to be in Attwood Terrace between the Black Horse and Tudhoe Colliery Inn (now a house). Robert is mentioned in Whellans History of the County Palatine of Durham 1894 and Kelly's Directory of 1897 as Gray, Robert, grocer, Tudhoe Colliery. If anyone has additional information please let us know.
Rigby Family. Clare contacted us about her grandmother Beatrice Admire Rigby who was born in 1892. Beatrice's father, Job Rigby (b 1857, Wigan) and mother Elizabeth (b 1856, Wigan) were living at 20 Marmaduke Street in 1901 with her 3 brothers and 2 sisters. In 1911 the family are still in Marmaduke Street and Beatrice is working as a shop assistant in a piano and organ shop. She later moves to Ipswich where she marries Russell Charles Gooderham (b1898, Ipswich).
Her brother William Rigby (b 1883) married Lucy Jones (b 1884) in 1907 and in 1911 they were living at 7 Duncombe Street, William was a sugar boiler and confectioner. In 1920s and 1930s they are living in Barnfield Road, William is proprietor of the Weardale Cafe and his wife is the manageress. In 1929 in Kelly's Directory he is also a taxi cab proprieter.
Dene Valley, South Durham Cottages. We asked for help to identify these cottages, thanks to Sue Gray who has found they were in Dene Valley, called South Durham Cottages, south of Coundon. They were some of the first mining properties built in the valley, probably in the 1830s, to serve the John Henry Pit. They were below Howlish Hall and today the site of the cottages and pit is farmland.
Last year a lady queried the use of the frame hanging on the cottage wall and Beamish Museum were able to identify it as a ‘Water hoop’/’Steadying hoop’ which was used to aid in the carrying of a pair of buckets.
It’s an amazingly simple principle. The person stood in the middle of the hoop, with the two full buckets at either side of them, their handles facing outwards. Then they placed the edge of the hoop against the handles of the buckets and then lifted the buckets up. Normally when carrying a pair of full buckets unaided over any distance, a lot of energy is expended in holding your arms outwards, to keep the buckets away from the body/legs. With the hoop, all of that stress goes into the hoop and it becomes much easier to manage and a lot less painful. An improvement on the old, heavy wooden yoke (beloved of ye olde dairymaid), this had the added advantage of making it less likely that you’d spill the contents or that your clothes would get wet. The hoop only worked with two buckets, but you’d never dream of carrying less than two if you had to travel any distance to a well, pump or beck to get the precious stuff. Apparently the round hoop was the most common, knocked up by the local blacksmith no doubt, but the NE and the Scottish Borders favoured the square hoop.
Tudhoe Co-operative WWI War Memorial & Temperance Hall, Tudhoe Jim was interested in a war memorial unveiled at the Temperance Hall, Spennymoor in November 1919 and possibly located at the Temperance Hall, Tudhoe. This information is from the North East War Memorials website.
Low Spennymoor had the original Temperance Hall which was sold and became the Parochial Hall with the Temperance Movement going into hired rooms at Mount Pleasant School. Dodd's in 1897 describes the Tudhoe Hall as a little iron building, it was at the entrance to Tudhoe Lane where the current Victory WMC is now and appears on maps of Tudhoe from 1890s. Bob Abley says they built the Templar Hall in Cheapside, Spennymoor, 1909 this was the building to the right of Spennymoor Library. In 1935 Reavley states Templar Hall in Cheapside became the main centre of Temperance work but there was also a hall in Tudhoe Lane. Could the memorial have been destroyed when Tudhoe Co-operative was bombed on 30th August 1940?
If you know what happened to this war memorial or have information about the Temperance Hall in Tudhoe please let us know.
(Dodds, History of Spennymoor 1897; Reavley, History of Spennymoor, 1935; Bob Abley, Spennymoor Remembered Book 5, 2008.)
Bandstand Danny was interested in a No. 42 Bandstand which was delivered from the Lion Foundry Co. Ltd., Kirkintilloch near Glasgow to Spennymoor Junction in November 1925. This doesn't seem to be the Jubilee Park Bandstand which was erected in 1911 from James Allen Sen. & Son, Elmbank Foundry also at Glasgow. If anyone can provide information relating to this bandstand please let us know.