Monthly Meeting Notes June

Monthly meeting notes June

This month we held our meeting at Cullercoats Fishing Village, the weather was misty and a fine drizzle fell but this did not stop us from looking at some of the local history and heritage of the village.

We based our walk on the Cullercoats Art Trail brochure from North Tyneside Council Tourism Development as well as supplementing it with some of our own research, you can find a PDF download of the Art Trail here:

Cullercoats Art trail

North Tyneside Council Web site tends to move these links around, if you can not get to the down load page then try the following link from our shared area of the blog.

Art Trail shared link

Cullercoats Station

We started off from the Monument Metro Station and caught a Metro to Cullercoats Station. Joan had some interesting facts about the station

Cullercoats Metro Station

The original station opened by Blyth and Tyne Railway  1864; it was located further inland than the present station which was rebuilt in 1882. The old station was closed in 1882 and is now occupied by housing on Sedbergh road. The replacement station was built by North Eastern Railway and opened on July 3 1882. It was a popular station and a ticket count for 1911 showed 271,939 tickets were issued that year.

The only major architectural changes were alterations to the verandas in 1920 and the demolition of the station master house and adjoining signal box. Cullercoats Station was closed in 1979 for a year due to the conversion to the Metro system. Nexus who run the Metro had done some research which indicated that playing classic music reduced anti-social behaviour but that was subsequently discontinued.

Early History of the village

Joan gave us a brief description of the early history of the village starting off when it was founded in 1539 after the dissolution of Tynemouth Monestry. In Thomlinson's Comprehensive Guide to Northumberlan (1888) he estimates the age of the village to be no more than 300 years old. Originally it was called Arnolds Close, with a water mill and steaming salt pans. Before it became a fishing village Cullercoats main industry was mining and the production of salt by using the coal obtained through bell pits to fire large iron pans that evaporated the sea water after the sea water had been refined and cleared.

In 1682 a new harbour and pier was built and one of the first maps to show Cullercoats was Collins Chart of the Tyne which shows Cullercoats as Collarcoats, it was again listed as Collarcoats in the 1695 Great Britain's Coasting Pilot list.

1693-1793 Newcastle upon Tyne Northumberland Coastal Chart by Greenville Collins

 As the near by mines were depleted, coal was brought into the harbour by a Wagonway buit in 1690. By 1710 the coal had declined and in 1726 the last shipment of salt was taken from the harbour. The salt pans moved to Blyth leaving only the fishing to sustain the village.

Cullercoats has been described as having the best fish market in the North of England. In 19th century two piers were built at the harbour entrance.

harbour entrance

This provided shelter for fishing vessels and cobles. Boats were guided into the bay at night by two beacons, when lined up it was safe to turn into the harbour. Salt water baths were established in 1807 and with the coming of the railway in 1864 Cullercoats became a good location to visit as a day trip or to stay either on holiday or as a commuter.

Our journey from the station took us down Station Road and the first left down St Oswins Avenue.

 We looked at the former house of John Falconar Slater where a Blue Plaque has been erected to celebrate John Falconer Slater who was one of the leading members of the Cullercoats Artists' Colony, and is particularly renowned for his seascapes such as "Stormy Sea at Cullercoats" in the North Tyneside Council Art collection.

Former house of John Falconar Slater 19 St Oswins Avenue Cullercoats

Before becoming a professional artist, John Falconar Slater (1857-1937) worked as a book keeper for his father's corn mill, and then ran a store in the diamond fields of South Africa.
He exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1889 and 1936, and his work is particularly strong at depicting the different moods of the North Sea coast.
Slater lived in Forest Hall and then rented a house in Killingworth, where all his children were born. He also is recorded as living at various addresses in Whitley Bay, before moving to Cullercoats.
Regarded as one of the finest maritime painters of the period, he was nicknamed the 'weatherproof artist' for his practice of painting outdoors in all conditions.

 (Laurie McCann North Tyneside Council)

Stormy Seas, click on link below for larger image

 Larger image from North Tyneside Gallery


More details here on John Falconar here:

Travelling down to the end of St Oswins Avenue we turned left onto Marden Avenue until we reached Belverly Terrace where we saw two very interesting items. The first was the Adamson Memorial Drinking Fountain. Unveiled in 1888 the white marble spire rises from an octagonal trough. It has bronze lion head spouts more like dull grey iron due to the corrosive nature of the sea air, around the marble are motifs of dolphins, shell and foliate reliefs.  The trough has previously had drinking cups attached to it but they are sadly gone. The base has a white marble panel with the memorial to Bryan John Huthwaite Adamson whoes ship went missing 1887.

Adamson Memorial Drinking Fountain

To the south of the drinking fountain across the road a building can be seen as part of a terrace of houses that is unusual because it does not contain a second upper floor.

Joan explains this as mentioned earlier to provide safe access for boats who would align the mast with the one across the road to enable them to safely navigate the harbour in poor weather or at night.

John Wilson Carmichael Tynemouth from Cullercoats showing navigation mast

tynemouth-from-cullercoats larger print here:

 Our attention was now turned to the North and we walked a few paces to the Dove Marine Laboratory, now part of The Newcastle University Campus. The Laboratory was opened on September 29 1908 by the Duke of Northumberland but there was a small wooden laboratory which was on site in 1887 but lasted only 7 years before it was burned down. It is said that the lab has played a pivitol role in contributing to our understanding of fisheries science, marine organismal biology, ecology and of human impacts on our oceans.

Dove Marine Laboratory 

Dove looking south west

Our view from here looking north encompassed the Laboratory, the Lifeboat Station and Browns Point where an early wireless telegraphy station was located.

The photo above can not compare with John Falconar Slater's Cullercoats 1910 below

John Falconar Slater's Cullercoats 1910 

Larger image here:

Across the road on the junction of John Street, Beverly Terrace and Victoria Crescent is the Rocket Garage. The original location of the Cullercoats Volunteer Life Brigade dated 1867.

The  Brigade formed in 1865 and was only the second such brigade to form in Britain. At that time it numbered 60 to 70 men. They would have stored the life boat equipment such as rockets, lines, tackles and grappling hooks in what is now the Rocket Garage. Looking back over the road to the Dove and beyond you can see the current life boat station on the beach the original boathouse was built in 1896 and was funded by the Co-oerative Wholesale Society. The Watch House behind  is at a point where the villages would keep watch for the return of their folk,  it was built in 1879 to act as a look out tower for both the villagers and voluntary life brigade.

Lifeboat station showing the Watch House behind it

Watch House showing clock and bell

The look out tower was part of the clock turret which also contained a bell that could be rung in foggy conditions to guide the fishing cobles back to the shore. The clock works are those belonging the old Cullercoats clock, which some twenty years ago had, by the kindness of a few philanthropic individuals, been placed in the end of a private house for the use of the fishing population of the village, and with the consent of all concerned it was removed to the position in the new building which it now occupies.

 Just passed the Watch House across the road is Winslow Court, named after Winslow Homer and stands on the site of the former Bay Hotel Opened in 1870 as the Hudleston Arms, this was where Winslow Homer lived during his time in Cullercoats.

Winslow Court

Winslow Homer was part of the Cullercoats artists colony which dates back to the 1820's amongst those that were inspired by the  fisher folk of Cullercoats were Robert Jobling, John Falconar Slater,
William Henry Charlton, H.H. Emmerson, Birket Foster and J.D. Watson.

Mending the Nets Winslow Homer 1882

When the boats come in Robert Jobling (1841-1923)

Larger and more images here:

 Cliff House

 Our last leg of the tour was to Cliff House originally known as Bank Top House and just a few short steps from the Watch House.


Joan informs us that The Cliff house was built in 1768 by Thomas Armstrong, his occupation was a Commander of His Majesty's cuttter Bridlington, the customs vessel patrolled the seas from Newcastle to Sunderland to intercept smugglers, his pay was menial so how was Thomas wealthy enough to purchase land and build the house?

Thomas made his mark early in his career , he had engineered the dismissal of the previous captain and obtained the post, there were allegations by his crew, he had struck them or dismissed them. His expenses claims were queried by the Customs Board. Thomas had family members in the business, i.e. his farther who lived in Cliff House. His farther was Chief Riding Supervisor for the coast from Sunderland to Newcastle in charge of land operations against smugglers.

In 1771 Thomas was charged and convicted of permitting smugglers to escape, also of giving false accounts on seized goods. Thomas who had five previous investigations or complaints, was suspended for three months, paid a fine and received a severe public reprimand. he was allowed to return to sea by February 1772, even his mother-in-law suffered from his deviance, after his farther-in-law disappeared at sea, Thomas was executor and fraudulently obtained the inheritance. His mother -in-law brought a law suit against him, however whilst she was in London fighting her case, Thomas brought a counter action unknown to her, the result was she was jailed at Morpeth for contempt of court. In Newcastle 1776 Thomas and his associates including family deliberately allowed two notorious smugglers to escape from their care, he was dismissed from the service, however he accumulated wealth to start trading as a goldsmith, his wealth was proberly from a protection racket and partnership with smugglers.

The unique architecture of the house explains his secret life of crime e.g. a secret passage accessed by a trap door in his study, led down through the cliff to a small beach exit, now blocked by sea wall defences built in 1960's. The cellar had wrought iron bars, separating prison type cells with neck manacles. It may have been a bounded store, however by 1771 it was used to store smugglers and their goods.



The house was extended in the merging with an 1720 adjoining cottage and another cottage in 1840. A Harry Hewistson owned it in 1837. In 1846 the house was purchased by Robert Arkwright (son of Richard) for his wife Fanny. The Duke of Devonshire was a frequent visitor and it is suggested he had an affair with Fanny. The Duke of Devonshire's bedroom at Cliff House was said to be similar to his own at Chatsworth. In December 2004 Cliff House suffered severe fire damage.

 Useful links

http://www.cullercoats.org.uk/

Winslow-Homer-in-Cullercoats

Cullercoats an Artists Colony

Our next meeting will be back at the Hancock Museum upstairs cafe: Wednesday July 13 10:30. Topics for discussion is a trip to the Ouesburn, please bring along any material of interest.