A nice sunny day but rather cold for our meeting, apologies from Peter, Iris, Irene and Shelagh who had previous appointments. Normally we would meet on the second week of the month but this was postponed because of half term in February where we missed a meeting.
Quite a fruitful meeting with many suggestions for further visits. An unexpected but welcome visitor was Dave Smith who nicely filled out our small group on this occasion. Dave informed us of a City Guide Walk to follow up in the footsteps of Suffragette Kathleen Brown which will be described later in the blog. Dave and his fellow City Guides are an invaluable source of local history information which you can not find on the Internet. As an example at out meeting we asked how many burns run through Newcastle and Dave came up with the 5 major burns off the top of his head giving us the history and location. He has supplied us with a map of the burns and their locations.
Val brought in a little booklet about Sandyford and Cradlewell written by Alan Morgan and part of a series of BYGONE booklets brought out by Newcastle Libraries and Information Services. It was interesting to note what Alan had written:
'Much of Sandyford and all of Cradelwell originally lay within the Township of Jesmond which was more extensive than Jesmond is today, reaching down to the Tyne were a salmon fishery is thought to have existed. In 1835 the Township of Jesmond was incorporated into Newcastle town.'
In The Steps of Kathleen Brown
On Wednesday 8 March 10.30am there was a free walk for International Women's Day by Newcastle City Guides. Iris, Maureen, Shelagh, Dave and myself followed one of the 3 groups of guides (a few were dressed in period costume) who talked about Kathleen's Suffragette experience, celebrating here history as a Suffragette and visiting the places that she demonstrated, broke windows, heckled politicians and was imprisoned. It all accumulated in a commemorate unveiling of a Blue Plague in her memory by the Lord Mayor and City guides in Grey Street.
Here are some photographs:
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| The usual subjects Shelagh Maureen and Iris |
The Spinney -
High Heaton
This wood marks the site of a tragic mining
disaster here at Heaton Main Pit on 3rd May 1815.
75 miners (41 men and 34 boys) were cut off from
the surface when water from old pit workings burst into the colliery. All 75
died. After the disaster one tree in memory of each of the victims was planted.
By 2003 about half the trees were in need of attention. Some were replanted by
the The Spinney Residents Association with money raised through a citywide
small grants project called Money for Change.
The Disaster
The miners working in Heaton Main Colliery’s
lower seams came into danger when their workings were extended under the site
of an older pit called Heaton Banks. This had been sealed by earth and boards
but over time had filled up with water.
On his morning inspection the Overman, William
Millar, (who would be responsible for checking the mines safety) was made aware
of a small amount of water dripping into the workings. The mines manager, the
remarkable mining engineer, John Bundle, was previously aware of a new bleeding
and had noted that great care should be taken. Millar and a team of workers
went to inspect the dripping further, but within a quarter of an hour the
dripping had worsened. A number of men were able to escape when a strong gust
of wind, which extinguished their candles, warned them that a torrent of water
was on its way towards them.They fled the mile upward to the working shaft
where they escaped, though the last man to reach the surfaces was up to his
waist in water before making it to safety. This unfortunately left everyone
working below, including William Millar, to their fate with no means of escape.
The Attempted
Rescue
Attempts were immediately made to reach the men
from other known shafts and workings, but were unsuccessful.
Three large engines were used to pump out the
water, but despite their efforts it appeared that the water level was rising.
Apparently the original pit had closed due to uncontrollable influx of water
and the men working in the new shafts were unaware of their close proximity to
these older workings, though the management was and understood the associated
risks.
The Recovery
On the 6th January 1816 the body of 79 year old
William Scott was found. His body was the first of many to be recovered and was
identified by his neck cloth. On the 26th of February 39 of the bodies found
were interred in trenches at the south-east corner of Wallsend graveyard. Many
of the bodies were found in a bad state of decay and all appeared to have perished
from starvation.
It would seem that the workers sought refuge at
a higher point in the pit and having marked the waterline were waiting for
water levels to drop. In the meantime they were digging their way to an older
shaft which could have led to their escape had their food supply lasted longer.
Their only food source was their pit ponies that had also become trapped.
The effect on local families was devastating.
The deceased miners left 22 widows and 77 orphans. Most families lost more than
one member and some even lost three generations in one day.
Some analysis of the victims
Same Surname Multiples Ages
Dixon 4 21, 26, 40, 64
Dodd 4 7,16, 36, 40
Gardner 4 15, 17, 20, 24
Gibson 6 18, 20, 22, 31, 45, 82
Gordon 2 15, 19
Gray 2 12, 14
Hall 2 15,21
Miller 2 15,16
Renwick 2 23, 25
Scott 2 21, 79
Southern 3 14, 18, 25
Steel 2 25, 25 (twins?)
Stoke 2 17, 42
Thaw 3 19, 19, 50 (twins?)
Thompson 2 16, 21
Watson 3 10, 12, 20
Widdrington 3 20, 28, 56
Total 48
of 75
By Age
0 - 10
years 6
11 - 20 years 26
21 - 30 years 18
31 - 40 years 10
41 - 50 years 8
51 - 60 years 1
61 - 70 years 2
71 - 80 years 1
81 -90 years 1
Total 73 (2 x age unknown)
Fatalities
Bainbridge, John, aged 42
Bryson, Andrew, aged 40
Campbell, Robert, aged 31
Curtis, Jacob, aged 15
Dawson, George, aged 36
Dixon, Arthur (jnr), aged 26
Dixon, Arthur (snr), aged 64
Dixon, Henry, aged 40
Dixon, William, aged 21
Dodd, James (jnr), aged 16
Dodd, James (snr), aged 40
Dodd, Simon, aged 36
Dodd, Thomas, aged 7
Elliot, William, aged 7
English, Robert, aged 36
Frome, John, aged 21
Gardner, Charles, aged 20
Gardner, Jas, aged 24
Gardner, Thomas, aged 17
Gardner, William, aged 15
Gibson, Edward, aged 20
Gibson, Edward, aged 82
Gibson, John, aged 31
Gibson, Matthew, aged 22
Gibson, Nicholas, aged 18
Gibson, Richard, aged 45
Gordon, John, aged 19
Gordon, Thomas, aged 15
Graham, William (jnr), aged 7
Gray, Christopher, aged 14
Gray, Thomas, aged 12
Green, William, age unknown
Hall, Ralph, aged 15
Hall, William, aged 21
Johnson, Matthew, aged 28
King, William, aged 16
Laws, George, aged 50
Lumsdon, Thomas, aged 18
Millar, William, aged 46
Miller, Nicholas, aged 15
Miller, Thomas, aged 16
Mitchinson, Shipley, aged 42
Newhill, John, aged 37
Nicholson, Lancelot, aged 29
Pratt, John, aged 10
Reay, John, aged 26
Redhead, John, aged 22
Renwick, John, aged 25
Renwick, William, aged 23
Richardson, Robert, aged 64
Robinson, John, age unknown
Robson, Edward, aged 34
Scott, William Cooper, aged 79
Scott, William, aged 21
Southern, Anthony, aged 18
Southern, Robert, aged 14
Southern, William, aged 25
Steel, George, aged 25
Steel, Robert, aged 25
Stokoe, Walter (jnr), aged 17
Stoke, Walter (snr), aged 42
Thaw, George, aged 19
Thaw, John, aged 50
Thaw, William, aged 19
Thompson, Thomas, aged 16
Thompson, William, aged 21
Todd, Thomas. aged 7
Unwin, David, aged 48
Watson, John, aged 12
Watson, John, aged 20
Watson, Thomas, aged 10
Widdrington, Henry, aged 20
Widdrington, Ralph (jnr), aged 28
Widdrington, Ralph (snr), aged 56
Wilson, Michael, aged 15
Sawdust Jacks have a new song and video out
Hi Everyone,
We were reminded that this year is the 125th anniversary of NUFC, and asked if we could do something in tribute.
It is very difficult to write a meaningful football song - they have been produced for decades - cup finals, world cups, celebrations etc.
Luckily, Newcastle do not win many such things so we are coming from the point of view of us; 'the fans'.
Hope you like it!
Here is a link to the song, and a lovely video produced by John Mitchell (cheers John!).
https://youtu.be/YTjlw64mCg0
Regards.
John
David has dropped off the new City Guides Walking Tours Booklet I will bring them along to the class and to out next meeting.
