Newcastle Local History Group: Meeting Notes March

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.'

The booklet is well worth looking at and sadly one of the few sources of old photographs of the area.

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:

The usual subjects Shelagh Maureen and Iris

On one of our previous meetings Peter had mentioned a place that both he and his wife had known but was unaware of its local history, here is a little bit of history that Peter has been able to find out.

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