Another meeting to discuss our local heritage, I am afraid Peter was left with our lovely female historians all to himself as John and I could not make it this month. Irene has been active with her family history which we saw a bit of in December, she still has plenty to add to the group and we are looking forward to her next talk in March.
This month I thought I would include an extract of Scotswood and Benwell from the 1858 Directory which gives you a little bit of history and also some social information. I would encourage you to look into these Directories as they give you a good insight into the social economic aspects of our local history. You can find them on the top floor of Newcastle City Library. It would be interesting if some one could fill in the details of the chapels of the Methodists of the New Connection.
Post Office Directory of Northumberland & Durham,
1858
Its around this time that the Tyneside Flats appeared in Maple Street Elswick around 1854 and some believe that the flats were an invention of William Armstrong or his architects to house his brand new workers for his brand new factory on the Elswick shore. They consisted of two-storey terraces of flats with one family occupying upstairs and another downstairs. Characterised by two front doors close to each other giving access to the upstairs and ground floor flats and often leading straight onto the front street. They had back yards often with an outside toilet and a small coal receptacle. They had eighteen feet wide rooms which were nine feet high.
