Reports

South Tyneside Meeting - October 2004 "Old Jarrow" by Ken Goss A Report by Margaret Stafford

A bit of scene setting, the chapel at the mission in darkness so the slide show is visible, Margaret and the speaker relegated to the back of the room where the light can illuminate their notes, as each slide is introduced, Margaret writes furiously, by the time I look up we are onto the next slide. . . . . . . . . in other words another good night at the mission to seafarers!!!!

This will probably mean more to those of you with Jarrow connections or with a good A-Z so here goes!!!!

Firstly the commercial, our guests tonight were Ken and Ken-Goss and Findlay from the Jarrow and Hebburn local history society. The group meets weekly on a Wednesday morning (all right for those who are retired!) between 10 and 12 00 at the mid Tyne activity centre in Jarrow. you can drop in from time to time or attend regularly-the cost is £1 per visit which gets you a cup of tea/coffee and sometimes a chocolate biscuit. There are occasionally speakers and a quarterly newsletter is produced

The group was formed in the mid 1980s and has approximately 36 members. It maintains an archive of local historical documents and photos and publishes videos and books. The group will set up photo exhibitions-indeed we caught up with them a couple of weeks ago at the local history fair at Segedunum. We were the first family history group to receive a talk and with a new script, so we were honoured!

We started with a slide of St Paul's church, associated of course with Benedict Biscop and Bede-apparently the stocks used to be located next to the church- I suppose giving people a really clear choice between good and evil! Continuing the Bede theme we saw a picture of Jarrow Hall, built by Simon Temple. It had had a chequered career, at one point being owned by Shell-mex as well as becoming a council storage place for road-making equipment. During this point in its history Ken F admitted that as a child he was thrown out by the workmen after venturing in through an open door to have a look round! Now, happily, it serves a useful purpose as part of Bede's World.

Next came the Alfred pit, opened in 1803, closed 1851 always prone to flooding and accidents. The land was later leased to Palmer for the shipyard. Onto the old Don Bridge (these are in no particular sequence) and the Old Bridge Inn, known to locals apparently as McCagneys (spelling may be unreliable as I am not a local!), demolished in the 1920s, though the bridge is still there. The white cottages nearby were also built by Simon Temple for his workers, demolished in 1934.

There was a shot of the Drewitt park-or is it the playing field-the debate rages!!! It was donated in 1911 and was apparently more popularly known as Charlie's park after the first park keeper Charlie Harrison! On either side of the gates were information panels but when the group went to see them to see if they could resolve the issue of park vs playing field they had been demolished! The park had a bandstand used for Sunday afternoon concerts.

A shot of the Jarrow jetty showed the ship the William Boyce Thompson-unloading the first cargo of oil from Texas on 19 6 1923, now the place where the Nissan cars are stored. There was a wonderful shot of a back lane with the washing line up and clothes billowing in the breeze-Ken f recalled many a battle his mother had with the coalman to protect the washing! Onto Grange road with the Cottage pub on the right-a place of doubtful reputation we were told-demolished in the 1960s- with the Salvation Army just next to it-another juxtaposition of good and evil.

On the corner of Ormonde street and Elsdon Street we saw the jewellers and butcher shops-the latter, Andrew Patty, apparently did very good chops! We saw streets dominated by the cranes of the Palmer shipyard, toppled in the 1930s as shipbuilding came to an end. There was a lovely shot of Grange Farm-demolished in 1898-so that is why Grange Road is so-called, the lintel stone from the farm is now above the church hall at Christ Church. Grange Road West was where you would go to pay the gas bills to the South Shields Gas Company, just next to the Ben Lomond pub, variously remembered by members of the group as a place to have Saturday tea or a pint of beer.

We saw the original Jarrow town hall, demolished in 1899, replaced by the current set of council offices. The new town hall was built in 1902 and just next door to it was the other branch of Andrew Patty's butcher's shop. We saw the Jarrow pit heap (you have to admit we see the cultural cr=E8me de la cr=E8me!) and the Golden Fleece pub (there were two so-named apparently), this was the place the show men came to over-winter and St Peter's school used to have an influx of the showmen's children for 2-3 months before and after Christmas. intriguingly though the pit heap was always flat in living memory-where did it go to ? Presumably it was used to fill in the pit shaft but heap it continued to be called!

Then came a shot of the first Jarrow tram in 1906 going over the Don bridge. It went from West End Road to Tyne dock and no further- a victim of the in-fighting between Shields and Jarrow. The company became the British Electric Traction Company and the trams were replaced by buses. Then came the first shot of the Co-op buildings, these being in Market Square, part of which has only recently been demolished. The original building was demolished in 1906 after a fire and we saw a picture which convinced us all it had to be pulled down. It used to have a library, dance floor and was renowned for wedding receptions and Christmas parties. The Co-op grocery department was in North Street and in the same street was the post office, picture house and bakery. Matthew's plumbing shop on Bird street was formerly the Co-op cake shop-a bit of a come down!

A more recent shot of Grange Road in 1952 showed the town hall with a clock-apparently bought with the surplus from the Jarvis fund, set up to alleviate unemployment in Jarrow.

The Jarrow ferry made an appearance-the Dexter, built in 1883, a paddle steamer, Dexter was the mayor of Jarrow and a director of Palmer's. The Jarrow ferry landing was apparently near to where the pedestrian tunnel under the Tyne is today. Back to Ellison/Ormonde street and a view of the Bede furnishing company, then a photo of Mr Burlison the undertaker, replete with horses and carriage. We saw Park Road festooned with bunting for the coronation of George V with a shot of the labour club and the Chapel of the Good Shepherd.

A contrast next-the duck pond and duck house in West Park, the park was donated by Lady Northbourne James in 1876 and also had a fountain donated by Cllr Sheldon, a local baker, plus a paddling pool full of children and Ken f thought he could just about spot himself in the throng! Onto Albert Road and the Co-op offices built in 1923, now a call centre. then came the Lascelles coal depot in Hill Street near the railway goods yard and then the Wesleyan Chapel on the corner of Albert Road and St John's Terrace, the latter know locally as Harley street because of the number of doctors who lived there.

Ken g attended St Bede's RC school and muttered as a picture of it came up that it hadn't done him much good but the cane marks were fading! There was the Good Friday parade with the rows of brownies and boys brigade. The empire theatre has just been demolished, on Union Street, built in the 1930s, originally a theatre and then latterly a bingo hall. Children of Jarrow today are astonished to find you didn't have to go to Boldon to see a film!!!

A splendid photo of Sir Charles Palmer came next-heralded as the founder of modern Jarrow, he founded the Palmer Memorial Hospital in memory of his first wife, run by the contributions of the workers and still in use until the 1980s when it was replaced by the new hospital. The bronze statue of Palmer built in 1903 at a cost of £2, 000 used to be next to the hospital but was moved to the riverside park where it has been vandalised and there are hopes that as the work starts on the second Tyne tunnel it will be moved and secured.

The steel rolling mills in Western Road were closed before shipbuilding ceased-the first place to manufacture rolled armour plate for warships. The most famous ship built locally was the John Bowes-launched in 1852 at a cost of £10, 000-the first non screw collier, the first to use water ballast, it could move 650 more tons of coal in 5 days than a sailing vessel could move in a month and with fewer crew. It was sunk off Bilbao at almost the same time that shipbuilding ceased.

The Cheyenne was the 1. 000th ship to be produced-launched 22 8 1930. There was a splendid photo of the then Duke and Duchess of York launching HMS York on 17 7 1928 and on the same day opening York avenue.

We then learned that Jarrow was a town of two halves-the right and wrong side of the railway tracks running from Newcastle to South Shields, York avenue was on the good side, the back of Union Street was not. Reminders of how harsh life was came next-men picking coal on the beach during the depression, standing in lines whilst unemployed in Grange Road in the 1930s-the means test. Ellen Wilkinson or red Ellen came next-a reference to her politics or her ginger hair ? The local MP, she marched with the Jarrow crusaders and we saw shots of their departure, time in Chester le street, drinking soup en route, finally arriving in London in the pouring rain. In one of those surreal moments we learned their banner is now in Bede's World, having been used for many years, folded up, as an ironing sheet! The box that carried the petition is now also in Bede's World. Another photo was of Don Dixon now Lord Dixon the local man who was a shipwright, became a trade unionist, a councillor and finally the town's MP.

Away from people we moved onto the Jarrow slake or slacks-a big timber pond where large timbers were unloaded and made into rafts and then ridden onto the muddy shore. We saw the Wesleyan chapel in Tyne dock where Jobling is reputed to have been buried. After checking no one in the audience was related to a certain milkman of Jarrow we were shown a photo of their milk float-there was a rumour that their milk was, well let's say "watery". Matt Scott was another dairyman with horse and float-the horse drawn vehicles lasting into the 1950s.

The East Ferry Inn near the Jarrow slacks was said to be the sort of place you went with another man's wife-no one admitted to frequenting this one! Then came my favourite shots of the Jarrow fire brigade (horse drawn!) and the Jarrow ladies fire brigade 1914-1918. Also Peter Cain the local boxer whose ring name was Batty's nipper.

Back to places-North Street with the Chronicle offices and Sheldon's bakery, the station stairs being demolished in the 1970s and Albert Road again, one of the main thoroughfares of the town which you went down if you caught the no 24 bus from Shields (though some of our Shields' members recalled you could get a different bus and miss out Jarrow altogether to get to Newcastle!). We saw the railway bridge at the end of the road, now in the middle of a new housing estate but still there if you go down the Giant stairs-and capable of taking the top off a double decker!

We saw shots of HMS Kelly, immortalised in the film, Kelly in dry dock, on trials, being launched and then dreadfully damaged, men being rescued and then the ship sinking. There were shots of the memorial in Hebburn cemetery.

More Co-op buildings-this time the funeral parlour, the Jarrow and Hebburn Co-op garage, Finn's wet fish shop and the Alnwick Castle pub on Grange Road. There was the Theatre Royal in Market Square and Slater's pawnshop, Edith Street cottages still survive near the Metro-just 2 down rather than 2 up 2 down! A picture of Western Road in the 1950s showed a concrete block on stilts-the cooling tower, the remnant of Jarrow rolling mill, latterly used by Consett Iron Company who brought bars down by lorry to roll them. The building with the tower on Ellison Street/Western Road was the Mechanics Institute, now the civic centre. The really posh people lived in Greenbank Villas.

There was the Co-op drapery dept in North Street, the 50 shilling tailor in Ormonde Street and the Co-op chemist in Humbert Street, even the now defunct gents' urinal in Grant Street, much lamented by the older members of the group!!! Gaudie's bakers appeared-said to have invented the automatic pie-maker and immortalised buy local kids "Gaudies pies are full of flies"!

The slag heal at Monkton with its molten slag caused much comment, known locally as the Jarrow moon because it glowed, it caused the demise of more than 1 local tramp who slept there because it was warm. It was taken away and crushed for road-making. Christ Church in Grange Road used to have a tree growing out of its spire-it's true-we saw the pictures-someone tried to set it on fire recently apparently and one member queried whether the gold weather vane had disappeared.

Many of the buildings which have been demolished were of poor quality and not worth saving but one much lamented was the splendid baths in Morpeth Street-always freezing! School children went there -but apparently only if they could already swim! In winter it could be floored over and became a dance hall or boxing arena.

So there you have it, a whistle stop tour in words rather than pictures of old Jarrow. you can be assured of a warm welcome at the history group and memories and memorabilia are particularly cherished.