Tudhoe & Spennymoor Local History Society
Middlestone Moor Explosion at Chemical Factory - Brian contacted us about a building next to the railway line which ran from Binchester Pit near Westerton to Ferryhill, south of Middlestone Moor. He could remember playing in it as a child when he was staying at his grandparents in South View in the 1950s, they called it the Dye Factory. His recollection was a saw tooth roofed building about 50m by 20m with large rectangular window openings on the south face.
There was a chemical factory in the area in 1923 owned by G I Webb & Co. which produced detonators, the workers filled them with fulminite. On 21st November 1923 two men were killed in an explosion, John William Spence and Matthew Strophair. Can anyone provide more information about this factory and were they the buildings Brian remembers? (Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail, 22nd November 1923).
John Hicks - Alice contacted us for information relating to John Hicks (b1936) who died in August 2020. She said he did a lot of work to help the working men's clubs in the 1970s and 80s before moving to the Midlands and wondered if anyone remembered him and his wife Judy.
The family originally came from Cornwall, Joseph Hick was born in 1814 in Truro, Cornwall, he was a wool comber and in 1851 he lived with his wife Mary and two sons, Daniel (b1845) and Vivyan (b1846). By 1861 Joseph had died and Mary was living with her sons who were copper miners.
In 1872 Vivyan Hick married Jane Williams, they had a son, John, and daughter, Jane, by 1881 they had left Truro and were living in Sunnybrow, Willington with another son Joseph. Many miners moved from Cornwall and Devon to County Durham in the 1870s/80s as mining in Cornwall hit a recession.
By 1891 they were living in 34 Edward Street, Spennymoor with a further four children all born in Spennymoor, Eliza (b1882), Daniel (b1883), Vivyan (b1886) and Theresa (b1890).
Eliza died on 12th December 1889 and Vivyan died, age 13, in an accident at Binchester Colliery on 14th December 1898. In 1901 the family were at 37 Merrington Lane, Spennymoor where their son Daniel was a putter.
Daniel (b1883) married Mary Thompson (b1886) in 1904 and they had William (b1907), John (b1909), Mary Elsie (b1913) and Gladys (b1918). Gladys died aged 6 months in the flu pandemic in 1918. Daniel served in the DLI during the First World War.
John Hicks (1909-1988) married Mary Elizabeth Barnes (1912-1988) at Amesbury Wiltshire. They had two children Jean (b1932) and John(b1936), in 1939 the family lived at 3 Mill Cottages, Merrington Lane, Spennymoor. John and Mary both died in 1988, John on 11th March and Mary on 22nd April and are buried in Tudhoe cemetery in a joint grave with a headstone.
Frederick White (1854-1889) - Norman contacted us with a newspaper cutting related to the death of Police-Sergeant Frederick White. Frederick was born in South Shields to George White, a seaman born in Hastings, and Mary Hunter born in South Shields.
Frederick was a police officer, he married Sarah (b1843 Consett) in 1878 and in 1881 they were living in Wearhead with a daughter, Mary Jane. By 1889 they had four more children, Flora and Frederick born in Weardale, Lilly born in Bishop Auckland and Ethel born in Spennymoor.
On 12th October 1889 Frederick died due to typhoid, his obituary said
SAD DEATH OF A WELL-KNOWN POLICE-SERGEANT - Painful surprise prevailed over the district at the death of Police-Sergeant White, from typhoid, at Spennymoor, on Saturday. The Sergeant was comparatively a young man, and leaves a widow and several children. He was among the steadiest and smartest of officers. He was a Good Templar, a keen supporter of the local swimming club, and led an exemplary life. He was stationed at Wearhead and St. John's Chapel during the memorable agitation amongst the leadminers. His promotion was accelerated by his capture in a dales lodging-house of a notorious criminal who was in hiding for a gross outrage on a child on Tyneside. He was stationed in Auckland town before being removed to Spennymoor. (The Northern Echo, Monday October 14th 1889, page 3).
He was buried at St.Paul's Church. A concert given on behalf of his wife and children raised £14 10s. (Durham County Advertiser, Friday November 22nd 1889, page 7)
In 1891 Sarah and the children were living at 23 Duncombe Street, Spennymoor and her father-in-law, George White, was at number 18 with his son John. In 1896 Sarah married Michael Cassidy, a widower, in 1901 the combined families were living at 4 Jackson Street and were working at the ironworks and coalmines.
Rodrick Gregory - Adrian contacted us to identify some of his family on the photos in our archive. The first picture was of York Hill Cycling Club which showed his father, Rodrick Gregory, third on the left hand side. Rodrick sadly died in August 2020, his family lived at York Hill Crescent in the 1950s. He enlisted for national service in 1955 and when he was demobbed in 1958 he moved to live in Guildford.
His parents Gladys and Arthur Gregory, his elder brother John, master butcher at Dewhurst's in Spennymoor precinct and younger brother Alister are at the rear of the photo.
The second photo of North Road Girl's School shows Patricia Gregory, Rodrick's sister, 2nd from left on the bottom row, she later had a greengrocer's shop in Ferryhill. (Thanks to Adrian Gregory)
Miss Agnes ?, Spennymoor Nursing Division, High Grange Road. - Adam has found a parcel with a postage address of High Grange Road. It was posted in 1918 to Spennymoor Nursing Division and he would like more information. There are seven families living on High Grange Road in 1911 but none with a matching name.
E D Davis/Davies – Silver Plate I have received a query from John who has a silver plate engraved with
Presentation on 22nd June 1871 to E D Davis by a few Residents as a “Souvenir” of his first visit to Spennymoor.
John believes his name was Evan D Davis or Davies, he was from Penrhyndeudraeth in North Wales and was a manager at a large slate mine and possibly paving company. I’ve been unable to find who presented him with the plate as the engraving only says ”a few residents”. I did wonder if there was a link to the Welsh Churches, one in Clarence Street and the other at Mount Pleasant. If anyone has more information please let us know.
Robert Place - Michael contacted us to see if we could identify where his great-grandfather Robert Place lived in Tudhoe Village and if there was any information about him having a pickle factory. The houses in the village weren't numbered at this time but looking at the 1911 census and 1939 register he appears to live between Tudhoe Villa (also called the Woodlands) and Hall Farm, in the centre of the village. I haven't found any mention of a pickle factory.
Robert Place was born at Gainford in 1863, to George Place who was a market gardener and his wife Jane. In 1888 Robert married Sarah Craggs, born in Spennymoor, their eldest three children were born in Gainford. By 1901 they had moved to Whitworth Gardens where Robert was employed as a market gardener and they had three more children. While at Whitworth Gardens some youths climbed into the gardens and destroyed apple trees and garden produce, they came before Bishop Auckland Petty Sessions as shown in the newspaper report. The family moved to Tudhoe Village about 1906 where they had four children and Robert was a cemetery caretaker. He appears on the 1939 register as a widow and retired gardener living with his youngest daughter. Michael has been told Robert was widely read and converted to Catholicism when at Tudhoe, he was also an expert on Napoleon and a good draughts player. He was buried in Tudhoe Cemetery.
His son George, a gardener aged 17 in 1911, appears on Tudhoe War Memorial, he was listed as wounded in August 1916 but survived WWI and emigrated to Australia in 1924 (as did his younger brother Robert a few years later). (Newspaper - Durham County Advertiser 19th August 1898.)
James Thompson Hedley (1818-1900) was born in 1818 at Netherton Northumberland. In 1851 he was living with his wife Elizabeth and mother Isabella at 94 Claypath, Durham City where he was a grocer. In 1861 they had moved to Crossgate, Durham City where they remained until they died. They had at least eight children 2 sons, James and John, and 6 daughters.
James was a yeast merchant and he travelled to Tudhoe and Spennymoor six days per week for thirty years selling yeast.
In 1887 he built the Hedley Memorial Hall in Spennymoor which could seat about 300 people. In 1897 Dodd’s said “the Christian Mission occupy the comfortable little hall built by Mr. James Thompson Hedley in Oxford Street.” Later the Salvation Army used the Hedley Memorial Hall for a while before moving to premises in Duncombe Street and then to their own premises in the Salvation Army Hall, Dundas Street in 1928. In 1935 the Memorial Hall was being used as the local Freemasons Hall.
In 1890 Hedley published a poem about his travels, 'J T Hedley's Long Journey'. Dodd’s wrote in 1897 “Of the poets, there are few that Spennymoor can boast about. The most remarkable of them is perhaps Mr. James Thompson Hedley. His rhymes are unrivalled for the originality of their construction, and the ideas he disseminates by them. It is his proud privilege to have established a flourishing business by his own industry and thrift, and day after day for nearly forty years he has walked from Durham in all weathers, carrying his basket on his arm. His genial face has been familiar to three generations, and, although he has now passed his three score years and ten, it is to be hoped that he may yet be spared in these degenerate days of railway travelling to show another generation that an old man is not above walking a matter of fourteen miles after he has become rich enough to take the train. Mr. Hedley has published two or three pamphlets, one of them being a rhyming account of his journeys to Spennymoor.”
He also wrote:
Click J T Hedley's Long Journey (1MB pdf) to view Tony Coia's reproduction of the original poems.
His younger son John Hedley (b 1865), a yeast merchant, married Jane Davidson in 1889. They lived in Crossgate in 1891, by 1894 they had moved to Spennymoor, in 1901 they were at 10 Baff Street, Spennymoor with their son John Davison Hedley. They had three more children, Eva Isabel, Lillian Elizabeth and Margaret Doris. In 1911 they were living at 36 South Street, Spennymoor.
Doris Hedley (James' granddaughter) was an elementary school teacher. She was a member of the Committee of Spennymoor Lecture Society in the early 1930s, the meetings were held at The New Town Hall and a season ticket cost 5/- for four lectures. The lectures covered a broad range of subjects including Wonders of Fish Life, Women Friends in Shakespeare's Plays, New Zealand, India, Dancing Down the Ages, A Woman Goes Whaling and Magic Through the Ages. She was also a member of Spennymoor Class Teachers' Amateur Dramatic Society where she received a commendable review of her performance in a Galsworthy play. In 1939 she was living with her brother, John, sister, Lillian, and brother-in-law, Joseph F Jones at Greengarth, St Charles Road, Tudhoe.
Reference: Tony Coia Archive; A History of Spennymoor, James J Dodd, 1897, page 184, 238; The History of Spennymoor, John Reavley JP, 1935, page 53; Spennymoor Remembered Book 5, Bob Abley, page52; Millennium Memories, A J Coia and J G Teasdale, 2000, page 61; 27 July 1910 - Newcastle Journal
Cuthbert Hutchinson. - Alan recognised his grandfather, Cuthbert Hutchinson, on one of our photos of Tudhoe Cricket Team in 1919. He has kindly sent us a few more pictures which you can view here. If anyone can identify the teams or people on the photos please let us know.
Tighe Family - Jane is researching the Tighe family tree and would be grateful for any information. John Tighe, a shoemaker, and his wife Elizabeth were both born in Ireland, they were living in Darlington in 1851 with two sons. By 1861 they had moved to Bishop Auckland where they had another son and two daughters and then to George Street in Spennymoor. Their son James Tighe, born 1855, married Louisa Orton in 1880 and they lived in Walker Street, George Street and Gerard Street between 1881 and 1901. James worked as a puddler at the Ironworks but after its closure in 1901 he went to work as a stoneman at Byer's Green Colliery, unfortunately on 3rd October 1902 there was a fall of stone and he was killed leaving his wife and eight surviving children. In 1911 his wife was living in Diamond Terrace with six of her children and a grandson.
Newcastle Evening Chronicle 3rd Oct 1902.
Wood Family Group photo probably 1898-1908. - We have received this photo from Peter, it was taken in Spennymoor probably between 1898 and 1908. He knows the Wood family lived in Spennymoor but he is unable to identify anyone on the picture. Can anyone help with identification?
John Wood, born 1817, and his wife Mary originally came from Oldham in 1850s living at Ferryhill, Tow Law, and by 1871 Thomas Street, Spennymoor with their 10 children. The family worked in coal mining but also were grocers. They lived in George Street in 1881 and North Street in 1891. One of his sons, also called John born 1848, had a son Daniel who moved to Newcastle in 1900s. Another son Josiah, born 1850, emigrated to the USA which Peter has visited to meet his ancestors.