Decades of Change

Howden-le-Wear History Society

1952 > A few local coal drift mines still operated at North Beechburn and Hargill, with brick works, pipe works and fireclay materials produced at Beechburn, Greenhead and Slotburn. Opencast coal mining started in Hargill Hill Backwood. Ramars clothing factory at Crook provided much work for the female population. Gibson’s joiners & undertakers employed men and trained apprentices in joinery & carpentry. Findlay & Wilkes' motor repair garage employed mechanics and trained motor technicians. The railway provided some local work as regular passenger services with frequent freight trains passed through Beechburn Station to and from Crook, Bishop Auckland & beyond. The Beechburn Beck ran thickly polluted with contaminated warm water from Peases West works at Crook resulting in frequent ‘fogs’ hanging over the valley for days on end, a situation not helped by the many coal fires then burning in most homes. Public Health was improving with more homes fitting WC’s in place of ‘Nettie’ ash closets, still located outside. Better washing and bathing facilities with hot and cold running water replaced shared outside yard taps and sculleries. Unsurfaced roads and streets were resurfaced and paths improved. Doctors from Crook visited the sick in their homes while Nurse Scott, the district nurse/midwife, travelling by bicycle, attended to people's medical needs. Some poorer homes, declared unfit for habitation, were demolished under council orders. New council houses built by Walton’s accommodated families and old people. The parish priest of St Mary’s Church was the Reverend Matthew Richardson up to 1957. In 1953 Mrs Carew-Shaw (née Fryer) sold Smelt House to Dr Lishman, and the remainder of the estate farms and land etc. were auctioned off. Public Transport was good, the village being served by regular United bus services to Crook, Bishop Auckland and Darlington, with railway passenger services likewise from Beechburn Station. Heather Belle bus services linked Howden with Bishop Auckland and Weardale. Milk was delivered daily to most doorsteps, from Ronnie Elliott’s horse and cart. Other foods, such as fish, groceries and vegetables, were still delivered in this way. Paper boys distributed daily newspapers from Mary Jane Turnbull’s newsagents, and a selection was always available for public perusal in the British Workmen’s Hall. At School in Hargill Road, the cane was still wielded with alarming regularity as Mr Moore, Mr Savage, Miss Gardiner, Miss Heslop and others punished miscreants and ‘encouraged’ others to pass their 11 plus exams to gain the opportunity to attend Wolsingham Grammar School. School meals were provided at lunch time, prepared and served in the Women’s Institute Hall across the road in Hargill. Epidemics and outbreaks of measles, chickenpox, diphtheria, head lice, scabies and Poliomyelitis were still prevalent. Shops in the 1950’s in Bridge Street included Gibson’s hardware, Dunn’s fish & chip shop, Bell’s bakery/confectionary, a barber's shop, Gatenby Fryer greengrocer, the Co-op, Mary Jane Turnbull’s newsagency/tobacconist/toys, hairdresser’s, and a petrol filling station/ garage & Shop. High Street included J. H. Waggott’s grocer & general dealer, Peggy Waggott’s wool/haberdashery, Balmer’s butchers, Bryant’s grocery/general store & Post Office, and Dougie Bains cobbler/boot & shoe retailer. Mrs Fleet’s sweet shop was on Hargill Corner, and Cowen’s sold fruit & vegetables from a shop in Church Street. The British Workmen’s Hall in Station Road provided snooker & billiards, a reading room and village cinema upstairs. The Workmen’s Club on Rumby Hill Bank provided drinking venues and opportunities to socialise, together with four public houses: Plantation Inn, Australian Hotel, Green Tree and Surtees Hotel. Four places of worship were available at Trinity Methodists High Street Chapel & Schoolroom, Primitive Methodists Bridge Street Chapel, St Mary’s Church of England Church & Hall, and the Spiritualists' Assembly Hall at Denebridge. The W.I. Hall was a popular venue for receptions, dances and concerts. In 1959 the cinema closed and the British Workmen’s Hall Deeds were transferred to Mr & Mrs T. E. Tarn with Mrs Calvert in legal charge. They reopened the premises as a night club, ‘The Blue Lagoon’. In due course, the police raided the club and it was closed down owing to licensing irregularities. 1962> Severe Winter Weather brought chaos to the roads leaving Howden isolated for several days. Coalmining continued to decline, Hargill pits finished and the opencast mining was worked out. Brickyards at Greenhead and Slotburn closed down. Sanitary pipe and field drain production at North Beechburn continued on a smaller scale, N B Fireclay Co. having been taken over by Hepworth Iron Co. Dr. Beeching brought the demise of the railway. After Peases West coke & bi-products works and Pickford & Holland’s refractory works closed at Crook, there was little demand for freight trains, and passenger numbers dwindled. The line and Beechburn Station closed in July 1965, the same year as an extensive fire damaged parts of St Mary’s Church. The parish priest was the Reverend Harold Clarke. Nurse Scott learned to drive and exchanged her bicycle for a Morris Minor Car: she and her corgi dogs now travelled in style! Better living conditions, treatments, medications, immunisation and vaccination improved general health, but many adults smoked tobacco and the atmosphere remained polluted with smoke from domestic fires. ‘Smelt House’ was again sold, this time to Durham County Council who changed the name to ‘Fir Tree Grange’ and established a home for unmarried mothers and babies. Horses and carts gave way to mechanised transport, Ronnie Elliot bought a Morris 1000 van for his milk round, Mr March from Crook sold fresh fish from his van, and road traffic was increasing as more people afforded cars. The Spiritualists moved mysteriously on and their hall was taken over by the Boy Scouts & Girl Guides. It was also used by the Howden Rangers football team as their changing room. The Workmen’s Club expanded, building extra entertainment room to accommodate the numbers wishing to see visiting singers, groups and artistes. Howden Club was a popular venue for many people. 1972> Durham County Council started reclamation schemes to tidy derelict industrial sites and railways. North Beechburn Colliery complex finally closed, buildings, kilns etc. and spoil heaps were landscaped and spare material used to infill the deep railway cutting at Howden. The road bridge and station were also demolished. The metal station bridge, taken to Beamish Open Air Museum, became part of their Rowley Station exhibit. Beechburn Beck recovered with much cleaner water now flowing down the valley. There was little employment in the village, so a majority of workers travelled to factories and offices set up on new industrial estates at Crook and elsewhere. Sunnydene Farm, formerly a piggery, became a haulage depot for Featherstone’s. This site was later developed with 5 private houses built. In 1973, the Scout and Guide Group committee of trustees bought The Workmen’s Hall from Mrs Calvert for £5000.00. The building was renamed ‘Craig Hall’ in memory of Mrs Calvert’s late son and used by the Scouts and Guides. In 1974 the new Primary School was opened and the old building became a Community Centre. Trinity Methodist Chapel in High Street closed and was purchased by the North East Theatre Organ Society to house their Wurlitzer organ. The vicar from 1972 was the Reverend Thomas Swinney. In 1980 a new vicarage was built to accommodate the new parish priest of St Mary's, the Reverend Henry Taylor and family. The old vicarage and adjoining land were sold to a property developer. 1982> Employment opportunities in the village were sparse. Wilkes' new Bridge End garage adjacent to Jubilee Park continued to employ motor mechanics and shop/clerical staff. Goldun’s and Pinkney’s employed joiners and builders operating from the former Co-op premises in Bridge Street, as did Gibson’s from their workshop in Bridge Street. More and more people travelled to their places of employment and road traffic through the village increased markedly. An attempt to establish a play scheme, H.A.R.P.S., in 1987, on reclaimed railway land proved unsuccessful owing to repeated vandalism. After running into financial difficulties the Workmen’s Club was sold. It was at various times a nightclub and restaurant, ending its days as Sunnydene Lodge. Fir Tree Grange became a Probation Hostel housing low risk juvenile prisoners until its eventual sale in 1996 to a private individual. 1992> Wilkes' garage continued to provide work, but Goldun’s ceased operating and Pinkney’s builders relocated elsewhere. Gibson’s reorganised, ending the joinery and building firm, developing the undertaking and funeral directing business. The former hardware shop was modified to provide funeral parlour accommodation. In 1993 mains gas came to the village with many homes changing from solid fuel to gas heating. Air quality improved with the reduction in the use of solid fuels for home heating. Extensive flooding of Howden Beck in October 2000 led indirectly to the demolition of old people’s bungalows in Hargill Haven. St Mary’s Church Hall was demolished in 1994. Fr Paul Blanche officiated at the church until Fr Stewart Irwin was appointed in 1995. The W.I. Hall was sold for use as a private residence with the W.I. now meeting in the Community Centre. The old Co-op shop and warehouse in Bridge Street were eventually converted to rental flats and private housing, the former occupants, Pinkney’s builders and Boam’s SAAB repair garage having moved on. 2002> There was now no industrial employment in the village. Service industries, farming, school, shops and pubs provided minimal work for a few, the majority travelling to work elsewhere. The former Ramar’s clothing factory finally closed and was demolished in 2006, making space for modern housing development, ‘Weaver’s Croft’. Howden had become a dormitory village. Increased volumes of parked and moving road traffic were proving both hazardous and polluting. A new footbridge crossing the Beechburn at Denebridge afforded safer pedestrian access to Rumby Hill Bank and Jubilee Park. In January 2008 St Mary’s Church closed and was later sold. The Surtees Hotel in Valley Terrace closed as a public house and was sold privately; likewise, Sunnydene Lodge, the former Workmen’s Club, closed and was demolished making way for new housing development on the site. Craig Hall, the former British Workmen’s Hall, was sold by the Scouts & Guides to a private purchaser to renovate the dilapidated building for domestic use. 2012> What of the future? It appears that no industry on a large scale will be established in Howden. The village has become residential only with a few basic amenities – Primary School; Bridge Street Methodist Church; Gibson’s Funeral Directors; two general dealer shops - Cass’s and Patel’s including thepost office/newsagents - Chamber’s butcher’s shop; Anne Conway’s hairdressing salon; Bridge End Petrol Filling Station, garage and shop; Old School Community Centre; Wurlitzer Organ Centre; Australian and Green Tree Public Houses; and Jubilee Park, recently acquired by Howden-le- Wear Community Partnership Committee on the village’s behalf, refurbished with new seats and children’s recreation/playground equipment. More people will be working from home as the village now benefits from high-speed internet connection though BT lines. It appears that technology will dictate the future.