The Houghtonian Magazine Vol 2 Issue 3 - Houghton-le-Spring

THE HOUGHTONIAN | SEPT 2012 | VOL 2 ISSUE 3 | ISSN 1757-3890WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?Can you help solve theseGenealogical & Heritage Quests?DELICIOUS ICE CREAMDear Sir/Madam, I was recentlytold that there was once an icecream seller in the Houghton areaby the name of Gouge. Can youplease confirm if this is true, as Icannot seem to find anything onany web site. Yours sincerelyMr J FairPAUL LANAGAN REPLIED:Dear Mr Fair, Thank you for yourenquiry. That is correct and hewas known as Gougie. We didhope to have an article on the icecream business for the Heritagewebsite, however when weapproached the family inSeptember 2009 they declined toassist, saying they "weren'tinterested". This was a shame, aswe felt that Gougie's icecream vanwas a much loved aspect of ourheritage.THE HOMELANDS ESTATEI'm enquiring about a lady calledAnnie Foster who lived inHolmlands in the mid 60's. Shemarried a man called BewleyMarlow. Does anyone haveinformation?Tanya Marlow-FlemingTHE BETTY PIT & MOREDear Houghton Heritage Society,regarding the enquiry by PaulSykes in Volume 1, Issue 5 of theHoughtonian, the old shaft behindthe Bee Hive public house is theformer 'Betty Pit' - one of the pitsowned by John Nesham. Therewas another Nesham pit not toofar along the road leading toJunction Row, called the the 'JanePit'. Regarding the enquiry in'Quests' regarding Manor House,Penshaw, in the late 1940s andearly 1950s it was used as GroupOffices for the 'E Group' of the No2 Area in Durham Division of theNational Coal Board. I workedthere for a few weeks in 1958 or1959. The offices housed theGroup Mining, Mechanical andElectrical Engineers and also theAccounts and WagesDepartments. It was in later yearsthat the North Eastern ElectricityBoard took over the premises.Alan Vickerssiblings are Lillian b. 16/6/1915,With thanks to Lena community, Inch and for has sharing this year these since passed photographs away, John b. and many more.SunderlandTHE ALMS HOUSESDear Mr Lanagan, ConcerningThe Reverend William Sharpe, aTHE ALMSHOUSESDear Mr Lanagan, ConcerningThe Reverend William Sharpe, abenefactor of the almshouses atHoughton-le-Spring. Mr Sharpewas born in Houghton-le-Springthe son of John Sharpe, andmatriculated at University College,Oxford, in 1743, when he was 19.He took his BA in 1746 (MA 1749)and was ordained deacon in 1747.He served his Title at Houghtonle-Spring,and then servedchurches at Sedgefield, CountyDurham, and Bishop’s Stortford,Herts. He became Usher, or sub-Master, of Sherborne School in1760. He was presented to theliving of Long Burton by the Earlof Northumberland in 1763, butdid not come into residence until1767, having relinquished his roleat the School in 1766. Sharpetook an interest in the(unsuccessful) attempts to findcoal in the parish, publishing ATreatise upon Coal in 1769. Twoor three years earlier he hadpublished The Hard Case of aCountry Vicar in respect of SmallTythes. He died away from LongBurton, though still in office, in1784, and was buried ‘in the Northof England’. [Source: Canon C HMayo, MA, FRHistS. The Registersof Long Burton 1580 – 1812(1894)]. Long Burton (orLongburton, as it is usuallyrendered these days) is a villagedue south of Sherborne on themain road to Dorchester. Itsremarkable parish church beganlife as an outpost of the Abbeyhere in Sherborne, and was servedby the monastic community. Itachieved independent status in1405. By the time of my arrival in1993 it was part of a much biggerBenefice, which has since beendismantled. It seemed good to thepeople of Longburton to rejoin theSherborne Benefice, and wehoped that the formalities for thiscould be completed in 2005 – 600years after its independence, andexactly 1300 years after theAbbey’s foundation by St Aldhelmas the first cathedral of thewestern West Saxons. However,the Order in Council was notsigned until 2006. Today StJames the Great, Longburton, isthe vibrant centre of the villagebeen redecorated, re-ordered andgiven a much needed new heatingsystem! I hope this helps a littlewith your researches.sincerelyYoursgiven a much needed new heatingsystem! I hope this helps a littlewith your researches. Yourssincerely.The Reverend CanonEric Woods MA Jane and her husband.Vicar of Sherborne withCastleton and Rector ofLillington and LongburtonTHE ORIGINAL BEEHIVE,SEDGELETCHWhy would my great grandfatherbe resident at the Beehive Inn withhis wife, son and mother-in-law in1871? He was an agriculturallabourer so I don’t see theconnection. His mother was atBog House Farm - maybe he wasworking there?Liz HallCo DurhamTHE MILLER FAMILYDear Houghton Heritage, Havebeen looking at the Houghton leSpring site, very interesting, a lotof time gone into this site, must bea passion. Anyway I am trying toverify details and information thatmy uncle researched regards theMiller family from Newbottle.Supposedly all family details are inone of the churches in Houghtonle Spring. The family is alsosupposed to have lived forgenerations at a house calledLower Pottery Yard. I have lookedat the history of High and LowerPotteries and am not convincedthis was the case. I know that mygrandfather John and his brotherTom worked in the mines for atime, their father Robert also did astint as a beer boy, but became analcoholic by the time he was 13.The Miller boys, John, Tom,William were known for theirstrength and gymnastic abilities, Ihave a great photo of the three ofthem doing a pose. I am lookingfor verification of the information Ihave and to add extra to the familyas needed. I have looked at theburials and both Hillside Cemeteryand St Michael and All AngelsChurchyard have a number ofMillers interred there. My father isRobert Miller b. 16/11/1926, his16/12/1919, Irene b. 28/4/1923.They were all born in Newbottlesupposedly, christened at TheVicarage, 1 Front St. The familycame out to Australia in 1928,They were all born in Newbottlesupposedly, christened at TheVicarage, 1 Front Street. The familycame out to Australia in 1928,Lillian was left behind to live withMyGrandfather was John Miller b.1/12/1894, married Lily May Clarke,other siblings were: Jane, Martha,William, Susan, Sarah and Thomasb. 4/11/1900. His father wasRobert Miller b. 27/12/1849 marriedto Emma Kershaw. Other siblingsto Robert were John b. 12/6/1835,Edward b. 6/6/1837, Joseph b.29/12/1840, Thomas b. 1/9/1844.Any help with this would be great,or even if I am referred on tosomeone else. I have names goingback to 1510, but my Aunt Irene isa bit skeptical about all theinformation being correct. Willwait to hear from you. Thank youagain, I really enjoy the site. KindRegards.Robyn WebsterAustraliaALFRED BREWERHi, I’m trying to trace the grave ofmy grandfather and wondered ifyou could help. He was a youngcurate at the church and died in1923. His name was Alfred Brewer.He had a full size horizontal stone(possibly marble) memorial withwriting along the sides. I have aphoto of the memorial stone and itlooks as though it was near aproper path in the graveyard. As hedidn’t originate from the Durhamarea, his family had difficulty invisiting the grave and I am trying tosee if it still exists and if it is beinglooked after. If I need to contactthe church wardens then pleasecould you point me in theirdirection? Many thanks for any helpyou can give. Kind regards,Jacquie RusalenePAUL LANAGAN REPLIED:Hello Jacquie, I have a wealth ofinformation on this poor chap, whowas buried at Houghton HillsideCemetery and commemorated inthe south transept of St Michael’sChurch, which I will send by email.Keep reading for m oreFam ily Tree Quests only in theHough tonian