The Houghtonian Magazine Vol 2 Issue 1 - Houghton-le-Spring

THE HOUGHTONIAN | MAR 2012 | VOL 2 ISSUE 1 | ISSN 1757-3890WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?Can you help solve theseGenealogical & Heritage Quests?FROM DOWN UNDERG'Day Paul from Down UnderAustralia. It was with great interestand excitement that I stumbledacross your amazing web site. Tothe extent that thanks to you Ihave been up all night reading andwill look like a zombie for the restof the day. It is hot here today tooso a hot old tired blonde will betrying to stay awake all day. Myreason for writing is to sincerelythank you for your amazingwonderful Houghton Heritage site.My beautiful mum Greta Robson(nee Charlton) was born in Potteryyard on 24th June 1932 and willcelebrate her 80th Birthday thisyear. I have been trying to obtainany information about PotteryYard and if available anyphotographs that people may havehidden away that I can puttogether for mum for a special gifton her birthday. She remembersso much about her childhoodthere, the people, shops, StMichaels church (she was baptisedin the Font) and still speaks sofondly of her childhood memoriesthere. I came over in 2009 andtook lots of photos of the church(a lovely lady kindly opened thechurch for me whilst there) butsadly I learnt Pottery yard hadbeen demolished some yearsearlier. If you know of anyone thatmight have some photos that theycould email to me I would be soextremely grateful. My mother’sfather was John Charlton (akaPep), married to Lily Charlton,they had James, then Marian, thenVera then my lovely mum Greta.They moved to Slough when mumwas quite young but sheremembers so much. If anyonerecalls them this would be theicing on the cake for mum. Thankyou so much Paul for what youhave created here.I hope toreturn to the UK again this year orearly next and I hope you won’tmind if I email you earlier to takeyou out for a coffee (might evenget them to throw in a biscuit)Alternatively if you travel toMelbourne come and meet mum.Would love the opportunity toshow you OZ. Cheers and thanksagain.Helen (the bleary eyedone) RobsonMelbourneHOUGHTON AT WARDoes anyone remember the waryears and going into the air-raidshelters at night ,we had whatwere called siren suits and worethem to bed so that if the warningwent off we were ready they werelike jump suits of today. I slept inthe shelter many a night it wasbuilt at the bottom of our yard.Shirley RamsbottomLAING FAMILYSome time ago, Mel Baines toldme, by e-mail that some of mybranch of the Laing Family wereburied in New Herrington. Shealso said she had a list or a bookrecord containing the names ofpeople buried there. A short timeago my old computer died andwith it my e-mails so I have lostthe information. Does anyone elseknow about the book or list? I shallbe visiting HLS in the next monthor so and would like to gather asmuch information about my HLSancestors as I can before I arrive.Raymond LaingTHE MANOR HOUSEDear Mr Lanagan, I amresearching my family tree andhope that you can help me. Mypaternal grandmother NorahMartin was born at "Manor House,Penshaw" (according to her birthcertificate) in 1899 and her fatherCornelius Martin died there in1903. I am trying to find the exactlocation of this building. I visitedthe area a few days ago andbelieve that the Manor House waswhere the Northern Electricbuilding now stands.Do youknow if this is the case? Or is thechildren's services building"Penshaw House" actually thebuilding I am looking for, or am Icompletely wrong and it'ssomewhere else entirely?If Penshaw Manor House wasdemolished, do you know whenthis was and are there any picturesof it prior to demolition?Thank you for any help you cangive me. Yours sincerely,Ruth Taylor-DurantSWEET SHOPPaul do you remember a sweetshop that used to be beside thepark? It was up the road fromwhere Collings is now and I thinkit's been changed back into ahouse - I seem to remember goingthere as a kid.Jill NimmoHoughton-le-SpringPAUL LANAGAN REPLIED:It was called Ferguson's. Othershave shared memories of buyingfishing nets there to use in RectoryPark.GREY HORSE LANEHi I have an old pic of my dadGeorge Hamilton, written in pencilon the back is the address - 4,Grey Horse Lane, Houghton LeSpring, Co Durham, and the dateJuly 10th 1934 - he would havebeen 13 at the time. Do the roadand the address still exist?Thanks.Neil HamiltonPAUL LANAGAN REPLIED:Grey Horse Lane became knownas Robinson Street. It wasdemolished when much ofHoughton was redeveloped.QUARRY ROWDo any photographs exist ofQuarry Row? It had 2 roomsdownstairs and 2 up one of therooms downstairs was kept forbest or if visitors came we all hadto live in one room where we atecooked and when the weather wasbad washing strung across theroom the fire blazing it was like asauna in there.Margaret RitcheyA PREVIOUS QUESTHello Paul, how do I get in touchwith Mal Shearer asking about theShearer family on your web-site, Ihave all the information about thisfamily? Regards,Anne PerryPAUL LANAGAN REPLIED:Thank you, Anne. Your detailshave been passed on to Mal.ALLAN WOODHello Paul, I would love to find anyinformation regards an AllanWood b 1881 in Leeds and movedup to Houghton in the early 1900swith wife Minnie Beatrice (Teague)b1883. He was a miner in Leedsand moved to Houghton again tobe a miner which is the puzzle! Helived at 5 Abbott Street and had atleast 4 children Arthur b1904 -Charles Frederick b1906 - JosephBenjamin b1911 and John Vb1912. Thank you.Brian SpinkLeedsSUNNISIDE MININGSETTLEMENTMy Grandad Tot Orrell deliveredSunday papers to Sunniside andat Christmas time I had to go andfind him because every housewould offer him a Christmas drink- he never made the end of theround! Tot and I walked over toOutram Street where my twoaunts lived and he explained howhe was lowered down on a ropewith his pick to work on HoughtonCut. Whether this was initial workor improvement I don’t know. Itmust have been in the 1930s -does anyone know when the Cutwas first done?David AnnandPAUL LANAGAN REPLIED:100s of years ago. Though I'm notconvinced (yet) of the perpetualmyth that it was carved by FrenchPrisoners of War following theNapoleonic Wars (c1803-1815). Ihave seen no evidence whatsoeverin searching the Archives in 12years. I have a book from c1850sabout the history of Houghton andthere is no mention in there. As aroadway, it is clear it was a naturalcleft in the rocks. It's welldocumented on OS maps fromc1856 to modern times. Theearliest photograph I have of it isaround1880 with various views ofthe opening and subsequentroadworks to widen it. I will tryand get some online.* * * * * * * * * * *Keep reading formore Quests!