Blackhall Colliery

For a pub blog, the inclusion of Blackhall Colliery in County Durham is an odd choice. Although the village has a population of around 3,000, it currently has only one pub. I have included Blackhall because it is part of North East England’s rapidly-disappearing industrial heritage and because it was a village I knew well as a child - I attended the Infants and Junior schools there and my father taught at Blackhall Senior school in the 1950s and 1960s.

Blackhall Colliery is a former mining village on County Durham’s North Sea coast, but 100 years ago there were only a few scattered farms in this part of the county. After the mine was sunk in 1913, a new ‘modernised’ colliery village was created within a few short years. By 1920, there were around 500 houses, shops and other buildings.

Blackhall Colliery is connected by rail to Horden to the north via a spectacular brick-built viaduct. This crosses Castle Eden Dene, a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a National Nature Reserve, at Denemouth. The railway was completed in 1905. This photograph was taken in 1993.

A Blackhall Colliery back street in 2007. Note the outside coalhouses and toilets, now all converted to sheds.

There were four classes of houses built in Blackhall Colliery, ranging from the Class 1 terraced houses with four rooms, two up and two down, plus wash house and kitchen, to the Class 4 houses which were far more spacious and were designed for the colliery officials. All houses had outside earth closets and a coalhouse. Sites were set out for a hospital, a church and vicarage, a theatre, a Working Men's club, a school, a park with bandstand, and two hotels/public houses. There was, however, a complete lack of imagination when it came to naming the streets. The rows of houses were named ‘First Street’ to ‘Eleventh Street’ and the main road through the village was called ‘Middle Street. There was also an ‘East Street and a ‘West Street’.

The Hardwick Hotel, on the imaginatively named Middle Street, is the only remaining pub in Blackhall Colliery. It was built in 1914 by Nimmo’s brewery of Castle Eden.

The Hardwick Hotel in 2007. Note the delicate metalwork to either side of the central window advertising the brewery which commissioned the building.

Castle Eden Brewery in 1987

Castle Eden Brewery was founded by John Nimmo in 1826 and remained independent until it was sold to Whitbread in 1963. Brewing ceased in 2002 and most of the buildings were demolished in 2003. In 1968, I had a Christmas job here working in the bottling section. I can’t recall much about my time at the brewery, other than my boss who was a ferocious woman we called ‘Lily the Pink’ after a current pop song. This dreadful woman would launch into a verbal attack every time a crate of beer fell off the conveyer belt.

The Chimneys Guest House in 2007. Built in 1925, this building was originally a pub known as the Blackhall Hotel, or locally as The Trust, after the company who constructed the building.

Blackhall Secondary Modern School in 1993. My father’s classroom was the left hand section of this prefabricated building. The school was closed at the time these photographs were taken, in 1993, and was subsequently demolished.

Blackhall Secondary Modern School, Science Room, 1993.

After school, my father would occasionally bring my brother and I here and show us all sorts of scientific tricks. We learnt how to clean pennies using dilute nitric acid, how to blow glass into interesting - but wholly useless -  shapes, the wonders of a Van de Graaff generator, how to repair a valve radio, how to make gunpowder and, best of all, how to make nitrogen triiodide.

My father, teaching in the 1960s. This lesson was not part of the curriculum.

In 1963 my father organized a visit to the colliery for the older lads in his class. Most would be leaving school at 16 to work in the mine. Although I was only 13 and my younger brother was 11, he arranged for us to join the party. The concept of Health & Safety was not well established at the time. The descent in the cage below ground, the journey to the coal face by conveyer belt and on foot and the realization that we were several hundred feet below the North Sea, are experiences I will never forget.

This photograph shows my junior school class sometime in the mid-1950s. I am the young lad in the middle of the crowd.

Blackhall beach in 1986, three years after the coal mine closed. Coal waste had been tipped at sea along this coast for many years producing an eerie, unearthly landscape. This beach featured in the final scenes of the 1971 British gangster film, ‘Get Carter’ starring Michael Caine.

In 1986, the sea along this coast was still throwing up coal waste.

Blackhall beach in 1993. Much of the coal waste has already disappeared and, following a major clean-up project at the start of the millennium in which 2 million tons of waste were removed, the coastline has now returned to its pre-industrial state.

I’d like to complete this post with a well-documented, but nearly-forgotten, tale of a local sea monster. In 1850, four people, including Mary Burden of Castle Eden, independently reported seeing a sea-serpent off Blackhall beach. At first sight, Miss Burden thought the creature to be a whale – she had seen some previously in the North Sea off Tynemouth – but when the sea creature reared out of the water and displayed two coils before swimming away at speed, she took it to be a sea serpent.

This may be the reason people refrain from swimming in the North Sea. Then again, it may simply be the temperature of the water.

Hartlepool

A little bit of history.

The origins of Hartlepool can be traced back to the 7^th century AD when an Abbey was founded by St Aidan on the headland overlooking the sea. The monastery became famous under St Hilda, who served as its abbess from AD 649 to AD 657. By the early 19^th century, Hartlepool was still a small town with less than 1000 people. A rapid expansion occurred with the industrial revolution when a solicitor from Stockton-on Tees, Ralph Ward Jackson, developed a harbour at West Hartlepool for the export of coal. The area became heavily industrialized with ironworks and shipbuilding featuring strongly. Many of Hartlepool’s pubs were built around this time.

The Shades Hotel on Church Street in 1988. This old pub, built in the mid-19^th century and refaced at the start of the 20^th century, has several Art Nouveau features and was Grade II listed in 1985.

The Shades Hotel, Hartlepool, in 1988

Note the wonderfully delicate female figures on the window surround

 

The Volunteer Arms on Church Street in1988

The Stranton pub and adjoining Camerons Brewery in 1988

John William Cameron took over an existing brewery in 1865. In 1892, the present Lion brewery was built, incorporating the most up-to-date equipment. An artesian well has supplied water to the brewery for over 160 years. The Stranton was converted to a visitors’ centre in 2004.

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, I had a holiday job at Camerons Brewery. This was a Victorian brewery with equipment from that era, so the work was quite physical and included shovelling spent grain from the mash tub and cleaning the inside of the coppers. Both jobs required you to strip down to jeans and wellies and enter the still steamy vessel by descending a pair of ladders. A large wooden shovel was used to remove the spent grain, while the spent hops were blasted from the walls of the copper using a water hose. The next stage was to clean any remaining hops from the heating pipes with a small piece of Scotchbrite. Much of the transport of barley and hops was also done by hand, as the design of the building did not permit the use of mechanized transport. Although the work could be hard, it was never boring. However, the best job was in the afternoon. The directors met each day at 4 o’clock precisely, and one lucky employee was required to deliver two large jugs of Camerons Strongarm to the board room. The perk of the job was that you were allowed a swift half pint when you filled the jugs.  Over time, the half pint slowly increased to two or three pints, with a subsequent delay in delivery to the directors. This was eventually noticed and an improvement in my performance was ordered!

Major changes were made in 1970. Much of the Victorian brass and copper fixtures had been replaced by electronically-operated, fully automatic, stainless steel brewing equipment. This modernization was not universally welcomed, however, for although the job had become physically easier, it was extremely tedious with much of the day spent washing the new marble floors or cleaning the stainless steel vessels.

The Zetland on Church Street in1988

The New Market on Lynn Street in 1998, looking a little past its best,
but still a Grade II listed building

 

The Harbour of Refuge in April 2012

A bronze statue of Andy Capp, the cartoon creation of Hartlepudlian, Reg Smythe, was unveiled in the old town in June 2007

The characters, Andy and his wife Flo, were based on Smythe's own parents.

Apart from success in the UK, Andy Capp became popular internationally in over
30 countries and 700 newspapers.

The Cosmopolitan in Old Hartlepool in April 2012

The Ship in Old Hartlepool in April 2012

The Ship showing a lamp advertising the now demolished Vaux brewery

The Fisherman’s Arms in Old Hartlepool in April 2012

The Rat Race Alehouse in Hartlepool Railway Station in April 2012. This is now my favourite pub in the town.  They only serve real ale, wine, real cider and perry. In fact, their marketing seems to be based on what they don’t have. This includes fizzy lager, fizzy cider, fizzy beer, alcopops, music and a big screen TV. If, however, you would like to enjoy an excellent pint with good conversation and papers and books to read, then this is the place for you.

The Town Wall in 2012

A little bit of history courtesy of Wikipedia and some local history websites.

After the Norman conquest of 1066, the de Brus family gained ownership of the lands surrounding Hartlepool. William the Conqueror built Durham Castle and brought stability to the area, and the surrounding villages were first mentioned in records in 1153 when Robert de Brus, 1st Lord of Annandale, became Lord of Hartness.

By the time of the Middle Ages, Hartlepool had grown into a small, but important, market town with the improved harbour which served as the official port of the County palatine of Durham.

The main trade was fishing, making Hartlepool one of the major ports in the east of the UK. After two hundred years, the de Brus connection with Hartlepool was severed when ‘Robert the Bruce', the legendary Scottish hero and last Lord of Hartness, was crowned King of Scotland, in 1306. Angered by this, King Edward I confiscated his title to Hartlepool.

The Sandgate in 2012

The Town Wall which guards the Headland (Old Hartlepool) was originally built in the 14th century as a defence against the raiding Scots and some parts of the wall, including the historic Sandgate, dates from this period.

 

 

 

 

Horden Pubs

Horden is a former coal mining colliery village situated on the East Durham coast.

The inhabitants of most colliery villages seemed to do most of their drinking in clubs. Horden, for example, had several clubs including the Conservative Club (known as the Tin Pot), the Victory club, The Legion, The Rugby Club and a most impressive building officially called the Miners Welfare but known to everyone as The Big Club. This was one of the largest buildings in the village, until its demolition in 2007/8. During its heyday it boasted several bars, a large concert room and even a library. With the demise of the colliery, the Big Club declined and shortly before its closure was little more than a drug den.

Horden did have a few pubs, notably The Bell (still open at the time of writing), The Horden Hotel, known throughout the village as The Trust (a large pub now closed), The Royal (now demolished) and The Hardwick (another large pub, now demolished).

 The Horden Hotel in ca 1985.

The Horden Hotel April 2012. Now Closed.

The Royal Hotel ca 1985. Now demolished.

The Bell 1991.

The Bell 2007.

The Comrades Club 2007.

The Conservative Club 2007.

The ROAB Club 1991.

Seaham Harbour Pubs - II

A hundred years ago Seaham had many more pubs and clubs than today and they are remembered in this poem believed to date from 1902:

A Tale of Seaham Licencing Signs

‘’The fellows of the Royal Naval Reserve suddenly entered the bar, and after being repeatedly asked to hurry up they departed, and entering The Ship, built of Royal Oak, sailed up to the Adam and Eve Gardens, where they met with some Foresters, who informed them that The Duke of Wellington, leaving the Edinburgh Castle, had gone into a Draycart. He was escorted by some noble Volunteers, all loyal to the Rose and Crown, and headed by a Highlander playing his pipes, had passed through Northumberland and, on arriving at the Bridge, were met by Londonderry, Castlereagh and Blandford.

Then the party adjourned to the Vane Arms, where they were joined by Marlborough, Zetland and Bradyll, who had just returned from Canterbury.

The assembled company here sat down to discuss various subjects: the merits of Shakespeare; the latest achievements of the Engineers and the industry of the Bottlemakers. But they were repeatedly annoyed by the chattering of the Parrot.

Then a party of Oddfellows suddenly entered the room and informed them that the Golden Lion had escaped from the Noah’s Ark and was speeding on his way by the Colliery to the Times Inn, hotly pursued by Lord Seaham, wearing a Hat and Feather and mounted on a Kicking Cuddy.

Thirty three pubs in all. Now, 100 years later, only a handful still remain. These include The Engineers Arms, The Times Inn, The Duke of Wellington (now called The Duke of Seaham), The Marlborough and Oddfellows Arms.

A few friends enjoying a pint in The Volunteers in 1981

The entrance to the Volunteers Arms. Note the mosaic blue star on the wall and the door painted black, cream and red, the traditional colours of the Newcastle Brewery. 1981.

The Volunteers Arms in 1981. By then the only remaining building in Frances Street.

Carlton Arms 1986. This was originally called The Castlereagh Hotel.

The Volunteers Arms in 1986.

Note that the original entrance has been replaced by a cheap wooden structure

The Blandford in 1986

The Duke of Wellington and The Golden Lion in 1986

The Northumberland Arms in 1986

The Victoria Inn, Durham

County Durham

For many people the name County Durham conjures up images of coal heaps, heavy industry, dirt and grime. This was never the complete picture. County Durham is also a county of agriculture and sea fishing, wonderful denes, moors and waterfalls and the magnificent Durham cathedral and castle and the jewel in the crown, the Victoria Inn in Durham City!

The Victoria comprises three separate rooms and is generally regarded as having one of the best-preserved pub interiors in the country.

The main bar which always has a good selection of well-kept real ale

The out-licence serving area behind the glass and wood partition.

The Victoria also has an excellent selection of malt whisky.

The Victoria's main bar and fireplace

The Victoria'a second bar

Fireplace in the second bar

The select bar with marble fireplace