housing - The Lemington Centre

LEMINGTON - NEWBURN FACTSHEET
HOUSING
On Tyneside, the one widespread and surviving image of the Industrial Revolution is not
the great industrial buildings of the time, but the rows and rows of workers’ terraced
houses.
They were built in their thousands from the late 18th century to well into the 20th century, first by the industrial
companies themselves, such as Lemington’s Glass Company of 1787 and Iron Company of 1797, then by
speculative house builders and, finally, by Building Societies and local Councils.
Rows were often built together in formations which related back through land purchase to earlier open field
boundaries and, frequently, steep slopes were ignored to cram the rows close to the factories, like the terraced
rows that can be seen in Blaydon on the opposite side of the River Tyne from Lemington.
Most Victorian terraces of Lemington were called ‘Streets’ (except for Tyne View, pictured below) and were
given additional names like ‘Wellington’, ‘Gladstone’ or ‘Montague’ in commemoration of famous generals,
politicians and local families. It was only into the 20th century that modest, local streets were finally given
exotic names like ‘Crescent’, ‘Avenue’, ‘Court’, ‘Place’ or ‘Gardens’.
Typical terrace housing in Tyne View, Lemington, in the early 1900s. On the left is the post
office, opened in 1886 on the corner of West Street.
(Pic - BYGONE Bell’s Close & Lemington, A.D. Walton)
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LEMINGTON - NEWBURN FACTSHEET
SUGLEY DENE
Narrow and steep sided, this wooded dene links the Tyne Valley countryside
to other local Wildlife Corridors.
A hidden part of Lemington, Sugley Dene is bordered to the north by the actual site of Hadrian’s Wall, now the
A69 road, and to the south by the Hadrian’s Way national trail and cycleway.
The woodland is semi-natural and ancient, and with the Sugley Burn trickling through its centre, provides a
haven for a variety of wildlife. Beech trees dominate the northern end. At the southern end you will find ash, oak
and hazel trees.
In Spring, opposite-leaved golden saxifrage carpets the shady stream banks along with a variety of liverworts,
whilst the white wood anemone, the yellow lesser celandine, the native bluebell and the pungent wild garlic
create a blaze of colour. In Summer, the yellow wood avens, pink foxgloves and herb robert continue the
colourful scene.
A boardwalk takes you through the heart of the dene, where it is possible to observe the many birds, such as
blackbirds, blue tits, great tits, robins and wrens. Small mammals and bats have also been recorded here.
Ash, oak and hazel trees allow light through to the many plants that provide food for a variety
of insects. (Pic - North East Environmental Education Forum)
Lemington Newburn A story through our community
LEMINGTON - NEWBURN FACTSHEET
RAILWAYS
The local railways developed from the waggonways which took coal from the local pits
down to the River Tyne.
Waggonways were developed from the 18th century to deliver coal from the local Wylam, Lemington, Newburn,
Blucher and North Walbottle pits to the staithes built on the Tyne at Lemington. From the staithes the coal was
loaded into keels (flat bottomed boats) and taken out to the colliers lying in the rivers.
A large network of wooden waggonways were developed in the 18th century to deliver coal from the local pits
to the staithes at Lemington. These were replaced in the early 19th century by iron rails. From 1813�‘Puffing
Billy’, an early locomotive built locally by engineer William Hedley, was used to pull the wagons on the Wylam
Waggonway.
Between 1875 and 1876, the Scotswood, Newburn & Wylam Railway line, which was opened to serve the
industries of the area as well as local passengers, used the route of the old Wylam to Lemington waggonway.
This was just a short six and a half mile line serving the north bank of the River Tyne.
Lemington Station was built in front of Sugley Villas and the Station House is still there but now used as a private
house. Newburn Station was situated at the western side of Newburn Bridge. Unfortunately little now remains
of these once busy stations.
Lemington Station c1921 with Sugley Villas in the background.
(Pic - BYGONE Bell’s Close & Lemington, A.D. Walton)
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LEMINGTON - NEWBURN FACTSHEET
RELIGION
The church was a great influence in people’s lives and new people coming into the area
brought their religion with them.
Many Irish workers were attracted to the industries in the area in the late 19th century and they brought
Catholicism with them. In 1868 Richard Lamb of West Denton helped to found St George’s Roman Catholic
Church in Bells Close. Unfortunately, his wife, Georgina, died on the date the foundation stone was laid.
The Church of the Holy Saviour was built 1836/7 at Sugley. The architect was Benjamin Green, well known for
many buildings in the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne. Unusually, the church is aligned north-south rather than
the normal east-west, to avoid a pit shaft on the eastern part of the land. Another reminder of coal’s influence
on the area. This church was previously known as Sugley Parish Church.
The oldest church in the area is St Michael & All Angels in Newburn. The Tower was built about 1100AD as the
village stronghold against the marauding Scots. Both of George Stephenson’s marriages took place here and
William Hedley, another Tyneside railway pioneer, is buried here too.
Other churches in the area are the Lemington Primitive Methodist Church (1863) and the Newburn Weslyan
Church (1837). The Primitive Methodist Church became a school and later a Mission Hall. Methodism was always
popular in newly industrialised areas such as Lemington and Newburn.
St Michael & All Angels Church with its tower built 1100 or before.
(Pic - BYGONE Newburn, A.D. Walton)
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INDUSTRY
The developing railways, the boom in ship building and the need for weapons of war
provided many opportunities for industry on the River Tyne.
The Tyne Iron Works was built in 1797�‘For cast-iron extracting by the action of fire in large furnaces from
ironstone ... to produce everything from an anchor to a needle’�and by 1801 was very prosperous.
In 1869 John Spencer from Newburn Steel Works took over and renamed it the Haematite Iron Company. This
lasted only seven years as the supply of iron ore from Sweden dried up and production had ceased by the late
1870s. In 1903 the Newcastle and District Lighting Company built a power station amongst the Iron Works
remains to generate electricity from coal. The Lemington Power Station ceased generating in 1919 and became
a substation supplying electricity to the local tramway until its closure in 1946. It still stands as an important
monument to the early 20th century electricity supply industry.
In 1822 John Spencer opened the Newburn Steel Works using water driven corn mill converted for file grinding.
The works concentrated on making springs for the railway industry. By the turn of the century, when shipbuilding
was booming on the Tyne, the company became one of the most advanced steel works in the country. In 1904 it
produced the steel plate for the �Mauretania�, the most famous liner ever built on Tyneside.
The company began to decline during the shipbuilding slump after the First World War and the rolling mills were
demolished during the 1930’s. However, the works continued as John Spencer and Sons producing railway
axles and springs, then gun springs and barrels during World War Two. The firm closed in the 1960s but some
buildings still survive to remind us of how this huge industrial complex once dominated the life and landscape
of the ancient village of Newburn.
The Newburn Steel Works in their heyday in 1920.
(Pic - BYGONE Newburn, A.D. Walton)
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LEMINGTON - NEWBURN FACTSHEET
COMMUNITY
Although a mill and riverside staiths are recorded at Lemington as early as 1638, the
foundation of a real working community here had to wait another 150 years until
Lemington’s glass and iron companies built factories and workers’ terraces in the late
18th century.
Many such industrial ‘pioneer’ communities were created throughout the North East during the Industrial
Revolution. They were close-knit communities, linked together by common work pressures and practices and,
as time went by, by growing patterns of neighbourly friendship and family kinship.
Limited mobility meant that shopping, social and public facilities had to be concentrated nearby, so that, in
time, the centre of the Lemington community moved from the riverside up to Tyne View as the community
itself expanded up the river bank. In the past, this and the adjoining streets, boasted such specialist shops
and services as a wool shop, two barbers, a dairy (‘Maydew’s’), a cobblers, a general dealers, a fruit mart, a
fresh fish shop and a fashion shop. Blaydon and District Industrial and Provident Society provided a pharmacy
whilst Christian worship was available at the Parish Church (built 1837), St George’s RC Church (built 1868) and
assorted Methodist Chapels (from 1838 onwards).
Shared memories, through visits to social facilities like the Prince of Wales Theatre (a picture palace of 1924) and
attendance at regular local events such as the annual Lemington Hospital Autumn Fair, provided the ‘social glue’
that held the community together and enabled it to mature. Community activities of all kinds developed – British
legion Club, Women’s Temperance Association, Tennis Club, Camera Club, uniformed youth organisations, Keep
Fit clubs, Knit and Natter club, Sewing Group, Townswomen’s Guild and, still going strong, The Lemington Male
Voice Choir. The present Lemington Centre cost £1.7m, was opened in late 2004 and now offers a wide range of
lively social and cultural activities.
An old glass works schedule of property listed, “Two roomed cottages with
piggeries, coal houses etc. attached”. (Pic - BYGONE Bell’s Close & Lemington, A.D.
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LEMINGTON GLASS WORKS
Glass making was first recorded in Newcastle in 1619 and was to become the second most
important industry on Tyneside after coal.
In 1787 the Northumberland Glass Company erected four glasshouses on land by the River Tyne, leased from
the Duke of Northumberland. Within ten years, four huge brick cones had been added to increase the variety of
glass products from the factory.
Initially only flat glass was produced from the glass cones. Unfortunately, in 1837 all but the largest of the cones
were demolished. The one you see is the only one left. It stands 120 feet high and, according to local legend,
was made from almost two million bricks.
From 1833 to 1845 the Glassworks was operated by Joseph Lamb & Sons but shortly after this date there was
a depression in the glass trade and full scale operations were not reinstated until 1898 when George Sowerby,
the famous glassmaker, took over. During this early period John Spencer’s Iron Works took over part of the site
but soon moved on to Newburn. In 1906 the land was bought from the Duke of Northumberland by the General
Electric Company and in 1915 there were six covered pot furnaces producing light bulbs and tubes.
In 1993 the only remaining cone was cleaned and repaired as a protected industrial monument, being only one
of four such surviving cones in the country. The picture shows houses in Cross Row lying between High and Low
Rows. The houses were constructed without windows in the walls facing the glassworks because of the smoke
and smells.
Terraced houses in Cross Row lying between High and Low Rows. One glasshouse
remains as a listed building. (Pic - BYGONE Bell’s Close & Lemington, A.D. Walton)
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EDUCATION
Many early schools developed near churches or monasteries but in the 17th and 18th
centuries many charity schools set up by rich benefactors appeared as well as public
schools.
In 1811 the Church of England set up the National Society for the Education of the Poor and in 1814 the Quakers
set up the British and Foreign school Society. 1870 saw parliament set up a form of state education under the
Education Act and in the late 19th century School Boards were set up - the forerunner of Council Schools.
Both Holy Saviour Church and St George’s RC Church in Lemington had schools attached. St George’s is still
running but the Holy Saviour School closed in 1937. Newburn Manor and Lemington Riverside schools were
Board schools.
Newburn Manor opened in 1890 as a Church controlled school prior to becoming a Board school. In 1974 both
schools became First Schools and in 2004 they became Primary Schools.
The Sea Scouts building just south of the trail, near The Lemington Centre, was once a school building. The
picture shows St Georges Church that was built in the late 19th century to provide educational as well as social
alternatives to the local public houses.
The Bell’s Close section of Scotswood Road c1900. Irish workers attracted to
riverside factories supported St George’s church and school which served a wide
area. (Pic - BYGONE Bell’s Close & Lemington, A.D. Walton)
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COAL AND POWER
Coal mining has been a North East activity since the Roman period, but it did not become
the most dominant influence on the growth of the region’s economy until late in the 17th
century.
The coal industry doubled its production by 1750 and, by the end of the century, most of the technical problems
of flooding, ventilation and transport to the surface had been solved, leaving the way clear for a huge expansion
into the 19th century. The availability of established waggonways leading down to the river was the reason for
the development of the Walbottle Colliery between Newburn and Lemington. It later became known as Percy
Pit and lasted for about 100 years before it was closed and the whole site and its enormous pit heap reclaimed
in the late 1980s. This process did not return the land back to a rural landscape, but into a recreational Country
Park of open grassland, scattered tree groupings and a wildlife pond, open to all.
In the 20th century, coal was used in this part of the Tyne Valley to produce electricity. The oldest power facility
still surviving locally, is the Lemington Power Station (shown in the picture below in c1910), built in 1903 within
the site of the former Iron Works, and supplying power for the local tram service until its closure in 1946.
From 1955, the two mighty North and South Stella coal-fired Power Stations, with their four 238 foot high cooling
towers beside the River Tyne, provided both industrial and domestic power for much of Tyneside, as well as an
iconic presence in views along the Tyne Valley. After 57 years operation, they, in their turn, became obsolete;
the cooling towers were destroyed in a single spectacular display of explosive power on 29th March 1992 and
the main Stations and associated tall chimneys were progressively dismantled between 1993 and 1996. The
long, low tangle of distribution equipment beside the road between Lemington and Newburn, is an inadequate
reminder of this once great Tyneside industry.
Lemington Power Station as it was soon after 1903.
(Pic - BYGONE Bell’s Close & Lemington, A.D. Walton)
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TRANSPORT
Coal was transported to the Lemington Staiths and transferred to keel boats that carried
it further down the river to collier brigs lying below the old Tyne Bridge.
Until the 17th century mined coal was carried on the backs of pack-horses because the use of carts would lead
to a rutted road that would quickly become impassable. Early in the 17th century wooden rails were laid down
and coal was transported in horse drawn wagons. A horse could move approximately ten and a half tons of coal
in one day.
Between 1748 and 1780 waggonways were constructed to connect Wylam, Throckley, Walbottle and North
Walbottle collieries to Lemington Staithes.
Early in the 19th century the Tyne Iron Works and the Glass Works created more waggonways to transport both
their raw materials and manufactured goods.
In 1808 timber rails were replaced with iron plate-way rails and in 1827 by fish-bellied rails. Towards the end
of the 20th century most of the coal was transported on the main railway lines and the waggonways ceased to
be used as the main route. By the 20th century most of the tracks had been lifted and many of the waggonways
have become bridleways.
By 1913 a single line tramway service ran a passenger service from Scotswood Bridge to Lemington. The route
ran through Lemington just north of the glass works. This service closed in 1946.
The number 308 Newcastle Corporation tram standing at the loop near the path
off to the glassworks. (Pic - BYGONE Bell’s Close & Lemington, A.D. Walton)
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CIVIC PRIDE
Unlike Lemington, Bell’s Close and Sugley, Newburn has a long history as a village.
Between 1332 and 1974 the manor of Newburn was in the inheritance of the Percy family who latterly became
Dukes of Northumberland. The earliest ‘civic buildings’ were provided by the Percys and their staff and include
the Duke’s Bailiff’s House (1822) and the Newburn Almshouses (1870), all on the High Street. The village’s
growing independence was confirmed in 1893 when Newburn Urban District Council (UDC) was formed and,
until April 1974, when it was absorbed into an enlarged Newcastle, the UDC acquired a reputation for its high
standard of civic building.
The largest public building on the High Street is still the Mechanic’s Club and Institute, built late in the 19th
century. In 1910, the UDC equipped themselves with a handsome Council Chamber and Offices, followed by
a fine Police Station and Cottage Hospital over the next ten years. The World War One ‘Conquering Hero’
Memorial was then placed at the western end of the High Street, whilst a neat, well-appointed Fire Station was
placed at the opposite end in 1922. Although many of these quality public buildings have since changed their
ownership and use, they still display the civic pride and far-sighted interests of, first, the Percy family and then
the UDC, in their combined desire to make Newburn’s civic status and townscape something special.
The Institute when it was being used as the “Dole Office” c1925. Unemployed
“signed on” for relief benefit and included miners from as far off as North
Walbottle. (Pic - BYGONE Newburn, A.D. Walton)
Lemington Newburn A story through our community
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Lemington Newburn A story through our community