Beamish Park Golf Club

setting for a golf course.

The making of the course

and the erection of the

pavilion took six months

a n d t h e o p e n i n g

ceremony was performed

by Mr Nesbit of

Harperley Hall. Mr S.M.

Meddick thanked Mr

Nesbitt and presented

him with a pipe, a gift

from the members. The pavilion soon became

known to the park deer,

several of which could

usually be seen near the

entrance in quest of

tit bits thrown to them by

golfers. The Club carried on very

successfully until 1942

when owing to the

Second World War the

course was taken over

and much of it ploughed

up for cultivation of food

and crops. The pavilion

and fittings were then

sold and the club

disbanded. On 10th January, 1950, a

meeting was held in the

S h e p h e r d a n d

Shepherdess Inn with a

view to reforming the

Golf Club. Mr. W.

Burglass said that most of

the course was still under

tillage and should play

start this year it would

have to be restricted to

seven or eight holes. The

rest of the course would

not be released until later

in 1950. At this meeting

it was decided to restart

a golf club in the Deer

Park and a second

meeting was called when

a committee was formed

mainly from the donating

founders: President: RD Shafto

Chairman: JF Gibson

Vice Chairman: JAJ Oxley

Newsletter Date 7th September 2016 Volume 6, Issue 3

Chester le Street Heritage Group Newsletter

Special points of

interest:

Beamish Park Golf

Club.

The Somme 100

years ago (The

Soldiers Story).

Inside this issue:

The Soldiers

Story

continues.

3

Teaching in

Times Gone

Bye.

5

A Visitor ! 7

Beamish Golf Club is the

oldest established golf

club in the district. The

first course of nine holes

was laid out at Eden Hill

Farm near Beamish

Station (long since gone)

on ground known as the

Slack in 1907. In 1911 a new course of

nine holes was laid out at

No Place. These links

were only in use for two

years, when another

course of nine holes was

made beh ind the

S h e p h e r d a n d

Shepherdess Inn. These

links were in use until

1926 when they had to

be abandoned owing to

subsidence caused by the

workings at Chop Hill Pit. The 1912-1922 Minute

book of Beamish and

District Golf Club shows

that the Ladies had 34

members in 1913 to 49

gentlemen. In June 1927, the club

rented some land from

the squire of Beamish, Mr

Sl ingsby Duncombe

Shafto, and made a new

course of nine holes in

the Deer Park. Deer wandered all over

the course and these,

together with the

delightful view of the Hall

and its background of

trees, made an ideal

Page 2 Chester le Street

Hon. Secretary: W Buglass Hon. Treasurer and first

captain: Dr RP Tanham

On the 15th July 1950 Mr

George Nelson, Durham

County Golf Union

performed the official

opening. An exhibition

match was played by

four ladies who were

later to play for the

Durham County team.

They were Mrs Greta

Riddel l , Mrs May

Lowery, Mrs Minnie

C a r t e r a n d M r s

Downing. Also in 1950, the billiard

and cue room of

Beamish Hall was

converted into the Golf

Club House, and was

opened in July of that

year by Mr Robert

Duncombe Shafto. The

newly reformed club

s t a r t e d w i t h a

membership of seventy. A party was held on the

14th of March 1951 to

celebrate the opening of

the club. Refreshments

included ham and

tongue, sweets, cakes

and scones – all for 3s-

0d, Beamish Hall can be

seen from many parts of

the course and as well as

providing the club house

from 1950 to 1955 there

were two holes in its

grounds from 1952 to

1955. The Shepherd and

Shepherdess Inn plays a

significant role in the

development of golf in

the Beamish area having

been a temporary head-

quarters at times in the

1912-22 period and

hosting the meeting in

1950 that led to the club

being reformed. The name of the Inn

comes from the two

lead statues standing on

pedestals on each side of

the Inn door. The four

watched. To evade these

laws, leaden figures were

exported as works of art

and afterwards melted

down and made into

bullets to be used in the

war. The two Beamish

figures escaped this fate. When Mr. Robert

Duncombe Shafto left

Beamish, the hall was

taken over by the

National Coal Board and

converted into offices.

The Golf Club had to

then vacate the rooms

they occupied and they

moved into a pavilion

they had erected near to

the Lodge at Beamish

Burn, to the West of the

Hall. In 1964, following the

acquisition of 65 acres,

the 16 hole golf course

was increased to an

eighteen hole golf course

which was designed by

Henry Cotton no less

and plans for a new club

were made. Two old friends featured

feet high, half ton figures

show a Shepherd playing

a n i n s t r u m e n t

resembling a piccolo and

a Shepherdess holding a

lamb on one arm and a

shepherd’s crook in the

other hand. During the

early part of the

eighteenth century,

when England was at war

with France , the

importation of lead to

this country was strictly

f o r b i d d e n b y a

Napoleonic decree and

the ports were keenly

in every layout in the

Deer Park: the current

Ladies 1st hole and 17th

hole. Indeed in 1950 the

holes were played twice

as part of a 9 hole

course and four times

when playing 18 holes.

Even in the 1960’s they

were played twice as

part of the 16-hole

layout. Another point of

interest is the small

square pond, filled with

reeds, which is directly

August 11th 1756.

About two in the

morning a dreadful

accident happened

at Chatershaugh

colliery. The foul air in one

of the pits ignited,

by which four men

were instantly

killed and torn to

pieces. The explosion was

so violent that a

corf laden with

coals was blown up

the shaft from a

depth of 10 fathoms and a

vast quantity of

coal dust and rubbish was thrown

a great distance ,

discolouring the

surface of the

ground round

about. The explosion was

so loud as to be

heard by people in

their beds near two

miles off, rumbling

like deep thunder,

or the discharge of

many artillery. Had it happened

an hour later , the

whole of the workmen would

have been in the

mine , consequently the destruction of

human life would

have been dreadful.

Reported by

Newcastle

Gentlemens

Magazine

1756

Page 3 Volume 6, Issue 3 Volume 6, Issue 3 Page 3

the 155th brigade

batteries commenced a

heavy bombardment

prior to the launch of

the assault by units of

32nd Div i s ion at

07:30am. Their target

being Thiepval village.

This bombardment

continued all day on 1st

and 2nd July, in support

of the infantry actions.

A l t h o u g h t h e

bombardment managed

to cut the wire in many

places it was in

insufficient quantity

along the length of the

attack as a whole and

the bombardment as

heavy as it was, was not

able to penetrate the

deep dug-outs and

subterranean defences of

the German army. On

3rd July in preparation

for a new attack on

Thiepval by 25th

Division at 06:15am the

batteries commenced a

hea vy a t t a c k on

communication trenches

In the last newsletter we

got as far as June 1916

and preparations were

well underway for the

forthcoming Battle of

The Somme. Thomas

was with 155th Brigade

9th Divisional Artillery at

the time and preceding

1st July they had moved

f rom Contay v i a

Bouzincourt to Authuille

where they were when

the preliminary

B o m b a r d m e n t

comenced on 27th June.

They were employed in

wire cutting and shelling

communication trenches

and strong points

according to the Brigade

Diary. They were within

1500 yards of the

German front lines.

Although they were

under intermittent heavy

machine gun and

artillery fire they

suffered no casualties.

On 1st July at 06:40am

in front of the women’s first tee box. This is

actually the remains of a

mill pond dating back to

the 1700’s. Not far from

this in the wall that

surrounds the Hall is a

gap which once housed

the gate to its southern

boundary and through

which grain was taken to

the mill. If you look

closely you can also see

stones jutting from this

section of the wall which

were used as stepping

stones to cross it. A final point on the

c o u r s e ’ s h i s t o r y

concerns the two larger

ponds that golfers pass

as they meander down

the 12th fairway. These

ponds can be seen on

maps of the area from

the early 1700’s and are

described as fishponds

which supplied the hall

with all the fish they

needed. The new club house was

eventually opened in

1973 and is still in use

today. The present

course is ideally situated

and is one of the most

picturesque in the North

of England. The club now

has in excess of 400

members and is still

going strong. Excerpts from “The story of Tanfield and

Beamish” by Frederick J

Wade 1970, and

In August 1630,

two men named John Walker and

Mark Sharp, were tried at

Durham assizes

before

Judge Davenport for the murder of

Anne Walker,

convicted and

afterwards executed.

John Walker was a

yeoman of good

estate and a widower, living at

Lumley near

Chester le Street. Anne was his

“kinswoman” and

kept his house.

This extract is from

the Local Historians

Table Book by M.A.

Richardson but there

will be more about

this case in a later

edition of this

newsletter.

“The History of

Beamish Park Golf

Club” by Dennis

Hinds 2000.

Researched by Dave

Gardner.

The Soldiers Story WW1 cont

and strong points

between 01:15am and

3:00am. There was then a

lull in the shelling until

05:00 when it started

again. Once again the

a t t a c k p r o v e d

un-successful and there

were heavy casualties.

Little activity took place

on 4th July but on 5th

there was a marked

increase in German

Artillery fire and the

batteries came under

attack themselves from

high explosive and gas

shells and there were

several direct hits on

September 5th 1966 was

the withdrawal date for

the streamlined A4

Pacific steam engines and

the last time that they

ran in British Rail

service. They had all

moved to Scotland at

this time as they had

been replaced by Deltic

Diesel locomotives on

the East Coast route. 50 Years to the day 6 of

them are in preservation

as we saw last year and

incredibly at 80 years old

3 of these engines are

still certified to run on

the main line today, and

they regularly haul main

line railway tours as can

be seen in the

Photograph below of

Page 4 Chester le Street

“Sir Nigel Gresley”

passing Chester le Street

in April 2011. What a

testament to 1930’s

British Engineering !

and fire commenced on

the night of 5th/6th on

un-specified targets. The

area now being targeted

was just south of Cuinchy

Brickstacks and was an

area where underground

w a r f a r e a n d t h e

detonation of mines was

most prevalent. Shelling

continued and they also

c a m e u n d e r f i r e

themselves from sporadic

and at times intense

artillery and/or machine

gun fire by the enemy.

This is a summary of

information taken from

the 155th Brigade War

Diary which along with

other Diar ies i s

observation posts and

at the telephone

exchange in Aveluy

Wood. On 7th July

the batteries were

engaged in the

bombardment of the

German front line at

T h i e p v a l i n

conjunction with an

attack by 36th Brigade

12th Division. A

withdrawal f rom

positions then took

place on 8th July as

they moved to take

over the batteries of

153rd Brigade where

they remained until

18th July. The whole

of the 32nd Divisional

Artillery then began to

move westwards,

away from the Somme

battlefield and 155th

Brigade eventually

moved to Ames

where they were

occupied in refitting

and overhau l i n g

equipment. On 29th

July the 155th Brigade

proceeded to new

p o s i t i o n s n e a r

Annequin to the west

of Auchy-les-Mines

and they were in

position by 5th August

available for download

for a nominal fee (£3.45)

from the National

Archives. Next time— Somme again !

June 9th 1916

from the

Dundee Courier

A serious

accident

occurred on the

North Eastern

Railway main

line at

Chester le Street yesterday

morning.

A goods train

was proceeding

north and a

mishap to one

of the trucks

resulted in a

number of them

being

precipitated

over a viaduct,

and falling over

100 feet below.

Two horses,

valued at £100

each, belonging

to the Urban

Council , were

killed and two

others injured.

The permanent

way was torn

up, the viaduct

was damaged ,

and traffic

suspended for

many hours.

Co-operative Street.

So eventually I found

the right school. I was introduced to the

Head Teacher Tom

Laws and he took me

to the first class which

I was to have in the

September. Newly

qualified teachers were

allowed to go to their

new schools for two

or three weeks in the

July and this I did and

received my first ever

money from the

The Head and School

Secretary (Wendy

Johnson nee Milner)

shared with the staff

the last room. Staff

toilets were here too.

The children's toilets

were across the yard

in two separate

blocks. M y c l a s s r o o m

contained a coke

stove, a high teachers

desk and stool,

blackboard, children's

tables and chairs (not

joined desks like the

Page 5 Volume 6, Issue 3

and the County

Juniors later to join

as Cestria Primary

School. Neither of

them were expecting

a P roba t ion ary

teacher. They sent me to the

Catholic School on

Ropery Lane – no I

was not supposed to

be there. Then it was

s u g g e s t e d t h a t

perhaps the C of E

school was the

V i c t o r i a u p

Teaching in Times Gone Bye

2016- sixty years since

I went from Lanchester

Endowed Parochial

School to Consett

Grammar School and

fifty years since I was

appointed to Chester-

le-Street C of E (Cont)

School. After seven years at

Consett Grammar I

went to Doncaster

Training College in

1963. At the end of my

training I decided to

c o m e b a c k t o

brother suggested that a

new car could be acquired

and I would have the use

of that. So the travelling

was sorted. However next

was a visit to the school.

None of us knew Chester-

le-Street at all so my Dad

said, the church school will

be beside the Church. So

with that in mind off I went

and found the Church and

yes there were schools

beside it. At that time

there were two separate

schools, the County Infants

Lanchester. In those days

newly qualified teachers

applied to the County

Council, had an interview

at County Hall and then

if successful the County

decided which school

you would go to. Well the letter came and

I had been appointed to

Chester-le-Street C of E

School. Living a mile and

a half from Lanchester

on a farm had meant that

I had already passed my

driving test and my

County, £3 13shillings

per day. I went on the

school trip to Flamingo

Land Zoo and found my

way around the class and

its equipment. The Victoria School

consisted in 1966 of five

class rooms. At the end

n e a r e s t H o r n e r ' s

Factory (closed) were

t h e t w o I n f a n t

classrooms mine and Mrs

Peggy English, who had

taught at the school

since the 1940s. Then

there was an empty

classroom, used by the

Infants for PE lessons.

Next were the Junior

classes, Harry Ward a well

-known cricketer in the

town had started teaching

at the school in the 1920s

when it was a Boys school,

moved to the Church

School (now the Parish

Centre) and then when

the Boys and Girls school

amalgamated came back to

the Victoria. Judith

Stobbart , had been

Juniors) and a number of

tall cupboards holding

equipment. The two

Infant classrooms shared

a small cloakroom. It was

Victorian in style as well

as in name. The coke

stove put a layer of dust

everywhere and my

hands were often jet

black as I sorted through

the cupboards. W h a t a h a p p y

introduction to teaching

and Chester-le-Street

these four terms were.

How I wish now I had

written down all the

anecdotes Harry, Ted and

Peggy mentioned about the

Photo of Tom

Laws, Peggy &

Judith (1968)

teaching at the

school for two years.

These two class-

rooms were divided

by a wooden screen

wall which was

pulled back for

assemblies and lunch

times. Ted Megoran

was top class teacher

and his classroom

f a c e d u p

Co-operative Street.

Ted like Harry had

been at the school all

his teaching career.

plasticine into the wash

basins to stop the water

coming through. The

Church never had

money for repairs. Ted

and Harry had been at

C h e s t e r - l e - S t r e e t

S eco nda r y S choo l

t o g e t h e r , t a u g h t

together and then

during the Second

World War had ended

up together in North

Africa. There were also

stories about the old

caret aker Johnson

Ellwood, a clog dancer

and how the visible line

on the wall partitions

were there because he

had fallen off some steps

and it was decided that

above that line would

h a v e t o r e m a i n

unwashed. School dinners arrived in

large tins from the

Central Kitchen and

were handed out in the

two Junior classrooms

a f t e r s c r a p s o f

tablecloths were put on

each twin desk. Mrs

Rowe was the main

Dinner Lady and Mrs

Waugh was one of the

dinner nannies.

The houses above the

eventually being called a

glue sniffers haven

before being demolished

in the 1980s as part of

the Horner's site

development. Alan and I

married in 1970 by then

he was working at

Jarrow and it seemed

sensible to make our

home in Chester-le-

Street, no two car

families then. We bought

a house on Newcastle

Road. I taught at South

Pelaw till 1977 when I

left to have our daughter

Page 6 Chester le Street

school. I heard about

Captain Cuthbertson, head

from 1902 and his

withered arm and how

Miss Roscamp a spinster

was expected to help him

on with his coat. The day

Lyn Turnbull head after

Captain Cuthbertson went

and collected the staff

wages from the Education

Office put them in a

shopping bag, went into

Woolworths put it down

on the floor and only

remembered when he got

back to school. It was still

where he left it. Peggy

talked about putting

Claire. I returned for

one term in 1985 and

eventually spent nearly

twenty years at

Kibblesworth Primary

School.

Where have all the

years gone? I still see

mothers of children I

taught at the Victoria

and I can put names to

some of the faces seen

in the photographs on

this page taken in 1967.

Dorothy Hall

August 8th 1772 George Stoker and

John Coxon, two

boys belonging to

Lambton colliery,

were whipped

through Chester le Street for breaking

into the garden of

William Lambton.

What is remarkable

about this is that

for the reward of

five pounds it was

Coxon’s mother

who reported them

for the offence and

Stoker’s father was

the person who

whipped them.

school – Tuart Street

still had their tin baths

hanging in the yard. One

morning two boys

turned up with shaven

heads, most unusual in

1966 – 'nits' had been

found and their father

shaved off all their hair. In January 1968 the new

Infant School at South

Pelaw opened. Peggy

English and I were

transferred there. Any

equipment we wanted

to move up there was

transported in Curry's

Coal Wagon. The

following January the

rest of the Juniors

Wendy Johnson, Judith

Stobbart, Ted Megoran

and Tom Laws moved

up to Hilda Park. Harry

Ward had retired in the

summer of 1967. His

daughter in law Elsie

working as the Special

Needs teacher also

moved to Hilda Park. The building was used

for various clubs

June 11th 1794

An explosion took

place in Harraton Colliery,

by which twenty

eight human beings,

lost their lives !

During her visited, Julia

called into the Parish

Church to see the

B a r r e t t m e m o r i a l

window, which she is

seen standing next to in

the photograph above:

The information we pro-

vided on the CD along

with the donated

photographs have given

Julia much pleasure and

have opened up many

lines of family research

their holidays in July this

year and called in to our

last Drop-In Session

before we broke up for

the summer recess. The

H e r i t a g e G r o u p

presented Julia and her

husband with all the

o r i g i n a l f a m i l y

photographs that had

been donated to us,

along with a CD

incorporating all the

research information

that the Group had

collected about the

Barrett family.

which until now Julia

knew little about.

Alec Thompson.

Page 7 Volume 6, Issue 3

Portrait of

Brends Barrett

called Julia Wiesner,

who as it turns out, is a

direct descendant of

Charles Roll Barrett JP,

t h r o u g h h e r

Grandmother Brenda

Barrett, daughter of

Charles Rollo Barrett JP..

F o l l o w i n g m u c h

correspondence with

Julia where photographs

and information were

exchanged, Julia and her

husband who live in

So m e r se t , v i s i t e d

County Durham for

You may recall in the

March 2015 issue of this

Newsletter that there

was an article about

Charles Rollo Barret JP,

who lived at Whitehill

Hall. There was also a

page on the Group’s

website which featured

him and was quite a

popular story according

to the number of visitors

recorded on the “Hit

Counter”. This story had been

prompted by the

H e r i t a g e G r o u p

August 17th

1940

from the

Newcastle

Weekly

Chronicle.

Five truck

loads of straw

from a north

bound goods

train were

destroyed by

fire at

Chester le

Street on

Sunday and

the trucks

were

damaged.

It is assumed

that a spark

from a passing

engine set fire

to the straw as

the train was

approaching

Chester Moor.

It was stopped

at Chester le

Street station

and the trucks

detached and

run into a

siding.

Chester le Street Fire

Brigade were

called but they

failed to save

any of the

straw !

A visit from a descendant of the “Barrett” family.

receiving a parcel of

p h o t o g r a p h s a n d

documents relating to

the Barrett family that

had been recovered

from a skip in the village

o f M a r p l e n e a r

Southport, Cheshire. We had tried to make

contact with any

surviving members of

the Barrett family, but

without any success.

However, due to the

powers of the internet,

one of the visitors to

our website was a lady

CONTACTS

Chester le Street Heritage Group

Chairperson -

DAHALL52@aol.com

Information requests/web

heritage.group@virgin.net

Friends friendsclsheritage@hotmail.co.uk

Newsletter

brian.k.pirrie@btopenworld.com

Date Time Event Location

Tuesday 6th September then

every Tuesday

afterwards.

10:00-

12:00

Drop In Session

All Welcome

Salvation Army

Citadel Low Chare ,

Chester le Street.

Wednesday 21st

September

Group AGM.

First and 3rd

Wednesday every

month

19:00-

21:00

19:00-

21:00

Members Only

Group Mtg, All Welcome.

Ch-le-St Library

Ch-le-St Library

Next Newsletter

Wednesday

7th December

Contributions

required by

Wednesday

23rd November

October 5th 2016 Ward Phillipson—Photo Archive Part 1

November 2nd 2016 Clive Bowery—8th DLI (Venue Lambton Arms)

January 4th 2017 Always Remembered—North East War Memorials

Project Film.

March 1st 2017 Dorothy Hamilton—Coal Mining

April 5th 2017 That History Bloke—The Book of Days

May 3rd 2017 Gordon Henderson—Romans

Remember that none members are also welcome at these meeting so please

pass on the details to friends etc as they may also be interested.

Events Diary

Speakers

Programme 2016/2017

Don’t forget, we are always on the lookout for stories, and reminiscences of employment, events or living in Chester Le Street in

times gone bye. What about your experiences of going to school in

Chester le Street, working, (as Dorothy described this time), shopping,

socialising or even just passing through. All stories are of interest and

perhaps your own story could inspire one from someone else ? Please

send any contributions to any listed e-mail address or hand written

contributions to any member of the group.