Durham related Videos – British Pathé on YouTube

Thought these VIDEOS may be of  interest after the POSTING of  TV Traffic Control in Durham.

A list of videos relating to Durham via British Pathé on YOUTUBE.

FOLLOW the LINK to view them on YouTube  >>>>> HERE <<<<

Durham Executions: Revenge on A Blackleg 1883 – Thomas Pyle – Plate-Layer from Ushaw Moor

On the evening of Saturday 1 April 1882 Thomas Pyle, a plate-layer from Ushaw Moor, had gone drinking in Durham. He was in such a state of intoxication that he was helped by two young men to walk up Prior’s Path. Pyle then lay down at the hedge side and fell asleep. He was seen by quite a few people, as they made their way home, still lying in the same spot at midnight. The following morning Pyle’s dead body was discovered at a distance of some thirty yards from where he had been seen sleeping. A post-mortem of the body being carried out at the Durham Infirmary by Dr Jepson and Dr Oliver established that Pyle had been murdered. His left arm was fractured, there was a hole in his wind-pipe and his throat had been crushed almost to a pulp – by a beating.

Although the police conducted many interviews and pieced together the dead man’s last movements it was to be more than twelve months before there was an arrest, even though a reward of £200 was offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Pyle’s murderer. Peter McDonnell was born in Halifax in 1851 and he and his sister, Mary, when both young, were brought to Durham with their parents. After their father’s death their mother married John Bray and the two McDonnell children adopted his surname. Young Peter Bray was always in trouble and was a general nuisance to his neighbours. He was sent to work in a carpet factory but decided he wanted employment in the pits. In 1866, at the age of fifteen, Bray began his criminal career, an assault for which he was imprisoned for seven days.

Then in March 1873 he began a sentence of six months for cutting and wounding.
In 1874 Crossgate Peth (Path) leading from the city of Durham to Brandon and other pit villages, became a black spot for robberies on dark nights, often carried out with brutal violence. Eventually the police managed to arrest five of the perpetrators who were given long sentences of penal servitude and suffered the lash for their crimes. Two others, James Glancey and Bray, managed to escape. Glancey was arrested soon after for another crime and received a life sentence. With the assistance of the police at Newcastle, Bray was eventually arrested at the Castle Garth in 1875. He was sentenced to be incarcerated for seven years — and to be flogged.

Bray was released in the early part of 1881 and went to live at Bearpark and enlisted in the Durham Militia. While undergoing his army training at Hartlepool he received a sentence of seven days, to be spent in Durham gaol, for drunkenness. As Bray left the prison on completion of his sentence, on 6 July 1883, the police were already waiting and arrested him on suspicion of the murder of Thomas Pyle. Bray stood before Justice Day on Friday 2 November 1883 at Durham Assizes, defended by Mr Grainger in what was to be a trial lasting more than ten hours. Although it appeared that there were many people who had known that Bray had done the deed they had all kept silent, some, it was said, through fear of repercussions. There was also the fact that during a miners’ strike the people who were detested almost as much as those that had the authority over the mine workers were the scabs or blacklegs who did not give total backing to their work colleagues, so perhaps many thought that Pyle had got what he deserved. Once the police had made extensive enquiries and unravelled the events of that night they summoned many of the witnesses to testify in court.

On the day that the murder had taken place Bray had been drinking with his companions at various public houses. Bray and David Liddell had left Durham at about 11 pm to return to Bearpark which was about three miles away. As they walked up Prior’s Peth they saw Pyle lying on the grass in a drunken sleep. It was well known that Pyle worked as a blackleg at Ushaw Moor Colliery where there was a strike taking place at that time. As Bray and Liddell walked on they bumped into a group of their acquaintances and one asked if they had seen Pyle as they passed. Bray said they had and they should go back and ‘kill the bastard’. When the group of men realised that his threat was serious they urged him to leave Pyle alone but he would not be swayed. Bray broke a rail from the fence before jumping over it and headed towards the defenceless man. It was a dark night and, although the men standing on the path could not see what was taking place, they heard a cry. Realising that Bray had done something to Pyle, the group hurriedly dispersed.

Bray had then gone to his lodgings telling his landlord ‘I have put a blackleg through that night.’ A few weeks later he had a conversation with an acquaintance in Durham market place, saying, ‘when I first struck Pyle he had shouted but I soon put a stop to that’. The two men who had originally helped Pyle on Prior’s Peth testified that he had a parcel with him. The parcel was not there when the body was found. Other witnesses stated that Bray was later in possession of a jacket and shirt that did not belong to him and he was also bragging about having money in his pocket. Bray insisted that he was innocent and that the whole affair was a conspiracy with the witnesses committing perjury. He pointed out that there were many of the mining com-munity who would have been hostile towards Pyle because of his actions.

The jury brought in a verdict of guilty and the death sentence was pronounced with Justice Day adding to his summing up that Bray should not look for a reprieve as one would not be granted. It was reported that, after a life of crime, twenty-seven-year-old Peter Bray confessed his sins, admitted his guilt and went to his death penitent. Precautions had been taken to avoid a repeat of the occurrences that had taken place at the previous execution. Once the white hood was in place Bartholomew Binns placed the knot of the noose at the back of the head instead of to the right and the slack of the rope was tied with a thin thread.

Bray went to his death on Monday 19 November 1883 with hardly a quiver from the rope.

Durham Executions: The Twentieth Century – Maureen Anderson – Google Books.

Disused Stations: Bearpark Station (formerly Aldin Grange)

Date opened: 1.6.1883

Location: On the north side of Auton Style

Company on opening: North Eastern Railway

Date closed to passengers: 1.5.1939

Date closed completely: 1.5.1939

Company on closing: British Railways (North Eastern Region)

Present state: Demolished – no trace of the station remains

County: Durham

OS Grid Ref: NZ245432

Notes: Ironworks were established at Consett in 1841 but in the 1860s Consett needed better access to the iron town of Middlesbrough and the neighbouring Ironstone of the Cleveland Hills. There were some circuitous rail links between the two towns but a direct route was required. The Browney valley provided the ideal setting for such a line.

In February 1861 construction of the North Eastern Railway’s Lanchester Branch commenced and it officially opened the following year. It was initially a single-track line with stations at Consett, Knitsley, Lanchester and Witton Gilbert.

The Lanchester Branch opened up mining possibilities along the Browney Valley. In 1870, Lord Lambton who owned land in the valley accepted an application to search for coal and the following year coal was found. The NER doubled its track in anticipation of colliery demand and collieries soon opened along the line at Bearpark, Malton, Lanchester and Langley Park. An additional station was added at Aldin Grange in 1883 and renamed Bearpark on 1.5.1927.

via Disused Stations: Bearpark Station.

Unusual VASE – Florentine Crested China – Ushaw Moor Colliery ?

Florentine Crested China VASE

Got this lttle Gem off ebay, not sure what the significance of the Ushaw Moor crest is, maybe something to do with the Ushaw Moor Colliery.

“THIS IS  A PRETTY CRESTED CHINA VASE WITH 4 HOLES WITH CREST OF USHAW MOOR AND MADE BY FLOERNTINE CHINA”

Anyone any ideas ?

Soldier Story – I was There ,Pamela Proctor speaks to the Royal Canadian Legion

Listen to Pamela Proctor, daughter of Frank Proctor former resident of Ushaw Moor who left for Canada, remembering his story while fighting in WW2, speaking to the Royal Canadian Legion.
Download Pamela Proctor speaks to the Royal Canadian Legion

A Canadian Soldier’s Real Life Adventure Story

Summary: Frank Proctor grew up in a coal mining town near Durham, England, came to Saskatchewan to work in the grain harvest, enlisted in the Regina Rifles on the outbreak of war, trained in Canada and England, landed in Normandy on D-Day, fought through France and Holland to Germany, returned to Canada and moved to Mission, B.C., where he raised his family and operated his own business until retirement to the beauty of his art.

Read this gripping first hand account by a Canadian infantryman of his personal experiences in the tremendous events resulting in the liberation of Europe.

What readers and reviewers have said about I Was There click here

via Soldier Story – I was There , an autobiography by Frank Proctor.

Firefighter tells of North heroes’ blaze of glory – Sunday Sun

THESE pictures show how the hard work and bravery of firefighters often goes unnoticed.

But retired fireman Arthur Lockyear, who battled blazes across the North for 30 years, has penned a book celebrating his heroic colleagues.

The 59-year-old from Ushaw Moor, Durham, said he felt it was something which needed to be done for the “good of the service”.

And so he has written Warriors in Fireboots to tell the incredible stories of the firefighter’s calling.

“The book is my tribute to the many extraordinarily courageous people whom I have had the great fortune to have met,” said Arthur, who worked in Sunderland, Gateshead and South Tyneside during his three-decade career with Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service.

Arthur, who has been awarded an MBE for his work organising the Sunderland Remembrance Day Parade, has spent two years gathering together stories for the book.

The tales span the length and breadth of the country, and go back in time to take in the very first men who risked their lives in the fire brigade, as well as the heroic firefighters of the Blitz in the Second World War.

“There were so many stories to chose from,” said Arthur. “They start back in 1861 in London and come right up to date in 2005, with two firefighters from Stevenage who lost their lives.”

via Firefighter tells of North heroes’ blaze of glory – Sunday Sun.

Railroad to Wembley starts at Waterhouses From The Northern Echo

BRADSHAW’S 1922 railway timetable, which no home should be without, records that there were nine trains a day in each direction on the five-and-half-mile line between Durham and Waterhouses, calling at Ushaw Moor only.

On Saturdays, in an attempt to ensure that the lads got home all right, an additional train left Durham at 10.25pm. Whatever the gradient as the old Think-ICan laboured up the Deerness Valley, thereafter it was downhill all the way.

Just one daily service steamed soporifically in each direction when finally the line closed to passengers – save for an annual outing to the Big Meeting – in October 1951. The goods service, pitmatic mostly, continued until 1964.

The relevance of all this, of course, is that Saturday marked the first qualifying round of the FA Vase, the traditional starting station for the Backtrack column’s ever-optimistic Railroad to Wembley.

READ MORE Railroad to Wembley starts at Waterhouses From The Northern Echo.

Artist Steven Fox’s love of steam trains is not hot air – Arts – Culture – JournalLive

A CHILDHOOD love of steam engines has inspired artist Steven Fox’s railway art. His mixed-media work includes portraits of volunteers who work to keep the heritage railway lines open and intricate portrayals of steam engines and trains.

“Railways were part of my childhood,” explains Steven, from Esh Winning, near Durham City. “My dad was also interested in steam engines and he took me to Newcastle station to mark the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Newcastle to Hexham line with the engine The Evening Star in March 1985.

“I was 14. I’m inspired by the work of Guild of Railway artist and wildlife painters David Shepherd and Terence Cunue. One of my favourite artists has always been John Constable for his landscapes and trees.”

From today, Steven, who studied arboriculture at Houghall College in Durham, will be displaying his original Heritage Railway art titled Hot Coals & Ash for the first time in his hometown.

The exhibition, which opens to the public tomorrow, will be in the Durham Room at Durham County Hall and opened by the chairman of Durham County Council Dennis Morgan.

Among the special guests at the preview evening will be Richie McCardle, from Consett, who is an engine driver on both the Weardale Railway and the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway. He is one of the subjects in Steven’s work.

The 41-year-old lives close to Ragpath Wood, in Durham, a Woodland Trust site of ancient woods left over from the last ice age mixed with relics of the mining industry. He is inspired by its natural history landscape – the walkway there follows the old branch line from Waterhouses to Durham City Railway Station. This was a major transport link for the mining communities living and working in Deerness Valley and an oil painting of this walkway is shown in the exhibition.

Read MORE

Artist Steven Fox’s love of steam trains is not hot air – Arts – Culture – JournalLive.

Having to go to ushaw moor in 60′s « newbrancepethmemories

Went to Broughs grocery store at bottom of station road. Would walk there from Jubilee St. Through the field came out at road to go down bank to the beck. alright going it was the coming back when we had bags to carry. Sometimes we came up the clay bank, don’t think when we were carrying bags.

From New Brancepeth Memories BLOG click below for MORE

MORE via Having to go to ushaw moor in 60′s « newbrancepethmemories.

Bearpark In 2001 via Willington Town Hall!

If you go into Google [world not just UK] and search  –  Willington Town Hall – up comes Willington Town Hall at about five items down the page.

Now click on it and scroll down a few pages. There you will see lots of census 2001 facts about the people of Bearpark. Good stuff. After all we occasionally do bits about other than the Moor and this is one more!

WB