Boldon Colliery memories
Here are memories of Boldon Colliery and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Boldon Colliery or a Boldon Colliery photo.
The Railways of Boldon
I can remember setting off to London to see my sister from Boldon Colliery station and this started my interest in railways. I was hooked and was a regular at the station in the years of 1959 to 1963, trainspotting and being amazed by the variety of trains passing through. Several diverted trains and extra traffic workings were regular on this line and this was interesting to the spotters.
Added interest was the Tyne Dock to Consett line with long heavy coal and ore trains. Although these were heavy frieght workings by regular locos they were a sight to be seen. A 9F battling its way with full ore wagons, billowing smoke and heading to Consett, showed the power of these workhorses.
At Boldon station the V2s pulling the mail, paper and semi express trains were a magnificent sight from a distance, then the diesels were starting to take over, thus adding more interest.
So Boldon has seen the most types of trains that ran in the North East... Read more
Happy Childhood Late 50s Early 60s
I live in Watford but I was born at 55 South Crescent in 1953, my mother's maiden name was Christlow, they moved to 16 Reginald Street. I remember visiting one time and my cousin Joe Lee used to play the bass drum in the colliery band and I went along to a practice session in the school playground in North Road. My uncle Norman Christlow used to have an allotment behind the picture house. My cousin and I used to go and watch Sunderland when they were at home. When I was in my teens and I was visiting I played for the Villa with my cousin, I can't remember the score but had a good time. My nan was Florrie Christlow. I remember the cobbled stones that ran down the back lanes and the outside privy. The back door always open, it was a very friendly community. I always loved visiting my nan and family. We used to play down the burn jumping diggers, great fun.
The Burn And All The Names
I left Boldon in 1954 aged 7 years but my memories of Boldon remain with me like the footings of my lifebuild, I am sure that life through rose-coloured glasses has had an effect. Amongst the lads in Shelley Avenue I was probably the least agile so when it came to jumping diggers over the burn you can guess who got wet first (the winner being the last one not make the other bank), you all got an earful when you got home wet and clarty, I wonder has the x box etc killed off this type of fun. I remember dustbin lids down the slag heap, they have downhill slalem in Europe these days I suppose. Then there was turnip or snaggie picking behind the tractor just over the burn for what seemed like all day, the reward being a couple of snaggies, in retrospect the farmer did quite well of of the deal but to a kid it was a great deal of fun. Although an awful lot of water... Read more
Wilton Gardens
I lived in Wilton Gardens No 26, No 22 was Robert Turnbull and his brother Jim, when we first moved there only one person in the street had a car.
Station Cottages
I lived in the Station Cottages at Boldon Colliery from 1949 till 1962. I have a load of happy childhood memories there. We all knew each other in the cottages because there were only 10. I spent all my school years at Hedworth Lane Infants and Juniors and then went on to New Road Comp. Myself (Marjorie Walker) and my 2 brothers, Robert and Stephen, spent our whole childhood playing on the burn. When we first went there it was remote, there was no Brockley Whins and Biddick Hall estates then, we we were in the middle of fields. We had a few friends in the cottages, Jjean and John Wiper, Valerie and Barry White, Carol Locking, Stanley Dixon and many more. I still remember the names of all our neighbours there. Happy memories. But the cottages were demolished a long time ago.
What Was it Down The Burn?
In and about 1960 I was a boy who spent many an hour down the burn, at one end just below the station part of the burn had very sturdy concrete walls at either side, these walls were some sort of supports or foundations, they could have been part of a high bridge from the colliery to the station, possibly during the war years. I would like to know if anyone else remembers this, or knows what they were. e/mail wardley41-dur@yahoo.co.uk
Station House
My dad was the Station Master at Boldon Colliery Station from 1952-1959. We lived in that huge house on the station that rattled with every steam train that went through. My brother and I played on the cars and engines that were in the railway sidings. There were a number of kids living in the Railway Cottages and we all went to school in the village. Tommy Robson had a paper shop then and came every morning to pick up the papers in his van and saved us kids from that long walk to school - he jammed all of us in on top of the bundles of papers, some of us sitting on the end with our feet sticking out - that wouldn't be allowed these days. Our playground was the railway sidings, the burn down below, and the pit heap.
I can still see my mam peddlng her old sit up and beg bike with the dog running behind her as she cycled to pick up... Read more
Denise, Nee Young, Now Jackson
I remember Wilton Gardens prefabs, and playing with all my friends every school holiday, down the burn and sliding on cardboard down the banks and walking along to the bingo to meet my nana (Edna Young) with her 2 Yorkshire terriers, Tina and Penny, and calling in at the fish shop on the way home. Also church discos at weekends, playing Slade and Donny Osmond etc ... My friends' names were Angela Hemmingway, Patricia Findlay, Susan Bradshaw, Karen Thompson, Jackie Johnson (great cousin), Kevin McCord, Dale Oxley, Stephen Flemming, Terence Flemming, Cyril Smith, Kenneth Young and many more .... Fantastic memories, and a great life spent with my lovely late nana -my street name was Tarzan, given by the kids I knocked around with ... My nana was Aunty Edna affectionately known to them all, she was the best!
Memories of Tyne and Wear
Photograph Circa 1890
I have an old photograph and I believe it is this street before some of the buildings were built and it was taken further down. However, the Church in the background is the same. John Oswald Clazey and his family are gathered at a place called Boldon House on the back of the photo. There is a picture of the family in the back yard and then a photo of them in the front by a brick wall of sorts. I am more than happy to provide a copy if there is any interest.
Weirdly Strange
looking at the picture my house isnt even built its weird to see how much it has changed over the years... i live next door to the church- where it looks like their is just land!
Nothing Had Changed When I Left The UK in 1975
This photo is exactly as I remember the place from the 1960s and 1970s. On the horizon is the rail station with it's level crossing. Used to ride to the station from the other (Cleadon) side after school as a kid and collect the numbers of trains hurtling through the station. Always excited by the fast express trains which did not stop of course as they were heading from London to Edinburgh!
The buildings on the right housed our local doctor, Dr. Kinsella in a surgery on the top floor. Cleadon did not have any doctors in those days, so our parents brought us here if we got sick.
Ellison Street
My grandmother-in-law was born in Ellison Street, - wish I could have a photograph of the street in 1894!
York Avenue
York Avenue is the one road in Jarrow (although I am from Manchester) that I could never forget, it's like a main road into Jarrow, my cousin had a house on York Avenue, it's a road you can a bus to anywhere up the north-east, and to most of the lovely beaches. Primrose
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