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East Butsfield
East Butsfield maps
Historic maps of East Butsfield and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all East Butsfield maps
East Butsfield photos
We have no photos of East Butsfield, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Castleside| Lanchester| Consett| Leadgate| Shotley Bridge| Catchgate| Wolsingham| Annfield Plain| Langley Park| Edmondbyres| Crook| Frosterley| Willington
East Butsfield area books
Displaying 1 of 3 books about East Butsfield and the local area. View all books for this area
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Memories of East Butsfield
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County Durham memories
Lee Hill Cottage Homes, Lanchester
I was sent to Lee Hill Cottage Homes from Gateshead, along with my older sister Sadie and younger brother Stanley, when our mother was taken ill and was unable to care for us. Our baby brother was taken elsewhere and we didn't see him again for 4 years. I loved living in Lanchester, and attended the Lanchester parochial endowed school (the building is now a community centre). There were 6 cottages, I think, and each had a house parent and a few maids to help out. There was a POW camp in the village and we used to go and visit the prisoners, just young lads themselves, and go to the local shop to buy their baccy. We had fun at the homes and the villagers were happy to have us around as far as I can recall. I no longer live in the area, but go back often to see my old haunts. The cottage homes are now converted into private apartments, and the old workhouse has gone, but... Read more
Memories of Iveston
I was born in 1934 and lived in Iveston for 18 years, leaving reluctantly in 1952. We first lived beside the duckpond, in the cottage attached to Letch Farm, run then or later by Mr and Mrs Harrison. Avis Harrison baked my wedding cake. We then lived on the village green across from the school where I started at the age of 5. The headmaster/teacher was a Mr Smith (there was only one teacher). I was only there for a year or so and then went to Leadgate School, but I remember we had slate pencils and slate boards to write on. The only other pupils I remember were Alma and Velma Bates, who were much older than me. Just above the school there was Cruddas's shop. We then moved to Parkers Buildings. I went to the chapel and was on the Anniversay service until I was 18.
Mostly I remember the farms. There was Bob Wright's on the other side of Bogle Hole, long gone with mining subsidence. Then... Read more
The Good Old Days ( I Think)
My name is Jimmy Gascoigne. I was born in Cornsay Colliery in 1953. I went to Cornsay School and Waterhouses. I remember having a great time in them days, getting into trouble at the brick yard more often than not off my dad who worked there. I had the paper round for quite a few years. I remember a few people from our class, June Hosler, Pamela White, Judith Simpson, Nev Chapman my best mate who died in 2009, rest in peace mate, Ian Platt, Tony Riddly. I don't think the place has changed much. If anyone else knows me or has any memories you can email me at: gascoigne490@btinternet.com.
James Joseph Irvine (Autobiography) 1911 - 1990
Stretching over about a mile on the A68 road to Edinburgh from Darlington, lies the small mining town of Tow Law. Approaching it from Elm Park Road Ends, on a clear day, as you pass the various openings in the terraces of the sandstone houses and cottages, at regular intervals like colour slides, you catch glimpses of the rounded moorlands and hills over and around the Wear Valley. These glimpses of the brown or purple moorland are the redemption of this land and insignificant little town. Not that it is insignificant to the people who live there because they have, especially the older ones, a fierce loyalty to this place. Nor to me either, because that is where I was born on October 30th 1911 in one of these same little colliery cottages in Baring Street, now demolished and rebuilt with the grander name of Baring Court. In the early decades of the 1900's it was a hard place to live in. Tough, because of the harsh slavish work of the pitmen, the... Read more
The War Years in Consett
I was born in Consett at 11 Newmarket Street in June 1933, though my parents were living in Norfolk and later on in Middlesex. I was sent back to live with aunts when the Blitz really got going. I went to the CofE Primary School at the back of the church which I also had to attend as a choir boy. Consett was full of noise in those days especially outside No.11. Buses started their long climb up from Shotley Bridge, nestling down in the Northumbrian Derwent Valley. Halting in Blackhill to get their breath back, before starting the last climb up the near vertical steep incline, they arrived at Vaux's Pub opposite my bedroom window, with engines panting, shuddering, and gasping with relief at having reached the summit. Then, with a final sigh they drove on again, on the last few hundred yards to the bus station, by the market square. One of my best friends was Ronnie Maddison who tragically died in 1953 while serving in the RAF and having... Read more
Being There The Day The REX Burned Down!
I lived in Consett from the mid-fifties onwards and have many mixed memories. One distinct episode was the burning of the REX cinema. I was living in the Black Horse in Front Street at the time and remember being woken early that morning by my family shouting and running about in the house. My aunt was the Stewardess of the 'Top Club', or Consett Working Mens' Club to give it the formal title, which was right next door to the REX and we were worried for her safety. My dad and his brother were already over there getting her out along with her dog, Max, and a few hastilly chosen possessions. The snap and banging of the asbestos roofing was really loud and the flames were about 20 feet above the roof-line at the most active time of the fire. My mate actually called for me at the house and we ran around to the back of the Rex where the Police were co-ordinating things with the Fire Brigade. To young boys... Read more
Nights Out in Consett
I have some wonderful memories of nights out in Consett in the sixties. There was a pub called the Masons Arms run by Kevin and Ina Kearney and the barmaid Jenny, I think. It served the most beautiful beer in the world or so we thought, Tuckers ales. On a weekend it would be filled with all sorts of characters, Army Sam, Wilf Patta, Vince Blacky, Willy Dicken, Phil Terry, all supping those big creamy pints, and the girls would join us as well - Julia, Celia, Fred, Cath, Angela - I could go on but they were special. The juke box would be blasting out Beatles, Stones, Dylan, Animals and a few Irish rebel songs Kevin had secreted in the juke box under different names. Such happy times. From there to the Brit , same thing only the beer was Vaux {yuk]. A few in there and then on to the Mount Pleasant as long as Jenny let you in. The occasional band would be playing, mostly rubbish but... Read more
