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High Force
High Force maps
Historic maps of High Force and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all High Force maps
High Force area books
Displaying 1 of 3 books about High Force and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of High Force
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County Durham memories
Barmaid Marylin
We used to rent the bottom cottage down from the Co-op and the top house pub. My younger brother had a massive crush on the barmaid of the middle house. She was called Marylin (he is called Ben). Is she still there? I believe her younger brother was a milkman? We rented the cottage for about 4 years on the bounce and had the best holidays ever there. My memories include the pirahna at Horsley Hall, the banana milk from the farm at Ireshopeburn, the Rancho del Rio, playing table tennis near the cement works and the joke shop above the book shop in Alston. Magic memories.
My Ancestors
My aunt is 95 years old and now lives in San Francisco but she talks a lot about St Johns Chapel. She was born there and went to school there. Her grandfather (John Slater Freeman) was headmaster of the school for a number of years. She was born in a large house there and the tradition was that all first borns had to be born in the house. Evidently the house is now flats.
My aunt's name was Olive Freeman.
My cousin and I are making a trip to Durham so that we can visit St Johns Chapel, somewhere we have heard a lot about.
Good Old Days
In or around 1959 I went on holiday to Ireshopeburn to my grandparents' house, they lived at Woodbine House which was just up from Earnwell.
My grandfather used to work at West Blackdene spar mine which was on the other side of the River Wear.
I ended up going to school at St. John's Chapel and then on to Wolsingham secondary school.
At home we had a large allotment and also kept a lot of hens which I used to feed nearly every day.
Winter time was good as usually the village or the surrounding area was snowed in and that meant we got extra days off from school. When holidays came around a lot of my relations used to visit, so it used to be a very crowded house so some of us children slept in tents and huts and enjoyed it, we used to play for hours in the fields opposite.
Looking at the photos of Ireshopeburn really fetches the memories back.
Growing up in Ireshopebur
We owned the Post Office/ Store in Ireshopeburn and I think the photo you have of it has my Grandmother standing in front of the shop. We moved to New Zealand but I have never forgotten the wonderful years living in Ireshopeburn. I lived there from the age of 3 until I was 8 but the memories live on.
The Parkinson/Bowron Family
Balder Mill was the home of my ancestors on my Mum's side of the family. George (Senior) and Ann Parkinson (nee Bowron) were living and working there during the 1860's. Three of their children were born there, one of whom was my Great Great Grandfather, George (junior) who married Annie Ashmore in Barnard Castle and lived in Baliol Street.
I think that it would be lovely if Balder Mill was restored. It would be an amazing place, it has such atmosphere. It is a shame that it may be left, and only be able to be seen on photographs, in the future.
Going to School
I suppose it was round about 1955 not sure. I remember going to school and often the headmistress used to pick us up, and we used to sit in the dicky seat. I remember picking rose hips. I remember we had lots of friends. My name was Sandra Taylor does anyone remember me?? I lived next door to a pub and our friends owned it so we had good times there. Our friends the Waltons also owned the petrol station. oh those were the good old days. Any one else remember them?
The Castle School For Boys.
I was actually born in Middlesbrough in 1953, but being a bit of a handful in my life early life I was placed in certain boys' schools, one being The Castle School at Stanhope. My memories of my 3 yrs there are full of happiness and adventure.
I now try to recall some of the places that I remember but am finding it very hard to locate pictures. Has anyone out there got old pictures of the Wear Bridge that I seem to remember just behind the school, perhaps pictures of the old school itself, the cobble market place that I remember so clearly that used to host the small fun fair yearly, the old church on the hill? I would be so happy to hear from anyone with any info on these things, because Stanhope was a big part of my early life. I was there around 1963 to 1966.
