Ireshopeburn, Lane Hill and Whitestones c1955

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Castle School for Boys

I was in Castle School from 1961 to 1964. It was good at times and also bad. Mr Bowls was the head, and didn't we know it. I had the walking stick on many a Friday morning after assembly. I cannot remember any names from people there. 12 months after leaving I went in the Merchant Navy on the catering side, but had a car crash in 1969 which ended my career. It must have all changed now, being flats and all.