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Low Fell

Low Fell maps

Historic maps of Low Fell and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis.   View all Low Fell maps

Low Fell area books

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Low Fell books
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Memories of Low Fell

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Tyne and Wear memories

Boyhood Memories From 1952

It was around this time that the tram lines were taken up from Sunderland Road in Gateshead. The men stored the old lines in Somerset Street and Devonshire Street. As boys we would dig up the tar from around the  streets and paste it on the road safety lamps when they were lit. It was great to see the watchy run around putting the fires out, or what he thought was a fire. We kept him fit.

I too remember the Crescent, the only bit of greenery near our house in Devonshire Street. It must have been a grand crescent in its time with grand people living there. We lived in a rat-infested street which was also covered in grime. I hated using our toilet as it had a resident rat. Inside our house we watched for hours as the mice played with my liggies. They were little grey mice with funny little faces. They were never seen when me da was having a bath in front of... Read more

Childhood Memories From 1949

I was born in Hubert Terrace which ran off Bank Street and along to Cuthbert Street. Further down was School Street and Marian Street which ran along to Derwentwater Road, and on Derwentwater Road was Lady Vernon School which I attended. The boys' school was called St Cuthberts and the church we went to was St Cuthbert's Church and the minister was called the Reverend Burnip. He lived in the vicarage on Bensham Road where the flats are now, the old wall is still there. I can still picture him going around on his bike.

Cuthbert Street used to get called Sammy's Bank because in one of the backyards a man called Sammy used to sell ice cream (imagine Health & Safety allowing that now). Further up was a dairy and at the top was a chemist which led on to the top of Derwentwater Road. The bottom of Cuthbert Street took you on to Askew Road, if you turned left you could go to the teams, right took... Read more

Down Memory Lane

I was born in Nottingham and came to live in Gateshead when I was 4 years old. My mother was in the W.R.A.C and met my father when she was stationed down there. He was a Waiter in the Crown Hotel in Bawtry and was originally from Derbyshire. They were married in 1942 had me and my brother and decided to move to Gateshead. My mother was homesick for her family. I remember as though it were yesterday...my granddad carrying me on his shoulders across the high level bridge. I have vivid recollections. There was lots of hustle and bustle at both ends of the bridge. We arrived at my grandma's house and I was fascinated with the bottle top on the milk. It was dymo and the bottle top was wire with a plastic cork and a rubber washer. You clipped it at eithe side to release the cork ...then returned the cork into the bottle and snapped it shut. ... Read more

Saltwell Park

Saltwell Park Lake c1955
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I was first introduced to Saltwell Park in 1963 whilst attending Gateshead Technical College, what a beautiful place, I thought. Since then I have made many trips to the park with my children, and now grandchildren, and each time my thoughts wander to times gone by and as I look arround I think of all the people who have spent their time walking and enjoying the many sights to see in this lovely place. Reminders are there in the form of benches with plaques on left as gifts by people now passed on for others to sit and enjoy the fragrant flowers or the parks many attactions or to simply watch the children play and relax. If you are young at heart there's the boating lake where you can hire a boat for an hour or if you are daring enough you can buy a burgar and chips or ice cream. The park has had a makeover and been restored to its original Victorian glory and my friend Carol and... Read more

Boy From The Slums

I was born on the 28th March 1947, into an existing family of 5 siblings in a one-up one-down decaying terraced house of 12 Russell Street, Teams, Gateshead, just off Upton Street, near to the coke works, the gas works, the rope works and every other kind of filthy polluting business on the banks of the Tyne. We ended up as a family of 8 children by the 1950s. My father was Leslie George Bull and my mother - Isabella Gattis Chilvers.

The word "Poverty" was part of their wedding vows.

In the back lanes of these rat infested dwellings we played mouse chasing and "liggies"in the "gundi". The area was so bad the rats wore white overalls.

Everything you touched was black with soot, grime and God knows what else.

I remember once being in the back yard. As I gazed into the black night sky, festooned with shining stars, I watched as a bright moon waxed its glittering magic over a cascade of low,... Read more

Radio,Cycle&tvshops

My distant relatives owned radio, cycle & TV shops in Gateshead under the name JFH HAUGH, I believe they were in the Sunderland Road area, and next to the Odeon cinema in the town. I would like to learn more about them if anyone can help.

A Snatch of A Gateshead Childhood

My memory relates to the years 1946-ish to 1960 but I couldn't get all that in at the top! I was born in 1943 at 148 Somerset Street, an 'upstairs house' which we would now call a maisonette, the home of my paternal grandmother Mary Alice Peacock. This 'house' consisted of a 'kitchen', scullery, bedroom and outside toilet in a tiny back yard. Sadly my mother died when I was 10 months, so I have no memoriy of her. My earliest memories are of living with 'my Daddy's Mammy' whom I knew simply as 'Mammy' although she used to tell me stories of the things Daddy did when he was a little boy, and I always knew she was Daddy's Mammy as well as mine! - a tiny child accepts without profound questioning. Daddy was still away in the Army, and I was very shy of him when he came home on leave sometimes. So my earliest memories are of just Mammy and... Read more

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