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Percy Main
Percy Main maps
Historic maps of Percy Main and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Percy Main maps
Percy Main photos
We have no photos of Percy Main, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Wallsend| Jarrow| Tynemouth| South Shields| Monkton Village| Cullercoats| Whitley Bay| West Boldon| East Boldon| Cleadon| Seaton Delaval| Whitburn| Seaton Sluice| Gosforth| Seaburn| Gateshead| Newcastle Upon Tyne| Cramlington
Percy Main area books
Displaying 1 of 1 books about Percy Main and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Percy Main
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Percy Main.
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Early Years at Percy Main
My teen years were spent in Mindrum Terr (the buildings). I started work with Percy Couchman the local builder but left to earn more money at the Loco Sheds as a cleaner fireman.
Percy Main Village.
I was born in 1947, and lived at number 14, Blyth Street, Percy Main village, my maiden name was Bell. My mam was called Ethel, dad was Bob, and my sister was Iris. When I was a child my granda Joe Bell, his daughter Phemie and her husband Charles and their son Brian Poulter lived in Backworth Street. My aunt Beth, her husband Bob and son Foster Bell lived in St Johns Street. I miss the village greatly, but sadly do not have any photos and have not been able to trace any, not even in North Shields library. There have not been any books produced either, so I cannot wallow in its nostalgia.
Tyne and Wear memories
The Ambulance
Hello, my name is Colin Cochrane and I used to live at 103 Bewicke Rd with my parents Alec and Anne, and my brother and sister John and Andrea. Like most kids in this area I suffered from asthma and one night I had a bad attack and an ambulance was called. I was put in the back gasping for air and as it drove off a door fell off and I burst out laughing, clearing my airways so didn't have to go to hospital. I now live in Germany with my wife and 2 grown up children.
Good Times in Willington Quay
I lived at 19 Church St, Willington Quay, just beside the ballast hills. My dad George worked at Cooksons, so we lived in company house - very big and quite grand. We had no electricity in those days but it never bothered us. We had a wireless, windy-up gramaphone, and the ability to amuse ourselves. It was a very friendly place to live - no one locked doors and I often used to visit the lucky people in the street opposite who did have electricity and had TVs when they came out. I would plonk myself down to watch for an hour or two. Then on Saturday we would go to the Pearl pictures. My brother Alan,sister Gillian and friends - clutching sixpence - threepence to get in and threepence to spend. We all attended Addison Potter school which was not far from our house. The teachers used to teach all our family. There were our older brother and sister, Billy and May. We used to go to Jarrow a lot... Read more
Willington Quay
All my father's family (Talbots) lived on Armstrong Street. My dad and his brothers worked at the shipyards and later my dad worked at a small bakery in Willington Quay. I loved to visit him there and was spoiled having loads of wonderful cream cakes to eat, they were the best ever. I used to go with my dad on his deliveries and always ended up with a pocket full of money and a bag full of delicious goodies. The best time of all though was getting home, putting the kettle on and cuddling up to my dad with a nice cuppa. My Uncle John had an allotment and it was right in the middle of the houses behind Bewick Road, he grew the most wonderful vegetables. I loved to help him, I would sit for hours watching him pottering around. My brother and sister Norma and William used to go to dance school on Bewick Road, they won loads of cups and medals, unfortunately I have 2 left feet. I have... Read more
North Shields Test Centre
The building which houses North Shields test cente in Cecil Street was erected in1848 as a chapel for people to worship. It remained this way until 1891 when it changed ownership and became a sauna and plunge baths although this was short lived and it closed soon after, just months later it reopened as the Alexandra Laundry, this was made easy as the boilers and pipework were all in place left by the previous owner. A photo of this is available with the staff proudly standing outside with horse-drawn carts laden with laundry. Shortly before World War 2 the building changed ownership and became Alexandra Engineering, making a variety of things and fabrications, this continued until 1950 when a local coach hire company opened up, trading as William B Kerr Coaches, later moving to bigger premses in Wallsend and changed the use of the Cecil Street building into an MOT testing centre, the first in the area following the introduction of manditory testing in 1960. Each test was 15 shillings... Read more
Happy Days
My sister and I used to visit our grandparents, Harry and Lily Bliss, who lived on Sandringham Drive, West Monkseaton. We would come down from Scotland in late June and stay for two weeks.
Favourite memories include the Spanish City rides, Torres fish and chips, the Venetian ice cream, St Mary's Island, roller skating down the steep slope at Monkseaton station, the smell of creosote on the platform timbers at West Monkseaton station, Grandpa cycling to the North Shields fish quay for the best fish I have ever eaten and the sound of colliery trains in the mornings. I was also fascinated by the pit heaps and the mines, the slag buckets, the big white railway crossing gates at Backworth.
