Talke - A Forgotten Village

As you proceed north along the A34 towards the Cheshire border you will approach Talke traffic lights and on the left and right side of the road there are two areas of grassed land. This grassed area was once the village of Talke which was demolished during the mid 1970s. As it is today, you would not realise that this was once a thriving community. There was John Street which ran parallel to the A34, Thomas Street which still exists and Wesley Street which cut the corner between Coalpit Hill and the A34. These streets were named after the Methodist preacher John Thomas Wesley and within this community there was a chapel in Thomas Street on the corner with John Street, a church at the top of Thomas Street on the corner of Coalpit Hill and one in Wesley Street. The village was made up of mainly Victorian terraced houses, which had been built in the late 1800s, and had originally housed local pit and pottery workers. There were a number of local shops, Kelsalls Post Office at the bottom of Thomas Street, Tattons corner shop, Pooles paper shop, the Co-op on the A34, Talbots Off Licence opposite Thomas Street on the A34. There was the Gleaners pub on the A34 with Delves butchers and grocery shop next door and there was Deans chip shop in John Street. On the right of the A34 there was a row of terraced houses and Pacey's garage on the right hand corner of the traffic lights. On the opposite corner, opposite the Cauldwell Pub was the Black Cat transport cafe where waggons would park up for the night. The A34 was, in those days, the main route to London and was a very busy road. On Coalpit Hill opposite Thomas Street there had once existed a Victorian park built on three levels, which we called the Bolo (there are three detached bungalows there now). Although the area where the tennis courts and bowling green had been were now overgrown and abandond, it was a perfect place for us children to play, and also had wonderful views over Cheshire and to Mow Cop. We spent many hours flying kites over Talke. To the right of Coalpit Hill at the bottom of the hill was Hulses Farm and a wooded are we called Bunkers Hill. This area had a footrill and coal was still being mined here. To the left of Thomas Street was a field which rose quite steeply half way up. In the summer we would play cricket and football at the bottom and in the winter we had a superb slope for sledging. For such a small area it is amazing how many families lived there. I remember the Venables, Brookes, Jacksons, Hammonds, Sherratts, Sharpes, Bossons, Talbots, Deans, Sharmans, Lowes, Barrows, Spenders, Bishops, Colcloughs, Allens, Hollands, Kellsalls, Manleys, Fowlers, Ballards, Whalleys, Prices, Carters and Mrs Mobberley, our neighbour in Thomas Street. There are many others that I can't remember. It is alleged that the area was demolished under a clearance order orchestrated by Tony Billington of Newcastle Borough Council. The owners of the properties were paid a pittance and then, in an underhanded act, the local authority swapped green belt rights with the land that Unity Way is now built on and then sold some of this land for private development as well as building council houses. Unfortunately after the area was demolished the community was scattered to the four winds and the village passed into history.