Swan Street/Model Place/Hargreave Terrace

A Memory of Darlington.

I was born at number 15 Swan Street before my parents moved next door, No.14. My family had people living all around the area, maternal in Swan Street/ Hargreave and paternal, from Model Place. We had a shop on virtually every corner and of every type within a couple minutes walk. Billy Ramsdales was next to us, a pleasant version of Arkwrights store; opposite was the Chippy and in the 10 years I was there it seemed to be closed more often than open. Butchers on Hargreave Terrace, off-licence with barreled ginger beer on Model Place, tiny corner shop the other way. It never felt like a slum; yet it was pulled down as such in 65. I would wander through the back alleys taking in the smell of the stables where local hawkers kept their ponies and wagons. It seemed an enormous place, hardly any cars around. Fresh baked bread from Claytons with their penny loafs the nice posh Rover parked by the printing company. Every new year the men would meet on the street corners to listen for the Town Clock ringing in the new year shaking hands before returning with a stick, piece of coal and a shiny sixpence to bring in the new year across the doorstep. A real community unlike todays council and private estates where you know no one. Now sadly the old place looks tiny, just the top of the back lane exists of old Swan Street; that and memories of a little boy.