Middle Rainton A Lost Villiage Part 1

A Memory of Middle Rainton.

MEMORIES OF A LOST VILLAGE
Middle Rainton

Introduction

My name is John Harvey and this is an account of my memories of being brought up in Middle Rainton between the years 1940 to 1958. As this is based mostly on my memory, total accuracy cannot be guaranteed but I will do my best. Please feel free to pass this on to any interested parties.

Family

I was born in 1940 at my great grandmother’s house, which was formerly “The Fox and Hounds” pub, my great grandparents having bought the property when it closed as a public house in the 1930s. They moved in 1939 from Krone House, a large property close by.

My great grandmother, Margaret Wilson, who came from Co Mayo and would have been over 90 then, (she lived to see 99) brought me up having had 12 children of her own, 10 boys and 2 girls, 6 of whom continued to live in Middle Rainton. Ralph, Peter and Thomas lived at home and never married. Ann married Joe Smiles from Hetton, and they also lived at home with us, they never had children.
The other 4 lived elsewhere, (one child had died) and John was killed at the Somme
Nora, in Sunderland, Matty, East Rainton, Robby, in Houghton, and Charlie in Nottingham.

Great grandmother ran a fish business from the old “Fox and Hounds” in an area covering Houghton, Newbottle, Fence Houses, Lumley, West Rainton, Leamside etc. Great Gran used to take a horse and cart to the fish quay at North Shields to collect fish to sell, this involved getting up about 4am for the journey of about 16 miles each way. On other occasions the fish would be delivered from the quay, as we had no telephone, this would have been done by a pre-arranged order of some sort.

Ralph and Peter sold the wet fish from the carts. Ralph looked after the Houghton side and Peter the West Rainton side (I’m sure some older folk will remember him). Thomas (Tommy), along with Joe Smiles, worked all his life in the Meadows Colliery down Meadow Lane from the village. Apart from military service in the artillery in the 1914-18 war.

Two other brothers, Billy (Buck) And George (Geordie) lived across the street from us, Billy at No. 28 Front Street (the last house in the row) and George who lived next door at No. 27. Both were married and had children and then grandchildren. Billy’s daughter, Monica, was married and her husband was in the RAF so Monica had moved back with her parents. Their daughter, Ann Ryder, was born there. We were brought up together until they moved away after the war.

My Granddad Mathew (Matty) lived in East Rainton village where he run a fish and chip shop with my gran Kitty. He had been landlord of “The Travellers’ Rest” for a short while. He

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