No. 101 Spring 2025
NEWSLETTER
Number
1Blank Line
101
Editor: Mark Benjamin
Tel: 07879 263848
newsletter@hexhamhistorian.org
Spring
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2025
Thoughts from a Chair
Welcome to our Spring 2025 Newsletter.
I say this for the first time as your most recent chair and possibly as the first female occupant of that role… but it shouldn’t really be me! Well, not just yet. I was happily prepared to be vice-chair for several years, supporting our very able chairman elect, Ian Hancock, when his very sad and sudden death changed everything.
So here I am, and I’m delighted say the society is in a strong position both financially and in membership terms, thanks to the retiring team of officers, led by Mark Benjamin, who all worked tirelessly for many years.
The new HLHS committee has some new faces and, as we head towards the 60th anniversary of the founding of the society, we are looking at ways to engage our membership and, hopefully, younger members of the local population too: see below for an exciting new project about to be launched!
Finally, may I bring to your attention three offerings with a local history theme within the Tyne Valley Film Festival. Fuller details below, or contact https://forumcinema.com The films are: Hexham Heads, Tish, and The Last Shepherds.
Thank you for your continuing support,
Christine Hanley
New Committee Members
Jane Harrison is a freelance field archaeologist specialising in Early Medieval and Viking archaeology, on which she has published books and articles. She has run archaeological projects from Oxfordshire to Orkney, independently and for universities – all this work has been community as well as research focused, involving and training many hundreds of local people in all aspects of archaeology. Jane grew up in Newcastle and first excavated at Wallsend and Carlisle and is delighted to be back home, concentrating on the archaeology of the Hexham area and Northumberland.
Going in at the deep end, Jane has agreed to serve as vice-chair.
Sarah Miles is a fieldwork archaeologist with a strong interest in community archaeology and public engagement in local history. Following a career as academic publisher, Sarah pursued a long-held interest and retrained as an archaeologist. She has worked as a commercial archaeologist and teaches fieldwork skills at Oxford University’s Department of Continuing Education.
Sarah is co-director of Community Archaeology North CIC and has helped run long-term community research projects in Oxfordshire and Northumberland. Having moved to Hexham in 2024, Sarah is enjoying the opportunity to pursue her research interests of prehistory and landscape archaeology in the local area
Dates for your diary
| Day | Date | Title | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday | March 11th | Grainger Town: the rise and fall (and rise again) of Richard Grainger – John North | Trinity Church Hall, Beaumont Street, Hexham NE46 3LS. 7.30pm |
| Saturday | March 15th | Tyne Valley Film Festival: Hexham Heads | Forum Cinema. 5.30pm £3/£5 from the cinema (01434) 601144 |
| Wednesday | March 19th | Tyne Valley Film Festival: Tish | Hexham Library 7pm £9/£9.50 Tickets from the cinema as above |
| Sunday | March 23rd | Tyne Valley Film Festival: The Last Shepherds | The Sill. 2pm. Pay as you feel but book in advance at www.ticketsource.co.uk/booking/select/ljqlpxyllvaw |
| Tuesday | April 8th | At the feet of the Angel, Birtley: The growth of an industrial community in the 19th century – Bob Hull | Trinity Church Hall, Beaumont Street, Hexham NE46 3LS. 7.30pm |
| Friday - Sunday | April 25th - 27th | The Morpeth Northumbrian Gathering: a celebration of Northumberland’s traditional music, song, dialect, craft, dance, stories and heritage | For full details of events at the Gathering, see its Facebook page or the Events page at https://morpethheritage.org/morpeth-northumbrian-gathering |
| Tuesday | May 6th | Tyneside Geographical Society Lecture: The making of the white working class: Race, class and identity in contemporary Britain – Kenan Malik | Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University NE1 7RY 5.30pm Free tickets available from 29th April from a href="www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-making-of-the-white-working-class-by-kenan-malik-tickets-1117573184479?aff=oddtdtcreator">www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-making-of-the-white-working-class-by-kenan-malik-tickets-1117573184479?aff=oddtdtcreator |
| Tuesday | May 13th | Milbank, Blackett and Commonwealth Newcastle: quiet Royalists? (The Tom Corfe Memorial Lecture) – Greg Finch | Trinity Church Hall, Beaumont Street, Hexham NE46 3LS. 7.30pm |
Hexham & Area Community Archaeology Project – Jane Harrison & Sarah Miles
Did prehistoric people live on the site of Hexham? Does Hexham have Roman roots? How did the Anglo-Saxon and medieval settlement grow and change?
Have you ever wanted to take part in archaeology?
Despite the amazing range of historical research available about Hexham, there are still fascinating questions about the history of the area that can’t be answered without using archaeology. The Hexham Local History Society is planning a community archaeology project to research the origins and development of the town. The project will involve local volunteers and will train them in archaeological techniques, including test pitting and geophysics, in and around Hexham.
Test pits are tidy, one metre square, hand-dug micro-excavations that can be done in gardens, parks, school grounds – anywhere a tiny hole can be located. You may have seen this sort of excavation on The Great British Dig on Channel 4. The pottery and other artefacts uncovered give information about what people were doing (and when) in the vicinity of the test pit, and how that has changed over time. We will be looking for gardens and other locations throughout Hexham to host test pits as the technique relies on gathering data from as many sites as possible. Your house can be any age or size and anywhere in Hexham – it just needs to have one metre square of diggable ground available.
Geophysics is a means of x-raying of the ground to reveal unseen pits, ditches and archaeological features. It involves walking over an area in a systematic manner holding the instrument, so is suitable for parks, fields – indeed, any open ground. Many areas in Hexham suitable for geophysics have never been surveyed.
Everyone can be part of the project: the only requirements are enthusiasm and interest. Many roles other than digging are involved and there will be opportunities for schools and other organisations to take part.
We will be holding an open meeting in May about the project, but if you would like to register an interest in the meantime please contact Jane or Sarah at canorthcic@gmail.com
Tyne Valley Film Festival 14th-28th March
Amongst the varied offerings of the 2025 Tyne Valley Film Festival, three are of particular interest to local historians
The Hexham Heads Based on a series of paranormal events that took place in the early ‘70s in Hexham, this modern-day folk tale combines photographic documentation with personal archive material and dreamlike sequences, in a reflection on the haunted nature of family photographs and domestic objects as vessels of trauma.
Tish A portrait of social documentary photographer and trailblazer Tish Murtha, who dedicated her life to documenting the lives of working-class communities in North-East England during the 70s and 80s. The film will be followed by a talk led by Hexham Photography Group
The Last Shepherds. Hexham filmmaker Charles Bowden was keen to document the traditional ways of life in the countryside before they disappeared. In the early 2000’s, he had his opportunity.
First came The Last Horsemen, followed by The Last Fishermen; The Last Shepherds was the final part of the trilogy, a four-part series produced for ITV Tyne Tees about the shepherds of the Coquet Valley in Northumberland originally transmitted September 2004.
A captivating glimpse of a fading era, this series follows Dave Stewart and wife Gwen as they tend their flocks on the rugged Cheviot Hills in Northumberland.
Coal Staithes of the Tyne exhibition – Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen
Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen is a Finnish photographer recording the Tyneside and British landscapes since 1960s. Her most famous works are an exhibition of Byker Revisited, the Dunston Staithes, Dance Schools in North Shields, Coalfield Stories and many more.
In the autumn of 1972, the Amber Associates decided to produce a body of work that used the River Tyne and its communities as a common theme. As a result of this scheme, different artists including painters, sculptures, photographers, writers and filmmakers were approached. Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen was one of the artists who took place in this project. Attracted to the North East for its industrial landscapes and communities during the early 1970s, and as a member of the Amber film and photography collective, she started to photograph the coal at Dunston on the south bank of the River Tyne and at Whitehill Point on the north side.
An exhibition of Konttinen’s images of the coal staithes can be seen at Tyne Derwent Way at Dunston Staithes, Staithes Road, Dunston NE11 9DR until 31st March. Open Thursdays 3-5pm & Saturdays 10am-12 noon
200 Years of Railways – Fiona Forsythe
The Tyne Valley Community Railway Partnership is hosting a series of events in the former railway buildings at Haltwhistle during 2025 as part of the national Rail 200 events celebrating 200 years of railways. Further details can be found at https://tvcrp.org.uk/news/news-2/568-celebrating-200-years-of-railways-with-a-series-of-fireside-chats-at-haltwhistle
Wilfrid 1350: Walking with Wilfrid 24th-27th July
The Jigsaw Puzzles
Members may remember that, during lockdown, we started creating online jigsaws of images from our photographic collection. These proved popular with a number of our members and Facebook followers so we continued them once what passes for normality resumed itself. However, various factors have meant that we have now discontinued this activity. For those who miss it, it is possible to create your own puzzles, either from our collection or any of your own you may have. Simply go to www.jigsawexplorer.com/create-a-custom-jigsaw-puzzle/ and upload your chosen image. There is no charge and the only requirement is that the image uploaded must be a jpeg.
A Special Offer to Members – Palmer’s View of Hexham (c1880)
A limited number of A4 prints of Palmer’s view of Hexham from the south-west (albeit with a rather fanciful hill to the north-east!) have been excavated during a clear-out of a member’s cupboard. Framed, the print would make a lovely memento of Hexham. Copies will be available only from Terry’s bookstall at our monthly meetings for £1
Can You Help?
Suzanne Claassen asks through the website if anyone has any information on the early days of the Citizens Advice Bureau in Hexham. If you worked there, or had need to use the Bureau’s services in the 1940s/50s, either respond to Suzanne through the Notes & Queries section of our website, or through the editor.
Primitive Methodists in Hexham – Elaine & Richard Pearce
The Primitive Methodists worshipped in Kiln Yard (likely to have been near where Argyle Terrace now stands) for eight years before their first chapel was opened on 25th July 1830.This chapel was in Bull Bank (known by this name after The Black Bull Inn at the top – now the Ex-Servicemen’s Club). In 1860 it closed and was converted into two houses. In 2015 the two houses are still there but the street is now called Hallstile Bank. On the outside of No 26 is a round plaque commemorating ‘The Methodist Ranters – thirty years on Bull Bank’.
Between 1860 and 1862 a larger chapel was built in Back Street, on the site of the Golden Fleece Inn. This was known as Hebbron Memorial Chapel. The chapel was named after Henry Hebbron a preacher who was connected to the circuit by his marriage into the Ridley family, several of whom held important positions in the area. The position of this chapel was thought by many not to be a good one and the failure of the society to succeed was blamed on this. It closed in 1908-9. What happened then we don’t know but in by 1938 it was occupied by Henry Colman as a furniture shop. In various guises, the Colmans remained in the building until c2000 and since 2004 a hairdresser, ‘Transcend Hair and Beauty’, has occupied it.
The third Primitive Methodist chapel was built in 1909 on Battle Hill. This large, imposing building with its two tower like structures closed when the Methodists in Hexham joined together to worship at West End Methodist Church. Having been occupied by a furniture salesroom/dentist/estate agent and tobacconist for several years, it returned to religious use when it was taken over by Hexham Community Church in 1994.
Gravestone of the Month: The Flavinus Memorial in Hexham Abbey – Mark Hatton
In 1881 during repair work in Hexham Abbey a huge Roman memorial stone came to light. This stone had been used in the construction of the Abbey’s floor 12 centuries earlier. Roman stones that had been lying around for several centuries after the Roman Empire collapsed were often reused in the construction of medieval buildings. This particular memorial is thought to have originally been placed at the Roman Town of Corstopitum (near modern day at Corbridge) during the 1st Century AD.
The stone stands almost 9 feet high and it is thought it would probably have been brightly painted and prominently positioned in the military garrison. The inscription on the stone is written in abbreviated Latin and translates as follows:
To the Venerated Departed: Here Lies Flavinus
A Horse Rider of the Cavalry Regiment of Petriana
Standard Bearer of the Troop of Candidus
Aged 25, of 7 Years’ Service
The memorial shows Flavinus, in the pose of a dominant Cavalry Soldier vanquishing a cowering native tribesman. The soldier wears an ornate uniform and carries the Standard of his regiment, featuring the sun god. By contrast the native tribesman is shown naked & heavily bearded, holding a large shield and short sword. The Soldier is kicking the tribesman up the backside. The message here is unmistakable. The Romans are the magnificent victors and the natives are uncivilised and no match for their Roman overlords.
This memorial was most likely a carefully designed and carved piece of propaganda, prominently positioned to be seen by newly arrived Roman Troops posted to this most northerly border of the empire and to motivate them to be fine soldiers in the service of the Emperor. The message is that they are here to win and should the worst happen and they were to be killed in service they will be celebrated as heroes and never forgotten. It would also serve to remind any natives who saw it that they were totally subservient & unable to stand up to the élite Roman Troops.
A replica of the Flavinus stone as it would have looked originally. From the Roman Museum at Corstopitum (Coria)
Does anyone remember Spiffy? – Mark Benjamin
This intriguing title surfaced on a book-related Facebook page. As a former local studies librarian, I thought I knew all titles relating to the area, so this book from 1929 caught my attention. Sadly, upon further investigation, this has no connection to the south Tyne village of Henshaw but is the tale of four American boy scouts, led by the aforementioned Spiffy. Perhaps his ancestors came from the area, but I don’t think it’s worth bringing to the attention of my successors in the County Library Service!
Book Review – Hugh Dixon
Cowell, Ben The British Country House Revival (Boydell & Brewer, 2024) ISBN 9781837650583 £80
Why would members of the HLHS be interested in Country houses which are not everybody’s cup-of-tea? Tea is part of the answer.
It is fifty years since an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, The Destruction of the Country House brought dramatic attention to a threatened slice of national heritage: ‘The unity of a great house,’ wrote John Harris at the time, ‘with its furnished interior, pictures and sculpture, library, and archive, within a garden and landscaped park, is perhaps the supreme example of a collective work of art.’ The exhibition was centred on a display of photographs of over 300 lost houses. The catalogue listed over 1,000 houses which had been destroyed in the previous century. Such was its success that the exhibition toured the country, shocking visitors as it went. If the case was slightly overstated (two visitors were surprised to find their homes listed among the ‘lost houses’) the main point of the exhibition was made. The country was losing something precious.
The exhibition took its theme from John Cornforth’s Country Houses in Britain – can they survive? (1974). This, significantly, was commissioned by the British Tourist Authority with twin aims: to show the important part played by historic houses in the success of British tourism, and to demonstrate the often overwhelming difficulties faced by owners of country houses, with a combination of rising maintenance costs, the requirements of Listed Building legislation and increasing taxes on wealth, especially inherited wealth.
The book begins with challenges which often caused owners to give up the struggle. Houses were sold for other uses or simply destroyed. Yet it was also fifty years ago that measures were taken which gave the country houses a brighter future and started a revival. Denis Healey, as Chancellor tackling rampant inflation, delayed the introduction of a wealth tax promoted by Labour colleagues demanding social equity and holding the view that ‘preservation of cultural heritage should take second place to the reduction of privilege and inequality.’ Instead a select committee reached the same conclusion as a report commissioned by government in 1950 that this part of the national heritage was most economical for the nation if remaining in private hands. Tax concessions were exchanged for houses being opened to visitors.
The Historic Houses Association, established in 1973, gave owners a united voice in getting recognition for their properties as national assets, and campaigning for financial circumstances required for the care. Ideas were exchanged on how to make estates pay. The quality and content of visits on offer gave wider appeal. Lions and motor cars proved more attractive than recitations of family origins and moments of celebrity, even when spiced with tastefully packaged naughtinesses. More attention began to be paid to the people who actually created the houses – builders, artists, broiderers, tapestry weavers, sculptors, cabinet makers whose skills, techniques and lives are also worthy of recognition and study.
Even so this revival shows a major shift in country house visiting away from the cultural history to the requirements of a broader modern society. People are as likely to visit now because of adventure playgrounds, nature trails, events, cycling, open spaces, fresh air and exercise – and a cup of tea.
The author, as Director General of the HHA, is well placed to tell the tale and does it well with many interesting and amusing case histories of owners’ attempts to make their places attractive. He does not shy away from well-voiced criticism of concessions made to country house owners. Growing concerns over acknowledging colonialism and slavery are also fully discussed. There is also a warning. The future of country houses is not guaranteed. Hard-won tax concessions and other advances can be reversed. It remains for the ingenuity and energy of owners to keep country houses in decent shape and recognised as an advantage to the whole community.
This well-produced and clear account of an eventful phase in British building conservation should still be useful in fifty years’ time.
Delivering the petition against the Wealth Tax to Parliament
Book Review – Greg Finch
Jackson, Ian The Rocks at the Edge of the Empire (Northern Heritage, 2024) 109pp, ISBN 9781739486143, £12
This book is an interesting combination of geology and archaeology. It has a particular focus on how the Romans exploited the natural resources of the northern reaches of their Empire. Fifty sites in the region have been selected by geologist Ian Jackson to explain a variety of features, each given two pages, one of which is given over to a full-sized and usually stunning colour photograph, and accompanied by explanatory text and a small map. Site selection is, understandably, dominated by the Hadrian’s Wall corridor, accounting for around three quarters of the book. Naturally, the exploitation by the Romans of the dramatic hard-rocked whin sill for the central section of the wall is covered here, with some good detail about how the builders dealt with localised quirks of topography or geology – or failed to. The author also gives some attention to quarry location, roads, army camps and other ancillary features of the military frontier.
Other sites range from southern Scotland and mid-Northumberland to the Eden Valley, Eskdale (Cumbria) and the Vale of York, although the rationale for their selection is not entirely clear. The 50 sites are grouped into four categories, the first two of which are ‘Before the Romans’ – five sites which illustrate aspects of the region’s geology and past glaciation, and ‘Reading the Landscape’ – eleven sites along the Wall’s route at which Roman features are described. The majority of sites are then set out under ‘Natural Resources’, examples of Roman exploitation and processing of mineral and other resources. However, the association of Romans with lead extraction in the North Pennines, while compelling – for it is otherwise hard to explain why the striking fort of Epiacum was built – remains circumstantial, and therefore Tynehead is a dubious choice within a book focused on Romans. The book then closes with four sites under the heading ‘How do we know?’, which are used to say something on recent geological and archaeological enquiry.
This is a very well presented book, and excellent value for £12 given the production quality. However, while its engaging appearance might attract those curious about the region’s geology, it risks disappointing those looking to it for an introduction to the subject. A basic understanding of geology therefore helps, particularly when facing the detail set out amongst several of the case study locations. The sequence of introductory simplified geological maps precedes rather than follows the timeline of geological eras, and the work would be all the better for the inclusion of one or two diagrams showing the vertical arrangement of sedimentary and intrusive rock formations, particularly along the route of the wall. According to the book’s subtitle, it tells ‘the story of the Romans and the landscape of their northern frontier.’ While the author is to be commended for the mass of detail arranged within his case studies, and many will take encouragement to go out and visit them, they do not add up to a story, to an explanatory narrative, but rather provide a richly-illustrated gazetteer of sites dotted around the region.
Other recent publications
Not strictly speaking relevant to our area, but popular Northumbrian author, Max Adams, has been working over Northumbria’s southern borders and his latest work The Mercian Chronicles: King Offa and the Birth of the Anglo-Saxon State, AD 630–918(Bloomsbury, 2025) ISBN 9781838933272 is now available from all good bookshops
And finally – the perils of oral history!
We were contacted recently by an enquirer looking for details of a teashop on Gilesgate run by the mother of well-known local resident MH in the 1940s/50s whose maiden name might have been either Rutherford or Storey. The enquirer had photos from her aunt in Yorkshire that sounded interesting. We could find no mention of such an establishment in any of our listings but our knowledge of businesses on Gilesgate is sparse, so we were keen to add anything that she could provide.
Some time later, we heard again from the enquirer, who had meanwhile made contact with MH. Sadly, it turned out that MH’s parents had not been in Hexham at the time and that the Gilesgate in question was either in Durham or Sacriston. And it wasn’t a café either, but a shop that actually imported and sold loose tea. It did however have a large teapot above the door!