Research Projects

by Robert Jackson

Into the 20th Century

When, in 1894, Spennymoor and its adjacent villages achieved a measure of self-government on the Spennymoor Urban District Council, the new authority found itself facing a legacy of poor housing. Apart from a few exceptions, the housing situation was little better than when Dodd had described the houses as ‘more like piggeries’. In 1874 the then Local Government Board had reported -

‘Nothing could well exceed the nuisance attendant on the disposal of excrement and refuse in Spennymoor. There are entire streets without any closet accommodation whatever and instead open wooden boxes are placed opposite nearly every doorway for the reception of the excrement, ashes and other refuse; an arrangement which, besides being revolting to every sense of decency, is stated to be offensive in the extreme, especially in hot weather. It is impossible to walk between the rows of cottages without being convinced that the surface of the ground based middens boxes. The back streets stand deep in filth and mud’.

These appalling conditions continued into the 20th Century and even by 1920 there were still less than 10% of the town houses with water closets. In 1923 only 4 houses were built and there was still massive overcrowding in back to back properties. In the next few years only between one and four houses were built in any one year and in 1929 the housing situation was still reputed as acute which, from the recorded facts, seems self evident.

The squalid conditions were paralleled by the ever-uncertain economic conditions in industry. Although coal mining continued and the ironworks and engineering businesses were also providing employment, the start of the 20th Century saw the start too of a long period of depression. The first blow was the closure in 1901 of the ironworks which had been rendered obsolete by the pace of changes elsewhere.

The sinking of the Dean and chapter Colliery relieved the effect of the closure, but the reliance on this one basic industry was to persist until the 1960’s. Even before that the big coal strike saw another two failures collieries began to close. Three closed in 1924 and the 1926 strike saw another two fail. Spennymoor became part of the South West Durham area depressed area. Although schemes were inaugurated to relieve the gloom nothing could make up for the lack of steady employment. In 1930 the coke ovens, which remained on the ironworks site, were only working intermittently. Even by 1938 the situation had improved little. The Cleveland iron trade, which used the coal and coke produced at Spennymoor, was depressed. Coulson’s engineering works, Kenmir’s furniture factory and a newly opened brickworks at Todhills were the main, if limited, sources of employment. The Medical Officer of Health in his report to the council in 1938 expressed regret that there was no sign of new factories, unemployment was over 33% (Spennymoor Town Council Guide 1979)

An emigrant from Spennymoor returning home after an absence of 50 years or so would see many changes. Gone are the Victorian houses of Queen Street, Catherine Street, Duncombe Street and Villiers Street and the back to back one bedroomed houses, the Albert Inn, the Queenshead, the Lord Raglan and Red Lion, Waterloo, Travellers Rest, county, Shafto Arms, Surtees Arms and all gone, as is the Iron Works, Bus Station, Railway Bridge amnd Station Goods Yard, Kenmirs Furniture Factory, all of the cinemas Tivoli, Town Hall, Cambridge and the Arcadia which is now a bingo hall. The collieries closed long ago, Whitworth, Middlestone Moor, Westerton, Tudhoe Park, Tudhoe Mill, Dean and Chapter and Mainsforth.

I was brought up in Spennymoor by my grandparents, aunts and uncles as my father and mother lived in Brighton with my younger sister, as my father had moved away from Spennymoor in the 1930’s to find work, and previous to the Second World War. I was sent up to Spennymoor and remained there till I was married in 1958. I was only a year old when I wnet to live with my grandparents, or so I was told, I can recollect some of the things going on in the earlier years. The so called middens were still being used in Flora Street where I lived with my granparents and aunts, till water closets were installed in the 1950’s. I started Rosa Street School, (which is still there today), when I was about four years of age and left school before I was fifteen. I went back to this school in the year 2000 for a reunion, which brought back a lot of memories. I left school before my 15th birthday in August 1952, it was a Friday and straight after school I was looking for a job, at the time it was either farming, coal mines or the armed forces. I started Tudhoe Park colliery three days after leaving school and this was the start of nearly 40 years of working in the collieries of County Durham.

Today all the collieries are gone, and in there place is landscape, woodland and housing and indusrial estates. I have been retired for quite a while now, and have been living in Bishop Middleham for the last 40 years.

This is part of a series of projects, others are listed below:

Spennymoor (Part 1) - earliest days and troubled years

Spennymoor (Part 2) - the rise of industry

Note: The views that are expressed on the website are the contributors own and not necessarily those of Durham County Council. This is a community website so no guarantee can be given of the historical accuracy of individual contributions