Durham Belmont

Belmont Community Centre,
Sunderland Road,
Gilesgate,
DURHAM DH1 2LL
Contact: JOHN HECKELS
Email: durham-belmontbranch@ndfhs.org.uk

Meetings on 3rd Wednesday in the month at 1.00 pm (no meeting in August – Summer Break)

Visitors are always welcome

Each meeting has a talk by an invited speaker followed by discussion and help

Reports of meetings

September 2024

Report of the meeting held Wednesday 18 September 2024 at Belmont Community Centre

Unfortunately, the scheduled speaker, Dave Shotten, had a technical issue with his laptop and was unable to give his presentation. Fortunately, the chairman was able to bring forward the presentation he was scheduled to give at the November meeting. He told of how a chance glimpse of the statue of a rugby player on the way to a rugby match had led him to research the statues of local sculptor Ray Lonsdale, best known for his “Tommy” statue at Seaham. This had led to a tour of all the public statues listed by Ray on his website, located in the North East, Yorkshire, Midlands, North West and Scotland. As well as showing photographs of the statues, he told the stories behind then and how they came to be in their present locations.

One of the members was able to update the story with a photograph she had taken of the latest statue only recently installed at Brandon.

The Chairman confirmed that the Research centre at New England House was fully operational and updated members on planning for the Anniversary Conference in June 2025.

July 2024

The meeting was attended by 11 members and 3 guests.

Olly Burton who gave an interesting talk “Glorious Woodwork” about aspects of woodwork in
Durham Cathedral. Olly has been a volunteer in the Cathedral for many years. He began with
the structural role of woodwork, including its role in construction of the stone arches and the fact
that the two towers originally had wooden spires. He mentioned problems with wood were it was
susceptible to decay, insect attack and, with reference to York and Notre Dam, it readily burns.

He then discussed the artistic woodwork, including the font canopy, organ and many carvings.
He noted that Bishop Cousins was responsible that most of the current woodwork, after the
battle of Dunbar in 1650, when Scottish prisoners were imprisoned in the cathedral and used
the woodwork as firewood. The only woodwork which had survived was the 600-year-old clock,
probably because it incorporated a thistle!

The Chairman reported on the 2024 AGM held the previous Saturday and that, following its
relocation to New England House, the Research Centre would reopen on Monday 22nd July.
He also remined members of planning for a 50th Anniversary Conference to be held in June
2025.

June 2024

The meeting was attended by 13 members and 3 guests.

The speaker was Brian Young who gave a fascinating insight into the history of metal mining in
the Durham Dales. He noted that recorded mining of metal ores dated back to the 11th century,
but almost certainly occurred long before then with copper ores during the bronze age. So
predating coal mining in the region. Early recorded mining in the Wolsingham area was for iron
ores, later lead became of more importance. Several other metals were also mined including
silver which was a by product of copper production. The industry reached its peak during the
18th & 19th centuries but eventually declined as prices fell on world markets. Brian discussed
the hazardous nature of the industry at a time of little regard for modern ideas of “health and
safety”. He also showed how the modern landscape of Weardale reflected the hundreds of
years of activity in the industry. He ended his talk by showing pictures of many of the beautiful
crystals of various ores which had been found in the region and now exhibited in geological
displays in museums, including the British Museum.

Several members had attended the opening weekend of the County Archives facilities at “The
Story” and reported their experiences in accessing records. The facilities appeared promising
but it was clear that much work need to be done to restore access to the records which had
been previously available. However, subsequently a message was received from the search
room supervisor that “We anticipate that the full range of parishes that we previously had on
microfilm will be available by mid-July and our new viewing system will offer a more user friendly and enhanced way of viewing the registers.

May 2024

Report of the meeting held Wednesday 15th May 2024 at Belmont Community Centre
The meeting was attended by 15 members and 5 guests.
The speaker was Jane Guilliford Lowes who had previously give two talks based on books she
had authored. On this occasion she used the examples of her own books to discuss how she
wrote family history to make it interesting to the reader. She advised on starting with something
to draw the reader in such as an object, a place, domestic or industrial life at the time. She
emphasised the need to focus the story and not try to include everyone. She also discussed the
various formats now available to everyone to get their story to a wider audience, Members were
greatly interested as was shown by the many questions raised.
The Chairman reported on the progress of the move of the Research Centre to New England
House. He also that the Society was looking to branches to support planning for the 50th
Anniversary of the Society. He asked for a volunteer to come forward to join the Anniversary
Planning Committee. No volunteer was forthcoming.

April 2024

Report of the meeting held Wednesday 17 March 2024 at Belmont Community Centre

The meeting was attended by 12 members and 7 guests.

The speaker was John North who gave an interesting and informative talk “The North East Coast Exhibition” about the Exhibition held in Newcastle in 1929. Much enjoyed by members.

March 2024

Report of the meeting held Wednesday 20 March 2024 which was attended by 13 members and 1 guest.

Our guest speaker was Alan Smith who had grown up in Seaham Harbour. Seaham was a small hamlet around Seaham Hall, owned by the Milbank family. Its development can be traced from the marriage of Lord Londonderry to Frances, the Milbank heiress, when he acquired substantial estates and coal interests. In order to avoid the costs of shipping from Sunderland, Lord Londonderry developed Seaham which was not a natural harbour into a port with coal slides for loading his ships. The town rapidly developed around the local collieries, Seaham, Vane Tempest and Dawdon. The Londonderry’s supported other industries including glass making and the town and its mining community thrived.

Seaham Hall, which had its own railway station, had many society visitors including the Prince of Wales and heads of state. The cricket club sponsored by the Londonderry’s became an important social centre and attracted top professional players. It even hosted a match between Seaham and the West Indies. Seaham attracted national attention in 1962 when the George Elmy lifeboat returning from a rescue missing was overwhelmed by a freak wave, and all but one of those on board were lost. Following the decline of the coal industry Seaham became an unlikely tourist destination helped by its coastline, shops and attractions such as the iconic statue of WWI soldier “Tommy”. Notable recent natives of Seaham included the singer Sir Thomas Allen and cricketer Peter Willey. The members greatly enjoyed the stories and historical photographs behind a place they knew well.

The speaker had a full programme for the remainder of the year and several possible speakers for 2025. She asked members for their opinions on possible topics.

The chairman reported on the 50th anniversary of the Society in 2025: it was hoped to organise a conference and branches were asked for suggestion for topics and assistance in organisation, a possible venue might be the newly refurbished Miners Hall in Durham City

February 2024

The meeting on the 21st February was attended by 12 members and 5 guests.

Our guest speaker was Gary Bankhead the well-known local underwater archaeologist. He began my telling members how a “one off dive” with his brother in the unpromising waters below Prebends Bridge had led to a career as an underwater archaeologist. Their initial finds were religious artifacts from around, the world including a rare Russian Icon, which had originally belonged to a former Archbishop of Canterbury and he hold the story of how they came to be there. Later diving around Elvet Bridge and he had recovered over thirteen thousand small finds including coins, buttons, buckles, pins, trade tokens and religious items including souvenirs from pilgrims to Durham who threw them into the river to ensure safety when travelling home. The articles had all been catalogued for the University Department of Archaeology and individual items had been the subject of dissertations students in their studies. This led Gary to undertake a degree in archaeology himself, and then research which had led to an M/Phil degree. He finished by telling of his appearance in several television programmes with well-known hosts visiting Durham and how this had led to his contribution to a national and then his own series with another planned.

January 2024

The meeting held Wednesday 19 January 2023 was attended by 10 members and 1 guest.
Local Historian Dave Shotten gave a talk “Finchale’s Golden Mile” about the little-known history attached to the area between Durham City and Finchale Priory. He emphasised the difficulty in accessing some of the sites including one which required an unmarked hike through the woods and then a swim across the River Wear. The talk began with the little-known role of the area in Roman times including early evidence of coal mining. He showed the remains of a probable Roman road, much of which had been subsequently removed to provide stone for the building of Durham Cathedral. He also pointed out the area of Mallygill Woods where a quarry had provided stone for the pillars in the cathedral. The area was rich in evidence of early coal mining including bell pits which would have provided a supply for the monks at Finchale.

He also told the story of St. Godric, who was associated with the first Finchale miracles, who first established a hermitage in a cave, on land donated by Bishop Flambard, at the area known as St. Godric’s Garth and then a chapel at Finchale which subsequently became the site of the Priory. As well as miracles associated with powers as a healer, he had a reputation of foreseeing the future, and he is said to have warned Thomas Becket of his impending fate.

The chairman reported that the Society was beginning to plan for it’s 50th anniversary in 2025.
Unfortunately, it appeared that the newly established Consett group looked likely to close because of a lack of volunteers coming forward to take up the various associated roles.

December 2023

Report of the meeting held Wednesday 20 December 2023 at Belmont Community Centre which was attended by 6 members and 1 guest.

As previously agreed by members, the meeting took the form of a members’ forum. Members presented a wide range of different aspects of their family history research resulting in much discussion. All agreed that it was an enjoyable and worthwhile experience.

The chairman commented that the low attendance was undoubtedly due the closeness to Christmas but this was still disappointing since members had previously agreed not to move the meeting to a week earlier, as we had done in previous years.

November 2023

The meeting Wednesday 15 November 2023 attended by 14 members and 4 guests.

Our guest speaker was George Nairn, a “deltiologist” (collector of postcards). He selected from his extensive collection a series of views which took members on a journey down the River Wear from its beginning near Wearhead, the confluence of the Killhope & Burnhope burns, to its outfall at Wearmouth, Sunderland. His talk covered many of the industrial and social changes that had occurred in the region, including lost or repurposed railway stations, long gone houses and pubs. It also included two WWI POW camps and the Lambton Park training grounds for troops awaiting deployment to the British Expeditionary Force. He acknowledged the enthusiasts who documented their region and the specialist firms who produced the images. As many of the images were of family groups, he explained that people would commission the photographs to send to relatives celebrating important family events. In essence, postcards were equivalent of today’s “selfies” and emails. The talk induced many reminiscences and was thoroughly enjoyed by members.

The Chairman reported that the search for new premises for the Society had narrowed down to two possibilities and that negotiations were underway with the preferred candidate. The Society had a new publicity officer who was keen to increase the Society’s profile particularly using social media. Several members had brough in items including books, maps and research materials. These were enthusiastically acquired by the other members. The Chairman reported that he had received a close Y-DNA match with a distant cousin sharing the same surname, confirming that two branches of the family were indeed related

October 2023

Report of the meeting held Wednesday 18 October 2023 at Belmont Community Centre
The meeting was attended by 7 members and 4 guests.

Our guest speaker was Alan Ribchester, a member of the City of Durham’s Mayor’s Bodyguard who came in his full regalia and carrying his halberd. He outlined the origins of the bodyguard which can be traced back to Bishop Pudsey in 1179. After the king refused the Prince Bishop permission to form a bodyguard, he travelled to Rome and obtained a charter from the Pope. There are only five official bodyguards in the UK including two for the King and the Lord Mayor of London. After the appointment of the first mayor or Durham in 1604 the bodyguard became his tax collectors. Today they fulfil a ceremonial role for the mayor at major engagements and whenever the sovereign visits Durham. As well as sword and mace bearers the bodyguards all carry a halberd. Several halberds, including the one that Alan brought, were made by Scottish prisoners of war who were held in Durham Cathedral during the civil war.

The Chairman reported on the ongoing search for new premises following the necessity to leave Mea House. Following site visits, a shortlist of potential premises was under consideration

Last updated 1st October 2024