Brick Club Photograph Collection
 

I called in at the Brick Club on Sunday and was told that at some point in the past photographs had been borrowed and some not returned.
Now I know where they ended up thanks to Coquet's thread on Woodhorn images, even down to the text style at the foot of the photographs :eek:

Like the drift photo?


Looks like it came into their possession in 2001. They (Woodhorn) should have a record of the donor.



That's a well tramped little drift. Oh the stories that could tell.

Yes, that one is a copy.It looks like Woodhorn have copies of some of the Club's existing photographs and I guess some of the originals went too.

We did get permission and took some photos of the Club's photographs but the light was bad. We managed to get the wall lights switched off but the ceiling lights still affected some of them. We have been asked back to try again so we'll wait until there's more natural light available. We'll get organised and pass the first attempts to you in the next week. There are some lovely old ones (10), some of miners (like the Woodhorn one) at Chevington Drift (8)and some of the opencast (7) as it went through the Drift. Hope I've counted right!

Just to whet your appetite :D

Looking forward to it. I know it's a difficult job when they are behind glass.

And..... here they are.

I've done the JavaScript popup light-box thingy. If you don't have JavaScript enabled then it wont work properly blah blah.


There is a question about No. 12, Is it East Chevington?. Possibly not with the strata dipping like that - could be close to or between the Hauxley and Bondicar faults in my expert opinion. :D

The fault in the photo (actually a pair of them) is not significant. Just a 'slip' to use the mining term for small displacement faults.

23 is a nice one of old mine workings uncovered.

The WW1 Funeral (21) looks like the Drift road at Red Row again so probably a soldier from the Drift. (cf. 18, telegraph poles, double chimney, attic windows)

No 12 is Togston Site.

No 11 is Taylor Woodrow colours which would make it either Butterwell or Chester House.

Petticas garage structure was originally the North side RAF hanger. This was bought and dismantled by Pettica when the RAF vacated the site in the early 1950's.

I notice there's one you haven't put on Coquet...the aerial view of the Chevington site. Was there too much reflection on it?

It does look like the Drift Road, especially when compared to the one above. John@the drift will know better regarding the identity of the dead soldier but looking on CWG site there were 5 burials at Chevington cemetery. H Hebron we've discussed and he was a Togston man and then there is a RA Bell and J Brown with no more information. Two possibles are John George Stewart (NF)of 9 Simonside and Henry Whitfield (RFA) of 30 Hartside. The procession seems to be coming from the Drift.

Found a newspaper report about R A Bell.....died of wounds in hospital, belonged 64 Simonside.

Thanks NL, I've updated the page with this info.

I was always led to believe this was the first of the WW1 funerals to come out of the Drift, in which case it would be the funeral of Robert Anderson Bell, 1/7th NF who died on 2nd April 1916 from wounds received at Second Ypres in April '15, if that makes sense? RA Bell was one of the Battalion's drummer and was possibly the very first casualty as he was struck by shrapnel whilst resting in Ypres town, the day before the famous charge of 25th April. Private Anderson was formerly a member of the Radcliffe Colliery Brass band and passed away in hospital at Herne Bay, Kent. He had never fully recovered from the head wound and subsequent trepanning.

I have another photo, taken from the same vantage point, will hunt it out.
I believe the pictures were taken from an upstairs window in the old Co-op department building, I once worked the angles out.

That's really helpful John. The newspaper report I referred to in an earlier post was from the Newcastle Journal of 6 April 1916:

"Lance-Corporal R A Bell, son of Mr and Mrs Bell of 64 Simonside Terrace, Chevington Drift, has died in hospital."