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  #1  
Old 03-01-2012, 04:14 PM
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Default Radcliffe Map

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Old 03-01-2012, 04:19 PM
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1923.

not much different from the earlier 1897 version except Dandsfield Place North and Dandsfield Place South are not built yet on the earlier map.
Disused colliery sits on 11 acres.


The Colliery Manager's House -"Radcliffe House" looks the prime property to have (who'd have guessed it?) Wonder if it housed the manager of Newburgh Colliery at this time?


Dandsfield Place North had a lovely pit heap at the bottom of their gardens.
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Old 03-01-2012, 04:47 PM
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My Great Grandmothers brother Bill Summerell is shown as living at Long Row North on the 1911 Census. During WW1 he served in the local territorial battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers, went to France in June 1915 and died of wounds on the 22nd of February 1916. He is buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery Poperinge, Belgium.

Commonwealth War Graves Entry


Unfortunately his name was spelt wrong on the Radcliffe War Memorial - he is recorded on there as W. Summerville.

The family originated from the South Wales area.
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Old 03-01-2012, 06:06 PM
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I've marked in red the point where the German land mine hit on the 15th February 1942. (This location as shown in the book "The Three Villages" by Elizabeth Stewart)

Three people were killed and the church and school were destroyed.
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Old 26-01-2012, 08:16 PM
John@theDrift John@theDrift is offline
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I have come across a description of the rescue of Private Summerell during research for my next book... if you would be interested in reading it, its not very nice... the guy who rescued him from No Man's Land got the Military Medal for the action but the description is quite brutal, wouldn't want to offend anyone's sensitivities? Would be really interested if you have any photos of Private Summerell you would be prepared to let me use? Also, if you or any relatives don't want the story published, then that won't be a problem. Love to hear what you think, Cheers, John
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Old 27-01-2012, 07:31 PM
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Originally Posted by John@theDrift View Post
I have come across a description of the rescue of Private Summerell during research for my next book... if you would be interested in reading it, its not very nice... the guy who rescued him from No Man's Land got the Military Medal for the action but the description is quite brutal, wouldn't want to offend anyone's sensitivities? Would be really interested if you have any photos of Private Summerell you would be prepared to let me use? Also, if you or any relatives don't want the story published, then that won't be a problem. Love to hear what you think, Cheers, John


Hi John, no problem as far as I'm concerned with the publication. Sort of shocked and surprised that you've found some info relating to his death - I assume it's in the citation for the Military Medal - was the citation published in a newspaper at the time? (For those that don't know the "Military Medal" was a gallantry award for "other ranks", but for the WW1 issues nearly all the citations were destroyed in WW2 so it's difficult to find out what act they were awarded for - the odd citation does turn up in regimental histories or contemporary newspapers, but the majority are lost forever)

Regarding photos of William Summerell I don't have any, just one of his sister Isabel Young, née Summerell, my great-grandmother.

If you can get in touch with Colin Reid, Alnwick publican - he has "Ye Olde Cross" Inn (aka "The Dirty Bottles") in Alnwick (or he did have, think he still does) he might be able to advise if a photo exists as he is one generation closer than me, William being his great uncle.
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Old 06-05-2013, 12:40 PM
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Here is a summary of the Radcliffe mine workings on an OS map from Durham archives.I hope that it transfers ok to this forum.

I have heard an account of an engineer in the fifties, 60 years from Radcliffe's closure, walking through from Broomhill and looking up at the stars at the top of a shaft amid the debris of discarded bikes etc that had been thrown in!
My source also says the dip in the road at Moorhouse that has recently caused problems was probably from an over zealous "nibble" of the Little Wonder seam, a bit close to the cottages for comfort!
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File Type: jpg radcliffe plan.jpg (108.3 KB, 67 views)

Last edited by hollydog; 06-05-2013 at 12:44 PM.
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Old 06-05-2013, 03:00 PM
Alan J. Alan J. is offline
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Default Radcliffe map.

There was no connection between Broomhill and the old Radcliffe pit, Broomhill had a connection to Newburgh as I have mentioned previously. The Radcliffe shafts were full of water according to my mother who as a girl said they used to go there and be chased away because of the danger. Apparently the shaft was only covered by wooden boarding which was in a rotten state.
By the 50's there was no sign of the shafts and only a solitary building left standing which was of two floors, the upper used by the colliery property maintenance joiners and downstairs by the Radcliffe Body Building Club or RBBC as was painted on the wall next to the door. I was one the ones who trained there. We were all NCB workers who had permission to use the place and most of the weights, apparatus, etc were home made by ourselves. We had electricity from the upstairs and it was a colliery supply of 110 volts, this came from Rose Cottage, nearby, which was colliery property and Matty Archbold, fore shift overman at Hauxley, lived there. The shaft you mention may have been a ventilation shaft at Broomhill somewhere.
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Old 06-05-2013, 04:49 PM
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Thanks Alan, you must appreciate I am dealing with fading memories here!
But the very fact that you, I and others are now recalling, correcting and recording this history is very important because these little snippets will be lost forever in a couple of generations.
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Old 06-05-2013, 06:02 PM
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Default Radcliffe.

Cheers Hollydog, I agree, it is pleasing to see the ammount of knowledge we can still retain and given a certain little prompt it all floods back.
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Old 06-05-2013, 06:06 PM
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Interesting part of the plan for the Radcliffe seam down near Newburgh colliery, just south of the Bondicarr burn.
"note A and B are two concrete dams each in a stone drift.....the only two places where the two colleries are connected"
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Last edited by hollydog; 06-05-2013 at 06:10 PM.
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Old 10-05-2013, 08:20 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan J. View Post
There was no connection between Broomhill and the old Radcliffe pit, Broomhill had a connection to Newburgh as I have mentioned previously. The Radcliffe shafts were full of water according to my mother who as a girl said they used to go there and be chased away because of the danger. Apparently the shaft was only covered by wooden boarding which was in a rotten state.
By the 50's there was no sign of the shafts and only a solitary building left standing which was of two floors, the upper used by the colliery property maintenance joiners and downstairs by the Radcliffe Body Building Club or RBBC as was painted on the wall next to the door. I was one the ones who trained there. We were all NCB workers who had permission to use the place and most of the weights, apparatus, etc were home made by ourselves. We had electricity from the upstairs and it was a colliery supply of 110 volts, this came from Rose Cottage, nearby, which was colliery property and Matty Archbold, fore shift overman at Hauxley, lived there. The shaft you mention may have been a ventilation shaft at Broomhill somewhere.
The Moorhouse drift apparently did give access to a small area of old Radcliffe workings abandoned in the 1890s and this is where my friends recollections came from. With a good navigator it was then possible to get back to Broomhill! As you stated the two colleries were never linked to be worked together.
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Old 10-05-2013, 11:13 AM
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Default Moorhouse drift.

I wonder where that shaft was. I can't remember anything like it, it must have been fairly near civilisation if people were in the habit of using it to dump rubbish.
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Old 11-05-2013, 08:47 PM
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Default Pretoria cottage

I have noticed on viewing the map of Radcliffe that Pretoria Cottage is shown. This was at one time the home of my grandmother. Does the cottage still stand and whereabouts in the nillage is it. I would like to see it and would be travelling from Blyth so may need directions. Thanks in advance.
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  #15  
Old 12-05-2013, 08:41 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Spartan View Post
I have noticed on viewing the map of Radcliffe that Pretoria Cottage is shown. This was at one time the home of my grandmother. Does the cottage still stand and whereabouts in the nillage is it. I would like to see it and would be travelling from Blyth so may need directions. Thanks in advance.
this is that spot on google street view:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=ambl...74.86,,0,12.41
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  #16  
Old 14-05-2013, 07:12 PM
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Default Radcliffe Opencast Site Photograph Plan

Here's a little snippet of a plan in the possession of Hollydog. (Just a tiny part - the whole thing extends right over to the coast, Bondicar and Hauxley). The base maps are the 1:2500 or 25 inches to the mile ordnance survey. Over this is the intended boundaries of the Radcliffe opencast area. I believe the thick dotted lines are the opencast licence, with the inner lighter dotted line the working boundary (between these the baffles or topsoil banks to screen the site are shown.

Anyway, the plan is in fact the record of the pre-opencast photographic survey showing the points and directions from which the photographs were taken; these are referenced in the legend and number more than 90.

The little part below shows photo site reference 6, 7, 8 and 14. 14 appears to be an important view point being on top of the shale heap near the old Radcliffe shafts, the photographer having take a picture every 30 degrees or so, in a complete circle.

We are hoping to get some information on the existence of this series of photos, you never know we might get lucky!
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Old 14-05-2013, 07:16 PM
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Just noticed there's a 'Pill Box' in there tucked in the side of the waste heap next to the shafts.
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Old 29-05-2013, 09:40 PM
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Default wow

Cant believe how much was there, Radcliffe was just stories from my stepdad, he told me that the school fell down because they were all noisy......and I believed him! I'm 35 and can just remember Craiggs buses parked by the main road, apparently they pulled Radcliffe down around about 73???
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Old 30-05-2013, 08:04 AM
Alan J. Alan J. is offline
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Default Radcliffe.

Radcliffe was a vibrant,self sufficient village with schools, a pub and a club , Co oP store, W I , butchers, chip shop, welfare, among other things. People lived all their lives there until it was finally demolished in 1972 with the remaining population having gone to Amble.
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Old 01-06-2013, 04:24 PM
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We've mentioned before a Drift entrance between the rows at Radcliffe. This is shown on the image below sitting in the angle between Centre Row and Leslie Row [pic from one of Hollydog's maps/plans] . I think this is the drift the ponies were accused of pulling the carrots out of the gardens from the underside on their way down the drift!
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