Chevington Abbas

[Hilary Norris]

Good afternoon. I'd be grateful for any help in locating a particular property in the Chevington area. I have a journal written by my grandfather in which he says, 'We stayed here (South Shields) for two years and then moved to Chevington Abbas, a farm, whilst my father worked in 1885, at Stobswood, a mine on the main line north He goes on to talk of the dreadful winters of 1885/6, 'snow being level with the hedges and the railways blocked' By the 1891 census they are living at Pegswood.

Although I have searched I can find no evidence of[a farm of that name. My grandfather William English (1875 - 1915) would have been only ten in 1885 so it is possible he misheard the name. The name Abbas however is so precise that it seems more likely he has remembered it accurately.

I found your site by chance and am delighted to have done so. Thank you