Memories are made from Tynedale’s rich heritage
Last updated 15:36, Thursday, 28 August 2008
MEMORIES are made of this...
Well you certainly can’t beat the memories Bellingham Heritage Centre holds. If there’s one place you can immerse yourself in the past – and bring history alive while doing so – then this little gem is it.
Anthropologists tell us that one of the reasons the human race developed so well is because we’ve always loved gossip.
If someone had a story to tell, then we’d all gather round and absorb every word, before passing the information on to someone else.
And this is why Bellingham Heritage Centre is so appealing. It’s a treasure trove of stories from the past. Many of the jewels of information you come across are anecdotes, captured from people who witnessed events at the time.
And you not only read them, but hear them as well.
One of the design icons, created by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, which became part of our national identity, stands near the entrance to the centre.
Enter this red telephone box and dial – yes dial instead of press – a number and you can listen to someone’s memories.
There’s a few stories to choose from including the tale of how Dr Kirk of Bellingham used to treat pleurisy. A few spoons of castor oil, iodine painted on your chest and a night spent sleeping in a wooden hut was the cure in those days – and it worked.
The heritage centre building, which also houses the tourist information centre, is tucked away in the old station yard – a reminder that Bellingham used to be a stop on the old Border Counties Railway.
The railway was a vital lifeline for the small communities of the North Tyne, but sadly closed in 1958.
It ran from Hexham to Riccarton Junction (a middle of nowhere place over the Scottish Border) where it joined the main Carlisle to Edinburgh line, and a large section of the heritage centre is devoted to its history.
Maps, old photographs of stations, and artefacts ranging from tickets to sign boards are all there, including railwaymen’s lamps, tools and the original Bellingham station clock.
The heritage centre stands on the site of the old parcel shed and part of the shed door is preserved, with all its graffiti intact.
The centre is now the only place where many mementoes of this lost railway are preserved and of course, there are plenty tales from people who remember the days of steam.
Ernie Scott, for example, was only two years when his family moved into a railway house at Redesmouth in 1908. His father was an engine driver and Ernie used to catch the train to school.
This was in the days when the North Tyne experienced real winters, with heavy falls of snow blocking the line and isolating villages for days at a time.
Ernie remembers his dad driving a snow plough to Bellingham to clear the line. “When the engine arrived at Bellingham, about a dozen children had to climb on to the tender to travel to Redesmouth. The children thought it was a great thing.”
Those were the days. Or were they? The harsh winter of 1947 saw roads and the railway line blocked for six weeks. That left places like Redesmouth completely cut off and people had a hard time of it.
The railway company tried to blast the snow clear with an experimental jet-powered snow blower (are any of them left sitting in a railway museum somewhere?) The force of the jets was so strong that, despite the engine having its brakes fully applied, it was pushed back down the track.
The North Tyne was also once a hotbed of industry, with coal and iron works providing employment for many. Fifteen per cent of iron on the High Level came from this area.
You can learn more about these days when men hacked a living out of the ground.
Going back even further in time, the North Tyne was once a dangerous place to live, thanks to the thieving villains known as Border Reivers. The heritage centre contains a lengthy list of Reiver surnames – press the button next to the name to highlight on a map where they came from.
Many of the people who visit the centre are Dodds, Milburns and Robsons and they come to research their family history.
A vast computer database containing around 40,000 names of people who lived in the area is there for public use. You can trace your family history right back to the beginning of the 17th century in some cases.
Before leaving the heritage centre, mention must be made of Walter Percy Collier.
Collier (1875-1937) used to be a familiar sight as he rode his motor cycle along the quiet roads and tracks of Tynedale.
Armed with his camera, he took hundreds of pictures of Bellingham and the surrounding area over a 25-year period.
He ran a shop in the village in Lock-Up Lane and this has been lovingly recreated with an extensive display of Collier’s pictures, together with examples of the kind of vintage photographic equipment he used and sold.
The heritage centre, which is entirely staffed by volunteers, is about to get even bigger with an extension due to open in mid-September.
It will contain an old smithy rescued from Stannersburn which has been carefully rebuilt.
Among the agricultural displays will be a Fergie tractor in its shed, and a miniature one for the children to ride on.
But as you’d expect, the extension also contains more talking heads. You could sit and listen to the recordings all day and they emphasise how sanitised our world has become today.
Do we for example, still look forward to one of the biggest events of the year when all the family gather round to take part? Not Christmas, but... the pig killing.
This mesmerising childhood story, told by an elderly woman, starts in the morning when the men went outside to kill the said pig, while mother, who treated the animal as a pet, had to turn the wireless up so she couldn’t hear its squeals.
While this was going on, containers of water were being boiled in preparation for the pig being brought into the house.
Because there was an event on, granny turned up, but always stuffed wild mint up her nos-trils because she didn’t like the smell.
Next, the pig (now dead) was brought in and placed in the tin bath in front of the fire and boiling water was poured over it to remove the bristles.
Finally, the women’s work would begin and they didn’t waste a thing, as the pig, from its head to its trotters, was turned into different cuts of meat.
l Bellingham Heritage Centre is open Monday to Saturday, 9.30am-5pm and Sunday 10am-4.30pm from March to October. The hours are reduced in the winter months.
A good day to visit is Sunday, September 14, when lots of events are planned with guided walks, a farmers’ market and family activities.
For more information, call the centre on (01434) 220050.
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