Sunderland Antiquarian Society

Transcription

1 Sunderland Antiquarian Society NEWSLETTER November 2010 Holey Rock c.1905

2 Antiquarian News The Society s membership continues to grow, locally, nationally and overseas. The research mornings at the Minster are very well attended so do please come along assistance and guidance is always at hand. The monthly evening talks are also being well attended. The society s website goes from strength to strength and can be accessed at: The site has a Members Only area which current members can log in to with their password. Non-members do not have access to this part of the site. Any members who have not yet received their password should simply send an to the Secretary of the society at P11cur@aol.com and a password will duly be issued. New articles, photos and features are being uploaded into this area on a weekly basis so do keep accessing this part of the website. Forthcoming Lectures 9 th Nov The Forgotten stones: The Romans In South Hylton by Alan Richardson 14 th December: Christmas Buffet: Old film footage of Sunderland - This will take place in the Clock Tower Restaurant in The Minster and entry for this has to be ticket-only - these are now available from the Society Secretary 8 each 9 th January The Old pubs of Bishopwearmouth by Ron Lawson Our illustrated monthly lectures all take place in The Minster Vestry (with the exception of the Christmas evening) and last approx one hour (doors open 7.30pm with coffee being served in the Minster Clock Tower Restaurant, if required). Non-members are always very welcome. Fortnightly Research Mornings The Society s archives at The Minster continue to be open for research fortnightly on Saturday mornings 10a.m.-noon 6 th and 20th November, 4 th and 18 December. Please note that we will be closed on New Years Day. Re-commencing 2011 on 8 th and 22nd Jan, 5 th February.. Non-members are most welcome.

3 Can You Help?? Since launching their website last year, the Sunderland Antiquarian Society has received dozens of enquiries from those searching for long lost Sunderland ancestors. From as far afield as Australia and the United States, amateur genealogists have been reunited with their elusive Wearside grandparents. The Regale Robert Dobson One query, however, has proved to be a little tricky and the society is asking its members for their help. Mrs Jean Hodgson, who lives in Cramlington, can trace her great grandfather back to one of the town s oldest pubs. Robert Dobson was licensee of the Regale Tavern (pictured left) in East Hendon Road during the latter years of the 19th century, and was no doubt kept extremely busy with the many dockers who frequented this popular hostelry, slaking their thirsts after a long hard shift. As well as the Regale, other members of the family also ran the Colliery House in Sheepfolds, and the Fleece in Cousin Street. In 1909, Robert s daughter Elizabeth married a Boer War veteran called Hugh Gallagher. Hugh had twice been wounded during the South African conflict; on the last occasion his wounds being so serious that he nearly lost his life. Despite his near death experience, in 1914, Hugh proudly volunteered for armed service again, when war with Germany loomed large on the horizon. Perhaps because of his age, or the fact that he had been seriously injured in the past, Hugh was posted to the Motor Cycle Brigade, and thankfully served out the First World War near to home. As Hugh did not serve abroad, he was not awarded a medal to go with those he won during the Boer war. At the end of the war, Hugh returned to his trade as a coal trimmer at Hendon Dock, but tragedy would strike in the spring of 1921, when he was involved in an accident that would prematurely take this brave man s life. After a fall in the Docks, the wound that Hugh had sustained in Africa opened up again, with terrible consequences.

4 Although Hugh was quickly rushed to the Sunderland Infirmary, there was nothing that surgeons could do to save his life. He died on 21 st April Mrs Hodgson has been able to send us some of her treasured photographs, one showing Hugh in his Cycle Brigade Uniform, the other showing the Sunderland survivors of the Boer war, proudly displaying their medals during a ceremony in Mowbray Park. Hendon Docks pre 1921 Do any members of the society have knowledge of the Motor Cycle Brigade, or the Boer war medal ceremony? Perhaps someone has ancestors who feature on the photograph. If anyone can help with information that would assist Mrs Hodgson and open more doors in her ancestor search (contact Norman Kirtlan on ) or drop him a line at the Antiquarian Society Headquarters in Sunderland Minster. Above: Sunderland medal winners of the Boer War. (Hugh Gallagher back right)

5 When Karel McChambell recently contacted the Antiquarian Society for help with tracing his Sunderland grandparents, he got an unexpected surprise! Recently discovered legal documents in our archives showed that Karel s ancestors, William and Thomas Burn, were leading lights in the town, and may have history going back into the 1600s. One of the legal documents, a transfer agreement dated 1802, showed that the Burns were negotiating with the well-known Tyzack family, to rent out the Crown Glass Bottle Works in Southwick. Glass bottle making was one of the principle industries on the Wear, and up until the mid 19 th century, glass manufacturers thrived at either side of the river. Karel s link to the rich and famous could go back even further, as in 1771, Charles Burn(e), a wealthy master mariner, was living at 111 High Street, the former seaside home of Lord Lambton. Enquiries continue, and Karel is holding his breath for more revelations about his Sunderland ancestors. One of our members, Mrs. E. Andrews, worked for many years at the old Havelock Hospital in Hylton Road and is now researching the history of the building. She would love to hear of the experiences from any former patients of the hospital. If you can help please contact her on e.andrews737@ntlworld.com The society s archives are packed with documents, maps and photographs that may be of assistance to members in their family or subject research. Where we are able, we will provide help and assistance for research. Contact our map archivist, Norman Kirtlan, oldsunderland@yahoo.co.uk or our Chairman, Douglas Smith, douglassmith2007@aol.com.. The Story of Fulwell Mill Fulwell Mill, a Grade II listed building and the most complete windmill north of Humberside, opened in 1808 and occupies a commanding position on the northern outskirts of Sunderland. It was built for Matthew Swan, a man of diverse business interests who lived nearby and owned much of the land in the neighbourhood, including a limestone quarry from which the material for the mill was dug. The mill dominated the small village of Fulwell located on lower ground to the east, a community that had existed for several centuries and which, from the 1150s (at the latest) until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s, had belonged to the monks of Durham Cathedral Priory. Shortly after Fulwell Mill was built, the census of 1811 recorded that the township s population was only 145 strong and it remained in three figures for several decades thereafter the first census to record over a thousand inhabitants was that of Fulwell was one of Sunderland s satellite communities and only became part of the town in Fulwell Mill was built to grind corn (the main cereal was wheat) and remained in the hands of Swan s descendants until the 1880s when it passed to the Church Commissioners. Several years later, in 1905, a gas engine was installed and as this provided the power for the mill, its sails were made redundant. By this date the number of windmills grinding corn was in sharp decline. One reason

6 for this was the introduction of steam-powered mills, which ground large quantities of imported grain at ports. Moreover, in the subsequent First World War flour milling standards were set by law and so many millers were compelled to only grind animal feed. By 1919 the number of corn mills in England (which had numbered into the thousands during the 19th century) had dropped to about 350, and totalled around 50 by Fulwell Mill was still in operation at that date, albeit grinding animal feed, but the end was in sight and the last miller retired in Thereafter, someone else ground animal feed on a part-time basis until By this time, Fulwell Mill had recently passed into the hands of Sunderland Corporation, which fitted four dummy sails in 1955 to enhance the mill s appearance. The mill subsequently experienced several phases of restoration work. The most recent and extensive programme was headed by Sunderland council s environment team with the aim of returning the mill to full working order producing wholemeal flour and making it an educational centre. Among those involved in the task were volunteer members of the general public. Part of the 700,000 funding for the scheme came from a Heritage Lottery grant of 287,000, and 250,000 from the European Regional Development Fund. Of the project, William Ault, Sunderland council s Environment Director, was quoted as saying in the Sunderland Echo of 18 August 1999: We are delighted to have secured funding to restore this magnificent landmark back to its authentic working order. Restoration work was completed in 2001 and on 29 June the site was visited by a delegation of local dignitaries, one of whom, Councillor Colin Anderson (the leader of Sunderland City Council) performed the opening ceremony. In the following day s Sunderland Echo, 59-year-old Alastair Yule, a member of our society, who had been appointed Fulwell Mill s resident miller with a residence above the Visitors Centre commented as follows: It s really the challenge of bringing a historic building like this back into community use that attracted me to the job.

7 Fulwell Mill is a tower mill and thus has a fixed body only the cap (the uppermost part of the structure) rotates. This is also true of smock mills, but whereas the latter have bodies made of wood, tower mills are either constructed of brick or stone, and Fulwell was one of several tower mills constructed in the vicinity of Sunderland. In the mid 1790s, for instance, a stone tower mill was built at Whitburn, while another tower mill, again of stone, was constructed on Cleadon Hill in the early 1820s. Cleadon Mill, which enjoys the finest setting of the three, is now ruinous (it remained in operation until the late 19th century) but Whitburn Mill, which also fell into disuse in the second half of the 19th century, benefited from restoration work undertaken by South Tyneside Council in The design of Fulwell Mill has been described as unique, for the tower stands on a cylindrical base (of attractively weathered magnesian limestone) which has a significantly greater diameter than the tower, thereby forming a reefing stage. However, some former windmills in the neighbourhood also had such bases, as can be seen on a map of Wearside drawn by John Rain in the 1780s. At Fulwell, the base supports a tapering tower of three storeys crowned by a hemispherical cap, and the tower is likewise built of magnesian limestone. It was covered by waterproof cement in the 1980s which spoilt the mill s appearance but this was removed during the programme of restoration that led to the mill s reopening in The base of the windmill has two storeys. The ground, or entrance floor, contains some items on display (including a millstone) and was the place to which grain was brought by local farmers and corn merchants and stored, prior to being lifted up the mill to be ground. The lifting process was done by the sack hoist, by means of which sacks of grain (which could weigh about 120kg in the early 19th century) were lifted up to the top floor of the tower through a series of self-closing trap doors. From the entrance floor, one ascends a steep wooden flight of steps to the next storey, the miller s floor. This contains a pearl barley machine, which removed the husk from barley and polished the grain to produce barley used for soups. Other machinery was once also housed at this level, including equipment that cleaned corn intended for bread making. Furthermore, there are two alcoves located within the thickness of the reefing stage. The first, on the north side of the windmill, served as a workshop where the miller carried out repairs to tools and

8 equipment; the second alcove, off the west side of the floor, has a fireplace and was a little office where he dealt with his accounts and order books. The next storey, the first located in the tower, houses the great spur wheel (which among other things indirectly drives a millstone on the floor above) and is known as the machinery floor. Here, the miller controlled most of the processing. At this level, two doors give access to the reefing stage where, by using weights, the shutters of the sails are controlled. If weights are absent in a bucket suspended on a chain, the shutters are open and so the wind passes through them. On the other hand, applying weights closes the shutters and enables the wind to turn the sails. Above lies the stone floor. This contains a pair of millstones (originally there were three sets) enclosed in a wooden casing. Grain from the floor above is dropped via a chute to equipment that feeds it into the centre of the millstones, the uppermost of which, the runner stone, revolves whereas its companion is stationary. As the top stone turns, the grain works its way towards the outer edges of the millstones and emerges as ground flour. From the stone floor one climbs to the bin floor, where grain destined for grinding was stored in wooden bins. Today, only one bin is in use. From this level, one can enjoy panoramic views of Sunderland and its environs. Moreover, visitors can also look up into the cap, which houses the mechanism that harnesses wind power to drive the mill s machinery. Fulwell Mill is owned and run by the City of Sunderland and is the only working windmill in the North East of England. Glenn Dodds Recent Donations Alan Rowntree Books: 1) My Memories of Grangetown. 2) It All happened In Sunderland David Shield: Book: Saxon Saints, Aelfric and the Fuller Brooch W. Swanson Printed copy of Town Hall Foundation Stone D.W.Smith Book: School of Musketry 1915, St Matthews Silksworth Monumental Inscriptions, St. Peters, Monkwearmouth, Monumental Inscriptions Maurice Murray Wearside At War pub 1984 D. Stafford History of St Peters photographed and mounted by Ron Lawson David Bridge Book: Civil War Battles around Sunderland Colin Brown: Papers: Wearside Sail Making Bill 1939, Dobbin Engineering Bill 1940, Indenture Apprenticeships 1795 Jack Curtis Photo: Royal Rovers Presentation Cup Sunderland s Only Animal VC Winner Janette Scurfield Map: 1861 Ordnance Survey Alan Lee Engineering Illustrated Tower Sidney Booth Sepia Picture 18 th Century Hylton Castle Ian Lawson Book: Miners and Mining. Flashback: Story of Chris Mullen Personal Archives of his life in Parliament

9 Roker c.1903 High St West just below Mackie s Corner note the policeman on a bicycle