A NEW book of old postcards is going to be launched at a town's history and heritage festival which begins this week. The new book also poses a culinary question: is Bishop Auckland the home of mashed potato cheesecakes?
The book is by Tom Hutchinson and is called Bishop Auckland: A Selection of Postcards. It costs just a fiver.
Braithwaite's stationery and printing shop on the corner of the Market Place and Newgate Street. This card was posted in July 1915 and was probably bought from Braithwaite's
The golden age of postcards began in 1894, when the post office allowed pictures to be sent through the mail, but Tom begins with a chapter of earlier images. There are then loads of colourful Edwardian images from the golden age, but also a couple of surprises, like the 2006 card with a recipe for Bishop Auckland Cheese Cakes. Amazingly, to these tastebuds at least, the filling is made of mashed potato, lemons and currants.
And no cheese...
The 2006 postcard showing Bishop Auckland Town Hall and a recipe for "Bishop Auckland Cheese Cakes", which consist of mashed potato. Is this really a thing? Have you eaten mashed potato cheesecake? Please report back...
The only mashed potato cheesecake recipe that Google can find was written by a Polish grandmother, so was this really a Bishop Auckland delicacy? Can anyone tell us what mashed potato cheesecake tastes like?
The book is available now from Bishop Trains at the railway station; Cockton Hill News; Premier Stores, Cockton Hill; Bakers Newsagents, Princes Street; News on the Street, Newgate Street; and Bondgate Books. All the pictures accompanying this article are from the book.
The cover of Tom Hutchinson's new book, which only costs £5
It will be launched at the Bishop Auckland 2021 History and Heritage Festival which begins on Friday, September 10, and runs through to September 26.
Exhibitions in the town hall and the people’s museum, in the Hippodrome, will open throughout the festival, and among the events next Friday – September 10 – is a guided railway with Michael O’Neill, one of the creators of the museum.
The Olive Branch Section of the Sons of Temperance on a splendid carnival float in about 1910. Can you place where this was taken in Bishop Auckland?
On Sunday, September 12, there’s a guided walk looking at the town’s listed buildings, and on September 16, there will be tours of the archaeological works at Auckland Castle.
On Saturday, September 18, our friend Tom Hutchinson leads a guided walk Down Batts Bank, which looks at the riverside community and also the stories of the three bridges: Jock’s Bridge, the 11 Arches Viaduct and the Newton Cap Bridge. Tom then returns to the Town Hall for the formal launch of his new book at 1pm.
Boer War soldiers marching north along Newgate Street in 1902. Behind them is Hurworth's Waverley Hotel advertising Lipton teas - perhaps it was a temperance establishment. It is now a branch of Darlington Building Society
On September 16, St Anne’s Church will be open for the day, and on September 18, St Andrew’s Church will be open.
All the walks require booking, either by phone – 07825 856451 – or by email: bishopaucklandhaz@durham.gov.uk
The full festival programme can be viewed at durham.gov.uk/haz
High Bondgate in 1907. Perhaps most interesting is what lay beneath the photographer's feet: he is just about standing on the railway tunnel that went beneath Town Head and opened out onto the eleven arches of the Newton Cap Viaduct
Kings cafe and cinema in Newgate Street was an entertainment centre: it had a lending library and, after 1918, an orchestra played in the tea room
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