Memories of schooldays, and mines, at Woodhouse Close

It is Bishop Barrington Academy, named after Bp Shute Barrington who established several schools in County Durham using £70,000 he gained from his Weardale leadmining royalties. His school in Bishop Auckland opened on May 26, 1810 – his birthday – in the Market Place, and as well as educating poorer boys it allowed girls up to the age of 11 to attend.

Woodhouse Close Secondary Modern School opened in September 1959, although this picture was taken on the day of it official opening: May 5, 1960. This part of the school was demolished in 1997 as the Bishop Barrington school expanded over the site

In 1974, comprehensive education was introduced to the county and the Bishop Barrington school merged with the King James I Grammar School, which had been founded in 1604.

The Market Place site shut and the new school operated from the King James site under the King James name.

To ensure the connection with the bishop was not lost, his name was applied to the junior and senior modern schools which had been built beside the Woodhouse Close estate in 1959.

“I was part of the first intake in 1959 at Woodhouse Close Secondary Modern School, and the first class to take 'O' Level GCEs in 1964,” says John Heslop in Durham.

“I mostly enjoyed my time there, and felt that failing the Eleven Plus exams at Cockton Hill School resulted in a better start in life than if I'd gone to the grammar school. Even encountering the cane on more than one occasion and being assaulted once, by a pupil, while on prefect duty, didn't dampen my enthusiasm for the school.

“On my last day there, while the majority of the staff and pupils were engaged in games on the playing fields, I discovered that the access to the roof wasn't locked and I took this photograph…”

READ MORE: THE WONDERS OF WOODHOUSE

Woodhouse Close Under-13s in 1965 - the 2ton up boys". Back row from left: Barry Sutherland (teacher), Michael Denning, Tony Charlton, Philip Watson, Robert Robson, John Askwith, George Longthorne, Alfie Kipling, David Woodward, Dick Longstaff (teacher). Front: Billy Pollard, Keith Andelin, John Robinson, Peter Gwynne, Stuart Neesam, Robert Jennings, Melvyn Hunt.

ANOTHER Woodhouse Close Secondary Modern School former pupil is John Askwith who in the 1964-65 football season played for the Under 13s team which won 19 of their 20 league matches and drew the other one while scoring 100 goals.

The Northern Echo labelled them “the ton-up boys”, with centre forward Stuart Neesam scoring 44, inside right Peter Greyen getting 26 and inside left Robert Jennings getting 12.

John, though, was at the other end, keeping the goals out - the team only conceded 15 that season. "I was 'discovered' when the PE teacher managed to break the goalkeeper's arm in a match," says John.

"Next game he was looking for a new goalkeeper, so I put my hand up. In the match, his shots came raining in and I just kept pushing them around the post or over the bar, so he took my name and I ended up in the squad."

John Askwith's school badges from Woodhouse Close

THE Woodhouse Close estate was planned before the Second World War and built immediately afterwards. In 1950, there was a cement shortage and then a brick shortage – the principal builder of the estate wanted 40,000 bricks a week but was only getting 9,000 delivered – but still the first houses were ready for tenants on February 17, 1951.

The houses had all mod cons, like electricity, flushing toilets and hot and cold water, and the estate featured schools, churches, shops, a library and a swimming pool.

Many of the residents came from the Category D mining villages all around Bishop, and while they welcomed the mod cons, they missed the closeness of the coalfield communities. It took several decades for the estate to become a community of its own.

The Woodhouse Close swimming baths in 1960

IN Memories 582, we said the motto of the secondary modern school was “tempori parendum”: as all Latin scholars will know, that means “we must move with the times”.

Several people have pointed out that Bishop Auckland FC shares the same motto, which was the motto of Bishop Auckland Urban District Council. The council’s coat-of-arms featured a large bishop’s mitre and an oak tree with the motto underneath, and over the top was the date 1894 when the council was created.

The coat-of-arms features on the 1953 Coronation mug that was presented to Tom Hutchinson when he was at St Anne’s school. Pupils also got a propelling pencil.

The council was replaced in 1974 by the two tier system of Wear Valley District Council and Durham County Council.

“Tempori parendum” was also the motto of Stockton Rural District Council while Stockton Urban District Council went with “fortitude et spes” – “endurance and hope”. The borough of Wembley, in London, also had “tempori parendum” as its motto for a while.

Tom Hutchinson's 1953 mug with the Bishop Auckland motto on it

The miniature railway in the "mini-rec" at Woodhouse Close, with the chimneys of Shaw & Knight at Fylands in the background. Flora Rae is riding the train. Picture courtesy of Tom Hutchinson

ONE of the most unusual features of the Woodhouse Close estate was the miniature railway in the “mini-rec”, which was later renamed Jane Armstrong Park after a community stalwart.

The railway was run by a Mr Dunne – we think he was one of the very first Woodhouse Close residents as he moved in on February 17, 1951 – and he had previously had his train set in the Valley Gardens at Saltburn and at Whorlton Lido. We think it ran in to the 1960s when vandalism put an end to its timetable.

Opening of Bishop Auckland's Woodhouse Close, from the Northern Echo, February 19, 1951

THE Woodhouse Close estate was built around the site of the colliery which had two shafts that were sunk in 1837 and 1850. We think the older shaft was beneath Murphy Crescent and it tramway ran across what is now school playing fields and along Cheesemond Avenue to connect it to the 1850 shaft, which was beneath Weardale Drive.

“The colliery was then connected by rail to St Helen's Colliery, although ‘tramway’ is probably a better description as it is likely that any traffic would have been horsedrawn,” says Tom Hutchinson, who is one of those “heritage heroes” whose images have just been turned into banners in the town centre.

This course of this tramway seems to have been followed by Price Avenue and the site of St Helen’s Colliery is now the out-of-town shopping centre.

“At first, St Helen’s was connected to the Stockton & Darlington Railway’s Brusselton Incline but when the Tunnel Branch from Shildon Tunnel opened in 1856 going west to Tindale and West Auckland, it meant that coal from the collieries could be transported out of the area without making use of the Incline.”

Woodhouse Close Colliery was never very large, and although it officially closed in 1934, it spent long periods of the previous decades idle. Indeed, the mineral line connecting it to St Helen’s does not appear on maps of the late 1890s.

THIS pony was taken to Bishop Barrington School in 1960 during a bring your pet to school day. Several people queried our description of it as a pit pony because it is clearly a pet. In his book Bishop Auckland Past Times, Tom Hutchinson says that on the far left there is an RSPCA inspector with pupils Harold Tutin and Peter Adams, and headmaster Bert King is on the right. The picture was taken in the school yard which is now at the rear of the Spanish Art Gallery which has taken over the old school premises.

Many thanks to everyone, including John Allison of Shildon, who has been in touch following the article three weeks ago. If you’ve got anything more to add, we’d love to hear from you. Please email chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk