Welcome to Coronation - a south Durham mining village

Picture of the entrance to Coronation from Google StreetView

It is the posh end of the Dene Valley, on the outskirts of Bishop Auckland, and a datestone on the poshest house – built for the village doctor – records that it commemorates the 1902 coronation of King Edward VII.

The Dene Valley, which is named after the Dene Beck which runs through it, was practically empty until the 1820s when the Black Boy branchline was dropped into it from Shildon, and suddenly it became a mining boomtown. Pits, railways and coke ovens sprung up all over the place along with settlements that seem today to run into one another: Auckland Park, Coundon Grange, Gurney Valley, Close House, Eldon (which is distinct from Old Eldon), Eldon Lane, Bridge Place and, finally, Coronation.

James Moore, the developer of Coronation, in his 1903 motor car which seems to have the registration number J83. Picture courtesy of Colin Turner

It was developed by James Moore, whose family were market gardeners in the valley, growing and selling tomatoes. James, though, began building terraces: Moore Street, in Eldon Lane, was probably his first to which he added Edward and John streets – he liked to name his terraces after his family members, especially his children.

Moore Street, Eldon Lane. Picture courtesy of Colin Turner

Mr Moore lived in Vine Cottage, a large property at the foot of Edward and John streets which it is thought is now occupied by an evangelical church, the Oaks of Righteousness. Mr Moore was also a pioneering motorist, having one of the first three County Durham registrations on his car.

Passing under the railway bridge into Coronation

His next move was to build Bridge Place, a little development on the east side of the embankment that carries the railway through the Shildon Tunnel and on to Bishop Auckland.

Then he moved under the bridge to the west of the line to build Coronation, where he named the terraces Mary, James, David, Margaret, John and Richard.

Children mingle with a lorry under the railway bridge leading to Coronation in September 1971

Dene Valley historian Colin Turner explains that these smart terraces were for owner-occupiers – not for them a house in a colliery row that was owned by the pit. Many of them would have worked in the coke ovens of the nearby Adelaide Colliery – these surface workers were higher up the social scale than the grubby miners who worked underground (although a coalface hewer could earn more than a clean surface worker).

David Terrace, Coronation, with the doctor's house on the left. This view from the Echo archives was taken in 1953, presumably to mark Queen Elizabeth II's coronation. Below: A similar scene today on Google StreetView

A parade of scouts passing the doctor's house in David Terrace, Coronation, probably commemorating the Queen's coronation in 1953. Picture: Colin Turner

These terraces were so smart that the new owners were offered the services of an artist who, at considerable cost, would paint the scene of their choice on the wall immediately inside the front door.

Of course, such a development needed a regal-sounding name, and so Mr Moore called it Coronation.

• With many thanks to Colin Turner for his information and pictures.

James Moore, at Vine Cottage in Eldon Lane, in 1905 with a second motor car. Picture: Colin Turner

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Having a painting, usually in oils with a varnish protection, on your vestibule wall immediately inside your front door was a fashion of 125 years ago. In Darlington, an artist called Joseph Fulleylove painted romantic scenes of rearing stags or tumbling waterfalls in several terraces. If you have a hall painting we’d love to hear from you…