(Copyright Coxhoe Local History Group)
Memories of William Hetherington (Billy)-local postman and keen cricketer.
It was a chance meeting with an old school friend, whom I had not seen since before the war, when he was here on a visit that sent us thinking of our younger days, and how things have changed in Coxhoe since then.
Billy A….. he may not wish me to mention his name, has been a bit of a roamer, and has travelled far and wide over the past twenty five years or so, in England and also abread. He was commenting on the fact that Coxhoe had changed so much since he was here last, and that it is not now the Coxhoe he had known in his youth.
In the years before the 1939-1945 War, when there was no television and perhaps not so much radio, local activities were much more pronounced, and Bill was recalling the time when Coxhoe held a Miners Gala Day, with Kelloe, West Cornforth and Tursdale. This was usually held in a field near the Avenue, Coxhoe, which is now a housing estate, and attracted visitors from far and wide. This was preceded by a Parade which went around the village from Coxhoe Bridge station and ended at the Kicking Cuddy in Durham Road. There were prizes awarded for the best decorated shop enroute, and many others for the best decorated carts, ponies, original dress, comic dress and so on.
In the field itself which was pretty large, there was always a host of side-shows, and among other things there would be a Foot Handicap, sports events for the school children, a contest for Jazz Bands in all their fancy uniforms, which was very popular; musical chairs and other games on horseback, and all the time music would be provided in the background by the Coxhoe Silver Band. The events usually took up all day Saturday and Monday evening. We always were anxious for a fine day, and on the whole were very fortunate, it was a usual thing to see school kiddies helping to erect the side-shows just to get a free ride on the Saturday.
I pointed out to Bill that you cannot stop progress, that this sort of thing had faded out from many other villages beside Coxhoe, and so then he went off on another tack “where are the old walks in Coxhoe that we used to enjoy on a Sunday evening,” he said, “I can remember going from Coxhoe Bridge along the road to the Coxhoe Hall farm, and around Coxhoe Hall road, a very popular walk on a Sunday evening, where people used to sit on the banks and watch the rabbits on the banky field, there must have been thousands of them, they seem to have gone also, and Coxhoe Hall, the birthplace of Mrs Elizabeth Barrett Browning the poetess; there is nothing left there either, even the trees have all been felled; true there has been some replanting of young trees, but have I to go away for another thirty years before they are grown to anything like the original wood?
This made me feel very sad, I can still remember the first time I had to go to Coxhoe Hall on an errand for someone when I was very young, the Hall then had a Lodge at the first gate, another in the grounds, one for the gamekeeper in the valley where all the rabbits were, and one for the gardener near the East House Farm. Everything was so trim and neat in the grounds, with lawns beautifully kept, and flowers in abundance, so many I would never remember the names; I felt a little tremulous when going to the front door, and hardly dare pull the old fashioned bell, which seemed to peal away in the distance. I need not have worried, although the suits of armour in the doorway seemed to be so menacing; I was treated just like a VIP and sent on my way.
Another memory of those days, was when Mr. J Wood, JP held an open day, with all the womenfolk from the village having tea on the lawns, and tennis and croquet being played; I stole away to look at the cars in the garage, when the chauffeur showed me the 1921 Rolls-Royce which he was looking after besides other two cars, there was also a Penny Farthing bicycle, but I never knew if anyone ever used it. There was also a small orchard, and grapevines in the greenhouse, a piggery nearby; a host of things to interest a small boy. There is nothing now but ruins, and the young trees may cover this up in time, but it will be quite a while before that.
It was Jimmy, the porter at Coxhoe Bridge Station, who first told me the story about Mrs. Browning, the poetess; I used to go to the station on summer evenings to watch the trains, we had a passenger service in those days, and he had an old newspaper cutting which he was very proud of, and he could tell a good story.
There had been some mystery about the birthplace of Mrs. Browning, and much speculation among persons interested in literary history, but the parish register at Kelloe village set the question at rest. Miss Elizabeth Barrett Mouldron Barrett was born at Coxhoe Hall on March 6th 1806, and on account of the infant’s uncertain condition of health was privately baptised by the ten vicar, the Rev. George Stephenson, at Coxhoe Hall. Thus she was only “admitted to the church” on the occasion of the baptism of her brother, Edward Barrett Mouldron Barrett. The latter was born on June 26th 1807, and his baptism at Kelloe Church took place on February 10th 1808, Elizabeth then being two years old. The ceremony of “receiving” consists mainly of the reading of Prayers, the presiding clergyman raising the “admitted one” over the font.
From their being no signatures attached, and nothing but the entry of the facts in the briefest of form, and in the same clerkly hand that has made the entries both above and below, the register of Kelloe Church is only important as containing trace and proof of the residence in the district of the Barrett family.
The record as it relates to Mrs. Browning reads thus.. “Elizabeth Barrett Mouldron Barrett, first child of Edward Barrett Mouldron Barrettt, Esq., of Coxhoe Hall, a native of St. Thomas’s, Jamaica, by his wife, Mary, late Clark, of Newcastle, born March 6th 1806, and admitted February 10th 1808.”
The Barrett’s occupation of Coxhoe Hall was only temporary. They went there immediately after the marriage of Mr. Barrett and Miss Clarke in the year 1805, and in 1809 the family removed to their Hertfordshire home, and all connection with the North ceased.
There is a commemorative plaque in the Kelloe Church, which was unveiled by the Very Rev. Dr. Kitchin, Dean of Durham on Tuesday 7th September 1897 to the memory of Mrs. Browning. This caused considerable interest at that time, and many people were present from places far distant from Kelloe, as well as many from around the district. I am indebted to a local resident in Coxhoe for my information, who loaned me some old cuttings, which gave the facts as they were recorded at that time. Jimmy’s cutting was not so informative.
Coxhoe Hall was a three storeyed structure, on the ground floor was a billiard room, and three reception rooms; whilst on the two storeys above were the morning room and some twenty bedrooms. The carving in the reception rooms was extremely rich, with handsomely modelled brackets, cornices, etc. to claim the attention, and overhead the ceilings were very elaborate. The ornamentation was in florid Italian style, mixed with a few classical modelling. The fireplaces merited special attention, in the drawing room it was of carved wood figures with floral wreaths and shells, with the Burdon Crest (a squirrel) taking the centre place; cunning hands must have been at work to form the intricate curves of flowers, fruit and stalks which were the leading features. A more beautiful specimen of its kind did not exist at that time, at least in the County of Durham. The noble staircase was a fine example of highly decorative work, and in the bedrooms, the same florid architecture had been carried out, with coloured marbles, more or less ornamented, had been employed in the setting of each fireplace. The builder of Coxhoe Hall appears to have been enthusiast in art and architecture.
Coxhoe Hall faced south and was designed in castellated Gothic, the West side was also very striking, and overlooked the tennis ground, which was surrounded by ornamental shrubs, and behind was a terrace, which possessed Roman relics, and had been beautified by flower borders and rustic seats. The extensive ground attached to the Hall were laid out with great taste, and the road from Coxhoe Avenue to the Hall was tree lined all the way.
The best view of Coxhoe Hall was from the walk from Coxhoe Bridge station, and also from the trains going in the direction of West Hartlepool, it appeared to be peeping from the midst of a luxuriance of foliage.
The Hall is no more, after the death of Mr. J. Wood JP and Miss M.M. Wood; his sister was the last of the family, the Hall was empty for a short while, the Army had it for a camp at the beginning of the 38-45 War, and I did not see it again until 1946, when demobbed. Squatters moved in to the army huts afterwards, and when they were re-housed in Council houses at Kelloe, there was talk of making it into an old folks home or hospital, or a large Welfare to serve the surrounding areas of Coxhoe and Kelloe; but nothing ever transpired, perhaps it was not suitable, but the fact is that the Hall gradually decayed, and vandalism did not help at all.
After a few years of neglect, it had to be demolished in the interests of safety. Then years after that, the trees were felled, and now all that is left is ruins, and young trees have been planted which may hide the scars in time, but it will be many years before they can be anything like their predecessors.
That is what Bill missed most, there are many pleasant walks still in the area, but if you remember the walks as they used to be; it only depressed you to go around that area now. However we have all changed a lot in the years that have gone, walking is not as popular as it was, there are so many other interests in life today, although the hardy ones still keep it up; you can still tell that the paths are in use now, but not to the extent that they were.
There was once a nice walk along the Plantation from East House Farm to the village of Old Kelloe, which was built on a hillside, and was of a fair size, about all of the men worked at the Raisby Quarries, and at the East Hetton Colliery; now it is no more. The people were re-housed in the Woodlands Estate, and there are only four houses left of the old village the quarry has eaten into the hillside, and where once was a pleasant walk is just heaps of sand. The quarry has crept so far along the hill, that the last few can not last very long. Modern methods of working seems to move mountains so easily.
Many of the older people in the district will remember these walks in their youth, Coxhoe Hall road was a popular place for courting couples on Sunday evenings, and was so congested at times, that the local policeman often came along to see that the road was kept clear; it was the only road to Kelloe and Trimdon until about 1930, when another road was made behind the Hall to expedite the traffic, this was started near the entrance of the “Ladies Walk” gate and joined the old road again near the Woodlands Estate bypassing the Hall altogether.
Coxhoe Hall was built about 1755 by a Mr. John Burdon, on a side which was previously occupied by the ruins of an old Catholic Chapel, whose history is unknown. The site is believed to have been an important point in connection with the Roman encampment below, and the terraced construction of the grounds surrounding it, together with the land on either hand up to the crest of the ridge, justified the assumption. Old remnants of masonry had been found at the time to bear out this.
When Mr. Burdon commenced building the Hall, be brought a gang of Italian workmen to work on the internal decorations of the various rooms, and these workmen have, or had, left rich specimens of their handicrafts, not only at Coxhoe, but also in the ornamentations of Aykley Heads, near Durham.
Both Mr. J Wood and Miss MM Wood will be remembered for some time, they were always interested in local activities, and played an active part in many; Mr. Wood was one of the founders of the Cricket Club at Coxhoe, the earliest I can get back to is when Mr. Williams Stokoe of Bowburn played for them in the year 1905, when he was a young boy, and the club is still going today.
Miss Wood played a part in the Women’s Institute activities, and helped a great deal when Coxhoe got the new Social and Literary Institute which was built in 1933. She also gave a considerable sum of money towards the addition of the Dance Hall and Supper Rooms which were completed in 1938. A Plaque is on the Institute wall to her memory.
Coxhoe Local History Group 