Photograph of Wrensfield House on Wrensfield Road after flooding. Stockton 2001. 
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
Photograph of Wrensfield House on Wrensfield Road after flooding. Stockton 2001.
Pat Pattison (nee Beard)
I always understood that Lustrum Hall, which is now demolished and where St Paul’s Court block of flats stands, was indeed the Vicarage for St Paul’s church. I was at Richard Hind from 1957 to 1962 and spent every other Wednesday there learning to do housework the ‘proper’ way – always lay the fire first before doing the dusting! We were even taught how to iron – do any old girls remember the correct way to iron a handkerchief? We practised on the bedsitting rooms belonging to junior mistresses who must have been very unnerved to have schoolgirls going through their rooms! If I remember correctly we had a rota system in pairs and were allocated different tasks each time we went. Helping the cook to make the lunch for all the other girls who were there for domestic science and sewing was one of the tasks and another was making the lunch for two of the mistresses. I must say it all stood me in good stead for later life and taught me about making money stretch, all helpful when I married and had a family. The Hall was a beautiful building, I particularly remember the staircase and the black and white tiled floor in the entrance hall. We were never allowed to use the main door, we had to enter through the side door. There was also a tennis court in the grounds. What a shame to see it derelict in later years after the school finished with it when Bishopsgarth school was built to replace Richard Hind. It then became a Women’s Refuge before it was vandalised and burnt and finally demolished. The actual site is still bare and undeveloped, as the flats were built in the grounds where the tennis court stood – I used to go to the flats in the 90s to take a seated exercise session for the residents, and it used to bring back many happy memories of the good times we had at Lustrum Hall. 09/02/2012 12:08:52
The Metropole Hotel, Stockton – does anybody remember a chef called Eric Panting.
According to the O.S. maps on the Durham County web site, the beck was named as Lustring Beck from 1865 until sometime before 1926. On the 1926 map it is named as Lustrum Beck. This has continued on subsequent maps.
That’s right Dave, we all called in the Vicky – different spelling but the same place. I lived in Vicarage Street all through the 50s to the 70s. Regarding the bent railings that remained for a long time, rumour had it at the time that it was a schoolpal’s [from Newtown] dad who left the road and battered the railings with his car on the way home from work. True or not we never found out for certain.
Just remembered, Lustrum Hall if that’s it’s correct name. As kids we always called it ‘the Vicci’, if my memory serves me right. There is an adjacent street called Vicarage Street, don’t know if that’s why we called it that or where the name came from. Always remember the building, very large and imposing, but always a dark place to visit what with the surrounding street houses, very very tall houses on Bishy Road, trees and surrounding high wall. I always remember the steel railings on Bishy Road side, where sometime certainly before 1956 something had crashed into the railings, where they remaind damaged.
Hi Dave
I walked past the ” Vicky ” today, and the damaged railings are still in situ. The place is very overgrown and unkempt, compared to how it was when the long gone building was in use and the tennis courts were there.
Hi Steve,
Gosh, where have all the years gone. It’s a long long time since I used to take you to MDS at Eaglescliffe. I was up in Stockton last weekend to see my sisters and catch up with friends. You’ll remember Butch from Wrynose Gardens. I passed the end of Wrensfield Road but didn’t venture onto the estate as the last time I went it upset me. Not the same place. But I do have fond memories of the years I lived there, bonfire raiding between Dunmail Rd, and the playing footie and cricket before this House was built, and not forgetting the swings over the beck. I often see your responses on here and glad to see you are still around. You never know I may bump into you sometime. Keep safe and well.
Dave.
Hi Dave
With regard to the swing over the beck, not a trace of it remains, the tree has been taken and the fence removed and replaced with a flood wall. Those bike lifts were when you had the YDS3 Yamaha. I remember when I got my 250 Suzuki back in 1973. If it was nice we would go ( to CBM/Commodore ) on that, or if it was not so good, we would go in your Beige/Brown original mini. Happy days.
Steve,
They certainly were.
Dave.
I think you will find I called it LUSTRING beck and not Listring. There was a Lustring House attached to the Old Corn Mill and it is all clearly marked on the map. Browns Bridge is obviously on the old toll road green lane which runs behind the Durham Road Cemetary and up along side of the Park, this would possibly make it a very old bridge. Looking at the stock of maps that Stockton reference libray hold you get many differences in names for the same spot so it was probably down to the map makers misunderstanding local knowledge. I have always called it Lustrum Beck as it was one of the clippies calls on the ‘0’ bus to Stockton though some would shout Danby Road.
I have a copy of the Plan submitted to Parliament in 1827 to authorise the building of the Clarence Railway. This shows the ‘Stockton Branch’ leaving the Shildon to Port Clarence ‘main line’ at a point near to where Summerville Farm is marked on the present-day map, then running in a straight line to ‘Brown’s Bridge’. This was later amended to move the Branch about half a mile to the East, from the present Norton West Junction, to the North Shore. The 1964 Street Plan of Stockton places Brown’s Bridge on Bishopton Lane, but Londonderry Bridge on the path from Hamilton Road to the railway footbridge North of the station. I also see on that street plan that there is a Zetland Road, Lambton Road and a Londonderry Road all in the vicinity of Brown’s Bridge. These are all names associated with early colliery interests and begs the quesion, was the land owned by any of them and was that the reason the original plan was for the line to terminate in that area. And how did Browns Bridge come to be so named?
For several of the years I attended Richard Hind School [1972/77, which was amalgamated with Newham Grange during this period] we would attend cookery/domestic science class’s at Lustrum Hall.
Dave Murray – I have also always known the beck as Lustrum beck, I haven’t referred to it as Listring beck!
Brian/Mary, as kids I didn’t know this building had a name but believed it to be a ‘domestic science school’ for Queen Vic. In these grounds were a couple of tennis courts which eventually became overgrown with weeds. They then ripped these courts up and did build flats there, but the main building did exist for some time later as, what I always thought, a refuge for women with domestic problems? I know this building has since been pulled down. As for Listring beck, everyone I knew know called it Lustrum beck, but will bow to your knowledge Brian. As kids we had many many happy times climbing the wall around these premises and also the many trees.
I didn’t know the building was called Lustrum Hall, the property I mentioned was on the right hand side at the top of bank going from Brown’s bridge towards the town. Long since gone.
Brian, are you talking about Lustrum hall? If so, yes it was a domestic science school, well the girls from Richard Hind went there for that lesson, and also sewing. Student teachers also stayed there.
The Rev William Borton (Billy Borton) was at one time the Vicar of St. Pauls Church (opposite Grays Road) and the vicarage was at the top of the bank (on the right hand side) from Brown’s Bridge into Stockton. The vicarage later became (I think) a domestic science school for girls until it was demolished and flats were built there.
It was called Browns Bridge long before Wrensfield was built. The 1899 map shows both Browns Bridge and Londonderry Bridge over the Lustring Beck and not Lustrum. Bishopton Lane went over the Browns Bridge and Durham Road over the Londonderry Bridge, Primrose Hill at that time was allotment gardens. South from Bishopton Lane was the old corn mill along what was then Mill Lane an extension of Dovecote Street and a bit further west Greys Cottage. Newham Grange was exactly that, a manor house. The Durham road Cemetary and Fever hospital are marked on the map as are Phoenix works and West Stockton Iron works behind what became the final position of Stockton Station. Across Durham Road from Craggs Street and Samuel Street were the old clay pits about where the Post Office Sorting sheds are now. People with long memories continue to call those places by the old names, I still call the airport Goosepool no matter what fancy name they try to flog. It is strange having watched so many parts of Stockton come into being then start to vanish again, makes me feel old but as I told my grandson, no I do not remember the Garden of Eden and if I had I would have eaten the snake and thrown the apple away.
The bank leading down to Wrensfield coming from town end was always known to us as Billy Bortons bank, I still call it that.
Yes to Brian Swales, we also called it the common. About 1957, Lustrum beck followed the contour of Bishopton Road ‘S’ bends. The beck was straightened and flood banks installed all the way from Oxbridge. This did alleviate the flooding to the bottom of Wrensfield Road, but sometimes in winter and heavy rain it still flooded, as all streets and roadways led downhill to Bishopton Road/Wrensfield Road junction. As a child watching them dig the floodbacks, it was amazing to the ammount of broken clay pipes that we found in the soil. I often wondered why? does anybody out there know why? Also Newtown was often referred to as Brownsbridge, again why? Was it to do with who made the bridge over Lustrum beck.
My Grandma and Grandad lived on Durham road (Charles and Barbara Bentley). Spending lots of time there in the 50s we used to go to Wrensfield and I remember vividly playing with the Barrage balloon rings they seemed enormous to me. My grandad had an allotment over the beck. It always seemed warm and sunny in those very happy days.
I remember the field you mention very well, as kids we called it the common and often used to play on the metal rings. I also seem to remember opposite the rings, over by the beck, what we thought was an old plane cockpit – well that’s what we thought it was! At the time I lived at 19 Londonderry Road and the common was really out of bounds for us kids because it was over the main road, which at that time wasn’t really very busy! We used to sledge down the bank from the end of Stavordale Road to Newtown school never giving any thought that a car might appear from round the corner!
When I was about 5 years old, 1956, we moved to 9 Wrensfield Road from Bishopton Court, Fairfield. We were one of the first families along with the Kings, Kemps, Lamberts to move into the then new Newtown estate. This photo shows Wrensfield House which wasn’t built till some years later. We all played football and cricket on here, what was just a field. The exact spot where this House (school for specialist needs/training) is used to be concrete blocks in the ground with metal rings attached, I believe these were used for tethering barrage balloons during the war.