An aerial view of part of Roseworth, Stockton, including semi-detached housing in Rudyard Avenue, Rosslare Road, Renvylle Avenue and Durham Road. 
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
An aerial view of part of Roseworth, Stockton, including semi-detached housing in Rudyard Avenue, Rosslare Road, Renvylle Avenue and Durham Road.
Drowning Boy It has got to be in the late 50’s to early 60’s during one of our many trips to Billingham Bottoms that Dad used to take us on ‘walk us there and back no matter what the weather, who could afford the bus’. This particular day there was a group of lads diving in and swimming, it was raining quite heavily and the beck was rather swollen, but this did not deter them they were having fun. Until one of them got in to trouble he was drowning, Dad took his suit jacket and shoes off, told us to go to the nearest farm for help then dived in. By the time we got back to the beck it was all over bar the shouting, the farmer arriving 30 mins later with tractor, trailer, plank of wood and coil of rope in tow. The ambulance arrived; we had to walk home on our own as dad had hurt himself and had to go to the hospital at Middlesbrough. Diagnosed with several broken ribs dad had to make his own way home, getting out of the beck was quite hazardous and he had to dig steps in to the muddy bank to climb up, you can imagine the state he was in a taxi was a no, no and the buses called him a tramp and would not let him on. Wet clothes several broken ribs and still heavy rain it was a long walk back to Roseworth, he survived so did the lad that he pulled out. Roy.
Brenny Brown: As a little kid I went to the POW camp and got permission to bring a prisoner home on Sundays. His name was Gerard Steiner. I have 2 nice pics of him with us. Around 1945.
I remember the German prisoners. They were dressed in civilian clothes with diamond patches sewn in to distinguish them from we Brits.I remember one of them courting Betty Jackson whose garden backed onto ours. The Jackson family were not amused with their daughter`s assignments and the young prisoner had to keep his face clear of Alder Road and meet up with Betty on the sly. Everybody gossiped about it and I couldn`t understand what all the fuss was about being only 6 or 7 at the time. I don`t know if anything developed from the wartime romance.
Brenny Brown I remember visiting Hawthorne Rd as a child in the late 40s and early 50s. Do you remember The O”Connor family who lived there? My Grandfather Jim OConnor and Kitty my grandmother , with my father Paul and his sister Mary. Paul went into the Navy and Mary into the WAFs during the war. Paul was a regular at The Mile House. Jim and Kitty had a corner bungalow on Rosslere Rd in Roseworth and retired there. Would appreciate any info if you knew the family.
Re Prisoners of War at Kiora On arrival at Stockton Station the P o W were marched under armed guard to Kiora, they were cat “White” , more relaxed than “Gray” or “Black” and were able to work unsupervised on local farms. They were popular at Christmas as the skill at making toys for local children brought them into a cigarette for toys exchange , one of the favourite was a couple of “pecking-chicks on a table-tennis shaped board with a counter-weight which when swung set the chicks pecking One of the P o W s was Frederick (Freddy )Damm, who worked as assistant to Norton Blacksmith and went on to work for “Flanges in Stockton , then his own business of wrought-iron gates and shelves He also had a Dancing School in Stockton
Any one who lived within ten miles or more of the Kiora Guns during the War would remember them. Every night we would adjourn to the Anderson Air Raid Shelter at the bottom of the garden, We lived in Hawthorne Road Primrose Hill and when the guns went off the whole house shook. I remember one night we saw a parachute descending towards Newham Grange Park and we thought it was a aerotrooper but then a huge explosion ripped the area as it had been a Mine attached to the Parachute and went down in Wrefords Farm Fields and I think it killed a couple of cows. As to the Displaced persons Camp it was originally a Prisoner of War Camp, they were very easy going on the prisoners who were allowed to work on local farms, some of these prisoners married local girls and stayed on Teesside. I remember two in particular who were very good footballers, and played for local teams. a tall blond guy and a shorter dark German, who were very friendly with the kids. Does any one else remember these German prisoners and what happened to them in later life.
Does anyone still living remember the Kiora Guns, I have located the site of the guns but I am desperate to get some stories of them and indeed any pictures that may still be about. I have alo learned that there was a displaced persons camp in the Juntion Road area so some stories of this would also assist. many thanks
Were you ever successful in your search? If so, did you ever come across this man? I’m desperately searching for information on my Granddad.
Albert Phillips, nicknamed Miff, had a cleft lip (no roof in the mouth, until he joined the army) born 7/8/1921 Stockton-On-Tees, Durham Home Guard – 19th Battalion. It’s only since yesterday that I found that little information out. All I had to go on was that he was stationed at Kiora Hall as a Chef looking after the German P-O-Ws before the camp became a mixed one.
If anyone has ever come across this man I’d love to find out…..
Talking about Calf Fallow at the bottom of Station Road, Norton. In the early 60″s I used to go horse riding at Elvia Fawcett”s riding school at Calf Fallow Farm, just on the left after the railway track and street of houses. Elvia always rode a horse called Roulette. I rode Tony or Swank. Before Calf Fallow I remember riding in a field just off one of the short streets to the right of Station Road. I rode a grey mare called Gypsy. One of our regular rides from Calf Fallow was along through the fields and farms to Blakeston Lane, returning down Junction Road. There was a lot less traffic around those days.The horse riding used to be 5/- an hour (25p).
I went to Roseworth Secondary School from 1961 1965 and lived in Rievaulx Close. I often went fishing to the wash with Neil Anderson of Runcorn Avenue and caught hundreds of minows. I later worked at SC Smiths on Junction Road – fond memories of workmates, Derek Best (who I still see occassionaly), Helen Crowther, Anne Roads and George Kirkpatrick from Fishburn. (Helen, if you see this I still have the tie!). Silent work making holly wreaths at Christmas. Happy times!!
Bob Irwin. Yes Bob it did not take much to amuse ourselves in those days. I loved my bike but when illness struck it had to go along with such activities as horse riding and sport. Oh! cricket was another love, with or against, the Barmoor lads. I have forgoten all their names now but we had some good times. Maurice Hogg was also a good pal he did his National Service in the Military Police. Eddie Boggan went into the Intelligence Corps I think he lived in Albany Road down the village.
To David Moody, I remember just about every one you mentioned David, at the time we lived in the flat almost opiate the Moodys, I can still see Bobby Moody going to work always well turned out and thin rimmed specs, and can remember him passing away even though I was still very young, Trippy Moody right up until she passed away never passed me with out saying ” there’s my lovely lad ” and I mean never, my mam used to tell me that when she was young her-self Trippy worked in Belle Vue fish shop and when she went in Trippy made sure she went home with loads of chips and scraps, I can remember sonny also, this was when Swainby Road had some great families living down there, great to hear from you David, ask if any of your family remember the Tippys & Casey’s, I’m sure they would remember them, all the best Derek
I lived in 1 Faceby Place, Swainby Road. My father is Albert Casey, I remember going into the Brown Jug as a kid while mam and dad were at the dogs with my nana Nora Casey, great times…
Dave Moody. Yes the Farm up to the right through the gate and the Conker tree I well remember. Probably conkered there some 10 to 15 years earlier. At the other end of the woods as you go over the style onto the path upto Junction Road were another 2 conker trees. I can remember a boy falling out of these trees and breaking both his wrists. Re. J Norman Kidd. That was one of our days out across the fields over the Wash and past the Water Mill to the Golden Gates. One bottle of water and a pack of jam sandwiches. We eventually went into Wolviston where my uncle had a Farm. It is mentioned today by Caroline Gray of which I will make some remarks.
I”m the younger sister of Lynda and I remember the “woods” and taddying down there. One time I didn”t have anything to put the taddies in, so I put them in my wellies and came home barefoot!! Mam was not impressed. But it wasn”t so much that I had tadpoles in my wellies but more that I”d been to the woods at all cos I wasn”t supposed to. But me and my brother David were always going there. We had great fun.
To Derek Casey, its a small world.My granparents on my dads side used to live in Swainby Road, I think number 53 (half way down on the left).This must have been in the 1950″s. They were a big family and anyone old enough from Swainby Road may remember them. Alex and Emily Moody (formerly Brookes), the kids Sonny, Emily, Lily, Hilda, Joe, Tommy, Johnny, Trippy, George, Bobby (who died in his twenties) and Gladys. Joe was my dad, I think he was the only one who didn”t drink in the Brown Jug.
To Bob Irwin, thanks for your comments re Ossie Wood, Station Road etc. Looking back regarding your comments about Hawes Farm, I didn”t realise Ossie Wood was part of the farm. But it has just reminded me that the farm was higher up from the track and there was a massive horse chestnut tree to the right of the farm. I vividly remember loads of kids, myself included, maybe twenty or so, throwing sticks at conkers on the tree to loosen them. We would turn up day after day as long as there were conkers still to be had. Looking back although it was close to the farm we were never chased away.This must have been around 1963/4. Happy Days.
I remember the same conker tree and one day when the farmer came out and shot both of my friends dog’s. We all ran and the farmer followed us down to the shops and stopped us and took us round the back of his landrover to show us the dead dog’s. I used to go to Roseworth seconday modern, (now Blakeston) and when we did cross country it was always through Ossie wood.
Now I know of course where Lynda was talking about it was Hawes Wood in my time. We also used to cut across the fields to Wynyard and the Golden Gates which I am sure you will remember. Basil Cook gave Paul Loraine a cross bar on his bike comming back across the fields. The bike broke in two, Basil was left sitting on the saddle and Paul disapeared with the handle bars and front wheel way ahead. Poor old Basil he was worried about what his Dad would say, I think he got it welded back up at the ICI Garage and all was OK. Miss Elliotts small holding on the corner of Junction RD/Station Rd must have been quite big at one time. Grantham Rd and Whitfield Rd houses had been built on an orchard and most houses still had original fruit trees in their gardens. Many of the pears were called Hazel Pears, not big, but firm and very tasty. Cpt Egglestone”s house in G/Road had a beuity and they used to give us a carrier bag full. We had stewed pears for ages, or Mum also bottled them. I was told the fruit trees were delivered to Norton Station from Evesham in Worcestershire my mothers home area. Norton had some wonderful nurseries in those days.
David Moody. My entry after yours describes how to get to Hawes(Ossie) Woods from Station Road. So you would be travelling in reverse on this course. Regarding the Pear Tree at the end of Station Road, it belonged to the smallholding at the corner of StationRd/Junction Rd. I believe that it was called Elliotts.
Two anwers to David – “Norton Castle” at the end of Station Road was the ruins of Norton Iron Works of 1850, makers of Big-Ben 1856, the slag tip peninsula, now grass covered is still there. The ferro-concrete base of was honeycombed with holes tunnels and chambers for the furnace up-draught and ideal for the “Castle tunnels and dungeons”. The walk from the Moderne via Norton Duck-pond to Roseworth took you down PARSONS-WALK, once going as far as Bishopton, now only 200 yards of hedgerow from Glebe Cottage to the Ring-road, nr The Centenary remain.
To David Moody, David as a young lad living in Swainby rd way back we would { lads & lasses } all go up to the “Old Castle” brambling, do you remember sections of the old building that led you underground? { not far } we would call those passages the prison cells, never knew what the original building was but a great adventure going there as kids, and yes we always took home loads of brambles, all the best Derek
Yes, I remember the Castle. I think we called it that because some of the concrete buildings resembled a castle. I can”t think of any other reason. JS
Did anyone ever carry on through the end of Ossie Woods through the fields (parallel to Junction Road) and eventually come out at the bottom of Station Road Norton. For some reason we used to call that area The Castle.There were derelict concrete buildings on a mound above the open countryside.This must have been an industrial site and it was quite dangerous with broken bits of concrete sticking out of the ground. At the top of Station Road at the bus stop on Junction Road I remember a massive pear tree which always seemed to be full of pears. Can anyone else remember it.
J Norman Kidd. The Ossie Woods they talk about belonged Hawes Farm. To access the Farm you had to go down Station Road across the rail crossing into Calfallow Lane Continue along and onto the Farm Track. Keep going through the first gate till you reach the second gate and upto the right was Hawes Farm and to the left became a walkway into the Woods. Going through the Woods you came to a fence and on the opposite side of the fence was the Redland Tile Woods with the with the Claypit Pond and the Factory beyond. You could leave these woods by going along a path over the railway and besides Smiths Nursery and onto Junction Road. You can see why it is Ossie Wood now by relating the name with Hawes Farm. Hawes also owned the shop on the Green which looks down the High Street and where the Bus Terminus was. You understand that the details given were the 40″s and 50″s edition.
I spoke to my mam and she reminded me that the family at the farm were called Wardale. I was friendly with Diane but she did have an older sister. The farm was situated in the triangle created by three railway lines and to get to it we had to pass some very old white single storey cottages. This was around 1958 – 1960. An old lady used to sit outside these cottages and I”m sure she was spinning – but maybe my memory is playing tricks! The woods ran parallel to Junction Rd and we accessed them from next to the signal box in Blakeston Lane, or across the fields round about where Kew Gardens is now. We used to have to cross the railway line when we went this way and as a child I was always a bit perplexed reading the sign on the gate next to the line which said “open far gate before crossing” – obviously for motor vehicles!!
Lynda. I am not aware of the whereabouts of Ossie Woods” but if you see my bit above about Junction Road and Newstead farm you will see I have a good knowledge of the area untill 1951 when I moved to Leeds. From Fulthorpe Road until about the bottom of Ashville Avenue was fields, right in front of Fulthorpe Road wa a sand quarry known to us lads as “the sandy” this had quite steep sides in certain areas leading down into the quarry to the right was Walkers Field mainly used for carrot growing. We used to build rafts have fires roast potatoes let our fireworks off and generally have a good time without causing meyhem. This water and pools had frogspawn, newts minnoes and taddy”s. I think Donny Wardels farm must have been further up Junction Road nearer Blakestone Lane but certainly past the rail bridges towards Durham Road. Wilkinson”s buses used to park at the Sandy after they brought in the girls from outlaying villages to the New William Newton School. I used to go and sit with Tommy their driver who let me sit in the cab. There was no worry over playing out in those days! It was a different country.
Bruce, I remember Donny Wardle when I used to go round with Tunstalls milkcart on Saturday mornings we covered from Newstead Farm, Junction Road to Norton Avenue and of course the Barmoor Estate. I go back as far as Bosco who was Tunstalls original milkman who ladled milk from the churn, then Kath and the land army girls. it was all pasturised, separated, the bottles sterilized by steam and bottled on the farm then crated and distributed. Mrs Tunstall sometimes did the round. It was a good farm well farmed with wheat,corn,hay and roots. In my teens I was allowed to take out Jack Nicholson”s welsh dapple pony and trap. I took it down to Stockton races to meet Mr Nicholson and Frank E. Franks wanted to buy it outright, trap harness and the lot but Jack did not sell it. By jove it was a smart turnout in cream and black and that lovely little pony called “Dot” she was a game little thing. I had been out with Mr Codling one day who bought Newstead Farm he was riding the thoroughbred that eventually won Stockton Races after a bad injury and Jack had sold it, thinking its race days were over. However I am wandering off my story, we had been out up Junction Road passed Ki-Ora and Fewtsters Nursery and were coming back to the farm across Norton Green on the top road. Mr Codling set off at a gallop on the hunter, down went Dots ears and away we went at full gallop, I was worried she lost her footing on the tarmac road down the slope onto the main road , but no we raced up Junction Road. We did not see a car in those days! What a thrill that was. Poor Mr Codling was tragically killed in a motor cycle race in Australia in later years. Then the farm was sold to Durhams and later sold off for building. It would be nice to see some pictures of the farm and Junction Road before its development with the excellent William Newton School which I remember very well being built. The girls that were educated there got a full education and every facility to be a good housewife. Come on girls tell us a story!
Lynda, The milkman with the horse and cart was Donny Wardle. I believe that my sister, Jean (who you may have known at Grangefield Grammar School), still hears from Diane occasionally.
Lynda. Would you be thinking of Pam Wardale. Her Father had the Farm building where Harpers is now and he did the milk rounds by horse and cart?
I lived at 29 Roseneath Avenue (I was Lynda Brookes then and lived there with my younger siblings David and Lesley) We played for hours at the quarry in Ossie Woods (I never pronounced the final “s”). I also had a friend who lived over the other side of Junction Road in a farmhouse. Her name was Diane and her father delivered milk from a horse drawn cart right through the fifties and early sixties. I recently went to a car boot somewhere in the Ossie wood area – think it used to be Redland Tiles – and was trying to place where the old quarry used to be. I remember it being full of newts and tadpoles and having very very steep sides in places!
Frank, I remember Ossies Wood well. I used to knock about down there with my mate Eddie Lee. We used to get in behind the signal box on the railway crossing in Blakestone Lane. There was a track which ran all the way along the top of the wood. Do you remember Seggy Wood further up Blakestone Lane. We used to go up the farm track at the front of the wood up the hill, over a couple of fields to the Old Mans Farm ( a derelict farm). We spent many an hour playing there.
I”d forgotten all about that huge mound until you mentioned it David. We moved to Roseneath Avenue about that time and the mound was a great attraction. For we children in the Roseneath area the old flooded clay pit in Ossie”s wood was another favourite.
I moved to Roseworth in 1954 as a four year old with my parents to Rettendon Close when Roseworth was first built. Redbrook School was build in 1956 and all the kids used to play on a very large mound of soil from the foundations it must have been over 15 foot high and great to play on. I remember Richard Griffiths the famous actor lived in the corner of Redbrook Avenue next to the mound and his brother who was deaf used to play on it as well. When the school opened up Mr Brown was the headmaster and the school wooden huts at Kiora Hall were shut down once the new school opened.
I was wondering if anyone remembers the Roseworth festivals in the late 60s/early 70s it use to begin with a float prosession round the estate on a saturday followed by a week of events on the estate. dose anyone have any pictures of the festival.