This is Dovecot Street with a view of Corporation Hall which opened in 1840 then became a Mechanics Institute in 1951. You can also see The Alma Hotel, then the much older Spread Eagle, the Nags Head, White Hart and the intervening shops of Leng Deveraux, Blakey, Walton.
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
I believe my late partner Katy Kilvington’s great-grandmother was the licensee of ‘The Spread Eagle’ at some point in the 1930’s/40’s, her name was Briggs (neé Templeton). Her dau. Dorothy became a professional-dancer at the Lido de Paris. Though evidently a popular, redoubtable woman and close friend of local MP Harold Macmillan, at sometime after her husband William died, it seems that Bass Breweries decided they didn’t like ‘solo’ women as licensees and therefore she lost her position. Although at some point later, she took over The Sun Inn, Knowles St, for a period.
Hi Christopher. The woman you mentioned was my grandmother (my Dad was Katie’s uncle) I hoped to find picture of her at pub etc!
I’m interested in the Spread Eagle Hotel, 12, Dovecot Street. In the mid-1950s my grandparents, John (Jack) and Gertrude Jackson ran the pub and as a young boy I visited regularly with my father, John (Jack) Jackson, travelling by train from Scunthorpe. My Aunt Irene and Uncle Ken lived there too. I have vivid memories of the bars, the side passage, Buffs’ Room and the upstairs rooms, including the family accommodation, not forgetting the splendid gold eagle on the frontage. I’ve managed to track some of the subsequent changes through the photos on your site – rather sad to see it up for sale and looking much smaller than I remember it, with a completely different frontage. Does it still exist? I see there’s been a lot of redevelopment in the area, and there’s more to come; I would like to see the area again before it becomes completely unrecognisable. I haven’t been since around 1958. I did post a comment a few years ago but I can’t find it now – I was hoping that someone remembered it in those days.
I must thank you for and congratulate you on this website – the affection and pride you and the contributors show for your town is heart-warming. Here’s hoping that someone will respond.
John Cornelius (East Yorkshire)
Hello John….you may be interested in this story… which has been unearthed as part of our http://www.1245sunflowers.org Great War commemoration project….http://1245sunflowers.org/robert-roland-kay.php
I am the grandson of Fred Newman who owned the Newman’s shop on Dovecot St and I’m researching the family history. Any information or pictures of the shop or the Newmans would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.
I have an excellent photo of Thomas Duncan Devereux that may be of interest to Ian Devereaux.
My Gt Grandparents William and Martha Wardle ran the Spread Eagle in Dovecot St in the mid 1890’s and it’s where my grandmother was born in 1895.
Any information on this pub would be appreciated.
Hello there… you may be interested in this – which has come though our Great War commemoration project – it is about a later resident of the Spread Eagle…http://1245sunflowers.org/robert-roland-kay.php
Douglas, Thomas Duncan Devereux was my G.G. Grandfather. I have press cuttings about his life written by Major Fairfax-Blakeborough following his death in 1928. TD obviously was an interesting character and his will is of particular interest. The team can give you my e-mail address if you wish to make further contact.
Anyone know anything about the Devereux who resided at the White Hart pub. My Great Grandfather? Any information will be very welcome.
Tom Devereux who had the White Hart and the Alhambra club in Dovecote Street was also my Great Grandfather Father of Herbert Mainwaring Devereux. Would love to hear from any unknown relatives.
This is another fine shot of old Stockton. Dovecote Street in my time was perhaps known by many of my age for its aroma of fresh roast coffee from Newmans Shop near the High Street end. The corner opposite the Hippodrome had Joseph”s Grocery Shop on the corner of Nelson Terrace. I think Halfords also had a shop on the other side to Newman”s. Then just around the corner on the High Street The Record and Toy shop of Browns. It was a picture at this time of year.
I remember Josephs the grocers, vividly.
The gentleman in the top hat is reputedly Thomas Duncan Devereux my G.G.Grandfather. At or about the time of this photo he probably owned the following property in Dovecote Street, The Victoria Sporting Club and the property next to it, The White Hart. He also owned the Alhambra Music Hall in the same street.