This is Durham Road in 1983 where the old Summerville Farm now stands. It is amazing, that long before the Co-op store and the Savacentre and Tesco store afterwards, that it was a very much quieter road than it is now. The photo is looking south.
Photograph and details courtesy of Martin Spires.
I remember that trip almost everyday to school, I used to live in Thorpe Thewles. Crazy looking at some pictures on here at how much things have changed. I remember as a kid the CO-OP was one of the first stores to use 1 pound coins in trolleys, we made a fortune for the first month or two taking them back for the people who didn’t figure that out. There were a lot of accidents on that road, but I survived on my bike since I was god knows how young 🙂
Quiet, no way, it was a single lane main road to Durham via Sedgefield, Coxhoe and Shincliffe. A main bus route to those places and to places like Shildon, Bishop Auckland and many of the mining towns. Anyone trying to leave Junction road and cross the road for Carlton and onwards would often have a long wait, that was before the roundabout. It may have looked like this in wartime but my father, a haulage contractor, used it a lot to collect steam coal for delivery around various airfields and factories. I often went with him during school holidays so I know it was busy, even back then. Many accindents on the stretch between Stockton and Sedgefield made them double sections until finally only the short section through Thorpe Larches remains single.