Margaret Hepworth, sister-in-law to the Margaret Hepworth interviewed earlier, was known to family and friends as Peggy, was born on 8th June 1925, and spent her childhood living in a colliery house on Chapel Row, a brick terrace opposite the Adam and Eve public house at Low Prudhoe. Her father, George, was a miner, as were nearly all of the men living in that area. He worked at Low Prudhoe pit, before moving on to Hedley drift mine. Mother, Elizabeth, worked as housewife and mother, the expected role of married women at that time. Peggy’s brother, also George, was born ten or eleven years after her. The family home consisted of a downstairs living room with a built-on pantry, and one bedroom upstairs. Families would bathe in “tin” baths in front of the fire, and the bath, when not in use, would be hung on the outside wall of the house. There was a cold water tap in the house, and water for baths would be heated in the boiler beside the fire. The door of the house opened directly onto the street, which they had to cross to go to the earth closet, which was shared by two families. Coal was delivered by a man with a horse and cart. He would travel along the streets, tipping off piles of coal at each house, where it was then shovelled through small doors into the coal houses. Washing was hung on lines across the street, and if it was there when the coal man tipped his loads, creating clouds of black dust, the housewives would not be happy. There would be “war on.”
There were allotment gardens close by, and as well as growing food, people would also keep hens and pigs as sources of food. Some people would also keep pigeons which they would race.
The family worshipped at Low Prudhoe Methodist Chapel, which had been built by miners, and was situated on the north corner of Station Road and “the High Top” (a minor road which later became Princess Way). About half a mile along this road was Castle Farm, which was taken over by I.C.I. in about 1937, and developed into a fertiliser factory. It is now the site of S.C.A. and other businesses.
Just south of the Adam and Eve, was Low Prudhoe School, where Peggy and brother George spent their entire school lives. Between the pub and the railway line to the north was a branch of the West Wylam and Prudhoe Co-op, and on the north side of the railway, close to the river, was a branch of the Blaydon Co-op. Low Prudhoe post office, which also served as Prudhoe and district’s sorting office, stood on the site of a present day factory (formerly Centre Design). The present Prudhoe bypass did not exist – it was not built until c. 1993.
The family did not have much money, but neither did anybody else, and they were quite content. Leisure time was spent with friends in the lane, playing such games as hidey-bo-seek, skipping and spinning tops. Because the “Spetchells” waste lime heap had not yet been developed by I.C.I, there was a large pleasant area of grass near the river, where people could enjoy walks and playing games such as rounders. Many would walk down the road from the Castle, over the railway by a gated crossing, and onto the riverside. Station Road, as it is today, did not exist. Its forerunner went from the Doctor Syntax, past St Mary Magdalene Church and the “Keppy” well, down to the Castle, where it turned left in front of the gates, then down towards the station. When the Spetchells waste heap did develop in the late 1930s, Peggy remembers numerous lorries constantly collecting lime from it, which was taken to farms to spread on the fields as fertiliser.
For a treat, Peggy’s family would visit the Rex Cinema, which many years later was converted into Tynedale’s first indoor swimming pool, before being demolished and replaced by Redbrick House Nursing Home. Prudhoe’s first cinema had been the Palace, at the bottom of South Road. Here black and white silent films had been shown, to the accompaniment of a pianist. The Palace had also been a ballroom, and later became the “Big Club,” Prudhoe’s working men’s club. In the late 1930s, an impressive new art deco cinema was built – the Rio. Sadly, this fine building was demolished to make way for the new Co-operative store, which also took over the site of the former central Oakfield Park.
Peggy left school at the age of 14 and started work at the Stocksfield and District Laundry, on Prudhoe’s South Road. Washing from local businesses, schools etc. was collected by van and taken to the laundry, where it was washed and ironed before being returned. Millie Backley, the woman in charge, collected wet clothes from soldiers stationed nearby, who had been marching or exercising in the rain, and dried them as a gesture of appreciation. Laundry was washed in machines on the lower level, and taken upstairs for ironing by four or five “girls” with gas irons. There were also presses where larger items like sheets could be smoothed.
South Road had been Prudhoe’s main street before Front Street was developed, and was still known by locals as “up the toon.” Some shops still existed there until the late 1950s. There were two on the front of the Working Men’s Club – “the Big Club” – and one of these was occupied by hairdresser, Eva Swan. Eva’s brother worked as a barber in a shop just over the road, next door to a greengrocer’s. The Fox and Hounds pub was just up the road next to Prudhoe’s original post office, and the Locomotive inn (now a Chinese restaurant) was at the bottom of the street, where it joined West Road.
In 1947 Peggy married husband Doug Ballantyne at St John’s Chapel on Front Street. The chapel and its manse stood on the site of today’s RSPCA charity shop and The Original Factory Shop. They could not marry at Low Prudhoe Chapel as it was not licenced for marriages. Their first home together was a single room at No 2 West Road in Prudhoe. This was one room in a block of four houses known locally as Brookhouse Yard. The houses had been built by a member of the Brookhouse family in about the mid 1800s, and were still owned by that family. Their room was on the first floor, and was reached by climbing a flight of brick and stone steps which led from the shared back yard up to a concrete outside landing leading to two upstairs flats. When their downstairs neighbours, the Howdens, moved out to a larger new council house, Peggy and Doug moved into their vacant property, which consisted of two rooms and a pantry. None of the properties was plumbed, and water had to be collected by pail from the one communal tap in the back yard. The galvanised iron bath hung on the wall outside the back door. Pails of waste water were emptied into the outside drain. Outbuildings in the large back yard were coal houses, a stable, two wash-houses (one of which was no longer used) and earth closets with middens. Because Doug was a miner he received regular deliveries of coal. A lorry would drive down the archway and tip a large pile onto the earth yard, from where it was shovelled by the family into the coalhouse.
Weekly visits by the “midden men” continued to be the norm, as they had been at Low Prudhoe. They would drive into the yard, climb over the walls into the two middens and shovel the ashes, general rubbish and toilet waste into their lorries. The Brookhouse family had a four bedroomed house and a shop, while the other three houses were divided up into flats or “back-to-backs” of one or two rooms. The Brookhouses had their own outside earth closet, while the other three toilets were shared by all the residents of the other seven homes. It was not until the 1950s that earth closets were replaced by flushing toilets, and cold water taps were installed in all of the properties.
At the end of the yard, near Peggy’s back door, was the shared wash-house, with its coal-fired boiler, poss-tubs, big mangle and a bench on which clothes could be scrubbed. There was also a hand powered washing machine. Washing was dried on lines strung across the yard. One of Peggy’s neighbours was Mrs Cook – known as Nana Cook – who would share the wash-house with her. Nana Cook liked to use the poss tub, while Peggy used the hand-powered machine. On rainy days they would dry their washing by the heat of the fires in their living rooms. Peggy would then do her ironing with a gas iron.
It was here, in 1950, that the young couple had their first child, Margaret, who grew up to simply accept conditions as they were. They were the norm for the majority of people who lived in working communities.
As a miner, doing essential work, Doug was exempt from war service. He worked at Eltringham Colliery, which was owned by Mr Stoker. He later worked at Acomb, Hedley and Emma collieries. As well as his mining work, he was also a fireman. When a fire occurred, the alarm would be set off, filling the whole village with its noise, and firemen like Doug would immediately drop tools and rush to the fire station on South Road, to clamber onto the fire engine and do their duty. During war time, the firemen’s main duty was to be prepared for air raids. They would practise down by the river, so that they knew exactly what to do if incendiary bombs were dropped. When Emma pit closed, Doug took up manual employment with the Newcastle and Gateshead Water Company.
audio file from interview expected