Cleadon
Encyclopedia
Cleadon is a suburban village
in South Tyneside
, North East England
in the county of Tyne and Wear
. The population of Cleadon is 4,795, and there are a few shops including Bon Appetit Deli, Boutiques store and a Post Office. Cleadon is a short walk from the local East Boldon Metro Station. Nearby villages or population centres include, East Boldon, Whitburn
, and Jarrow
. The village is around 8 km (5 mi) from the city of Sunderland and 16 km (10 mi)from the city of Newcastle
.
, a survey of the local area completed in 1183.
The oldest houses in the village, one of which contains a priest hole
, date to the 15th century. Located on the main north—south road of England, Cleadon was a popular rest spot for those passing back and forth from London to Scotland. During the 19th century, Charles Dickens
lived for a time in Cleadon House on Front Street.
Cleadon village and its environs suffered some bomb damage during the Second World War. Bombs fell in Whitburn Road, Bywell Road and on Boldon Flats, some of these incidents resulting in fatalities. A 'stick' of bombs fell on a line between Underhill Road and the Whiteleas Isolation Hospital. In another incident a bomb fell on Cleadon Farm and some livestock were killed, the Cleadon Cottage Homes also suffered some damage. The bombing of the village, on some occasions at least, could have been due to its proximity to a 'Hedgehog', a decoy designed to simulate burning buildings that was situated at Welland's Farm, at the foot of Cleadon Hills in nearby Whitburn. A container of propaganda leaflets was also found on Cleadon Hills during the war years that had been dropped from an enemy aircraft.
referred to as the Zechstein Sea
.
The mill was severely damaged in a storm at some time during the 1870s, and then suffered the indignity of being a target for gunnery practice during the First World War. A photograph dating from the 1920s shows the rotating cap and the windshaft more or less intact but without the sails, which were presumably destroyed during the storm that put the mill out of business. Nowadays the entrances to the mill are barred and locked, the remains of internal machinery that were visible in the mill during the 1970s are now gone, although broken fragments of a millstone remain.
A local legend relates the story of Elizabeth Gibbon, a heartbroken woman who threw herself from the top of the mill tower and whose ghost apparently haunts the ruin of the mill to this day. The windmill was operated by the Gibbon family at the time the storm took place, which lends some weight to the tale of Elizabeth's suicide.
The works were built for the Sunderland and South Shields Water Company to a design by Thomas Hawksley
and opened in 1863. The facility was typical of the grand Victorian waterworks style of the day, and resembles its sister station at Ryhope which was built a few years later.
It was one of a chain of wells that stretched from Cleadon in the north to Hesledon
in the south, which were constructed to exploit the reserves of clean fresh water that lay trapped in the permeable limestone. Little is known about the engine that drove the pumps, it was described as a 'high class' beam engine
of 130 hp, driving a pump that drew water from a well 258 feet deep and 12 feet in diameter, the water standing 18 feet deep at the bottom. The works were electrified in 1930 and the steam plant removed.
The chimney itself is 100 feet tall and the balcony is 82 feet above ground level, a square spiral staircase of 141 steps winds around the central flue. It was designed to resemble the well known Italian campanile bell towers, and was placed above the works on the highest part of the hill to facilitate boiler draughting and the dispersal of smoke and steam. While the other buildings have since been converted into homes, the chimney has been threatened with demolition at least once, notwithstanding the fact that it now houses a number of radio aerials, and presumably generates revenue in the form of rent.
It was also, together with the Paper Mill chimneys at Grangetown
, south of Sunderland, used as a navigation landmark by Luftflotte (Air Fleet) 5 of the Luftwaffe
, operating from Stavanger in Norway and Aalborg in Denmark during the Second World War, while engaged in attacks against Belfast and Liverpool.
The reservoir was later covered with a large concrete dome, then believed to the biggest of its type ever constructed, which is still in place today.
of a white horse, two metres tall and three metres long, appears on a low cliff on the hill. Before houses were built after the Second World War it could be seen from South Shields; today it is much defaced by graffiti. Its origins are unclear—there are at least five different stories that explain why it was painted, possibly as early as the 1840s. One story is shown on information boards nearby and tells a story of a man who rode the white horse off Marsden cliffs.
, original drummer of the Rolling Stones, and member of Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages
lived in Cleadon for many years. Actor Bill Travers
also resided in the village at 17, Underhill Road, sometime after WW2.
The park in central Cleadon was formerly the grounds of Cleadon House (see above) which incorporates Bluebell Woods and the lake at one time incorporating row boats, but now filled in after several drownings.
The well known boathouse in Bluebell Wood has long since fallen into disrepair. This building is often perceived to be a dungeon or prison due to its metal bars and menacing appearance.The bars were fitted in the 1980s in an attempt to prevent further vandalism. It has recently been speculated that the building may have been originally an ice store serving Cleadon House, the structure later being converted to a boathouse. Bluebell Wood also attracts numbers of BMX and Mountain bikers utilising the rough ground and mud ramps, although this is not popular with the local residents.
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
in South Tyneside
South Tyneside
South Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear in North East England.It is bordered by four other boroughs - Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead to the west, Sunderland in the south, and North Tyneside to the north. The border county of Northumberland lies further north...
, North East England
North East England
North East England is one of the nine official regions of England. It covers Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Teesside . The only cities in the region are Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland...
in the county of Tyne and Wear
Tyne and Wear
Tyne and Wear is a metropolitan county in north east England around the mouths of the Rivers Tyne and Wear. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972...
. The population of Cleadon is 4,795, and there are a few shops including Bon Appetit Deli, Boutiques store and a Post Office. Cleadon is a short walk from the local East Boldon Metro Station. Nearby villages or population centres include, East Boldon, Whitburn
Whitburn
Whitburn is the name of more than one place:* Whitburn, South Tyneside, England* Whitburn, West Lothian, ScotlandWhitburn can also refer to the following people:*Joel Whitburn, music historian*Vanessa Whitburn, radio producer...
, and Jarrow
Jarrow
Jarrow is a town in Tyne and Wear, England, located on the River Tyne, with a population of 27,526. From the middle of the 19th century until 1935, Jarrow was a centre for shipbuilding, and was the starting point of the Jarrow March against unemployment in 1936.-Foundation:The Angles re-occupied...
. The village is around 8 km (5 mi) from the city of Sunderland and 16 km (10 mi)from the city of Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
.
History
There has been a village on the site of Cleadon for over a thousand years. Cleadon has a traditional village pond which is the remnants of an ice age lake and dates to Roman times, and an early history of South Shields suggests that there may have once been a Roman watchtower or turret on Cleadon Hills. The name of the village is derived from 'Cliffa-dun' meaning a hill with a cliff, which over years became Clevendona, Clyvedon (recorded in 1280), Clevedon, and in the 17th century Cleydon. The village was first mentioned in print in the Boldon BookBoldon Book
The Boldon Book contains the results of a survey of the bishopric of Durham that was completed on the orders of Hugh du Puiset, Bishop of Durham, in 1183, designed to assist the administration of the vast diocesan estates...
, a survey of the local area completed in 1183.
The oldest houses in the village, one of which contains a priest hole
Priest hole
"Priest hole" is the term given to hiding places for priests built into many of the principal Catholic houses of England during the period when Catholics were persecuted by law in England, from the beginning of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in 1558....
, date to the 15th century. Located on the main north—south road of England, Cleadon was a popular rest spot for those passing back and forth from London to Scotland. During the 19th century, Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
lived for a time in Cleadon House on Front Street.
Cleadon village and its environs suffered some bomb damage during the Second World War. Bombs fell in Whitburn Road, Bywell Road and on Boldon Flats, some of these incidents resulting in fatalities. A 'stick' of bombs fell on a line between Underhill Road and the Whiteleas Isolation Hospital. In another incident a bomb fell on Cleadon Farm and some livestock were killed, the Cleadon Cottage Homes also suffered some damage. The bombing of the village, on some occasions at least, could have been due to its proximity to a 'Hedgehog', a decoy designed to simulate burning buildings that was situated at Welland's Farm, at the foot of Cleadon Hills in nearby Whitburn. A container of propaganda leaflets was also found on Cleadon Hills during the war years that had been dropped from an enemy aircraft.
Cleadon Hills
Cleadon Hills is a ridge of high ground standing between the village and the coast. Around 260 million years ago the hills were, together with others in the area, a group of small low islands in a tropical lagoonLagoon
A lagoon is a body of shallow sea water or brackish water separated from the sea by some form of barrier. The EU's habitat directive defines lagoons as "expanses of shallow coastal salt water, of varying salinity or water volume, wholly or partially separated from the sea by sand banks or shingle,...
referred to as the Zechstein Sea
Zechstein
The Zechstein is a unit of sedimentary rock layers of Middle to Late Permian age located in the European Permian Basin which stretches from the east coast of England to northern Poland...
.
Cleadon Windmill
The ruined windmill on the hills was constructed in the 1820s. The mill is built on the highest part of Cleadon Hills on a slight artificial mound. The building incorporates a stone reefing stage, a feature that was peculiar to windmills in the area.The mill was severely damaged in a storm at some time during the 1870s, and then suffered the indignity of being a target for gunnery practice during the First World War. A photograph dating from the 1920s shows the rotating cap and the windshaft more or less intact but without the sails, which were presumably destroyed during the storm that put the mill out of business. Nowadays the entrances to the mill are barred and locked, the remains of internal machinery that were visible in the mill during the 1970s are now gone, although broken fragments of a millstone remain.
A local legend relates the story of Elizabeth Gibbon, a heartbroken woman who threw herself from the top of the mill tower and whose ghost apparently haunts the ruin of the mill to this day. The windmill was operated by the Gibbon family at the time the storm took place, which lends some weight to the tale of Elizabeth's suicide.
Cleadon Water Tower
Also on Cleadon Hills is a former water pumping station, which once provided water to the South Shields area. The site is dominated by the landmark Cleadon Water Tower, in fact a chimney for the former steam-powered pumps, which is visible for miles around.The works were built for the Sunderland and South Shields Water Company to a design by Thomas Hawksley
Thomas Hawksley
Thomas Hawksley was an English civil engineer of the 19th century, particularly associated with water and gas engineering projects.The son of John Hawksley and Mary Whittle, and born in Arnold, near Nottingham on , Hawksley was largely self-taught from the age of 15 onwards, having at that point...
and opened in 1863. The facility was typical of the grand Victorian waterworks style of the day, and resembles its sister station at Ryhope which was built a few years later.
It was one of a chain of wells that stretched from Cleadon in the north to Hesledon
Cold Hesledon
Cold Hesledon is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated a short distance to the east of Murton.-Dalton Pumping Station:Within the village is a large Victorian, Gothic Revival former Water pumping station, designed by Thomas Hawksley for the Sunderland and South Shields Water Company...
in the south, which were constructed to exploit the reserves of clean fresh water that lay trapped in the permeable limestone. Little is known about the engine that drove the pumps, it was described as a 'high class' beam engine
Beam engine
A beam engine is a type of steam engine where a pivoted overhead beam is used to apply the force from a vertical piston to a vertical connecting rod. This configuration, with the engine directly driving a pump, was first used by Thomas Newcomen around 1705 to remove water from mines in Cornwall...
of 130 hp, driving a pump that drew water from a well 258 feet deep and 12 feet in diameter, the water standing 18 feet deep at the bottom. The works were electrified in 1930 and the steam plant removed.
The chimney itself is 100 feet tall and the balcony is 82 feet above ground level, a square spiral staircase of 141 steps winds around the central flue. It was designed to resemble the well known Italian campanile bell towers, and was placed above the works on the highest part of the hill to facilitate boiler draughting and the dispersal of smoke and steam. While the other buildings have since been converted into homes, the chimney has been threatened with demolition at least once, notwithstanding the fact that it now houses a number of radio aerials, and presumably generates revenue in the form of rent.
It was also, together with the Paper Mill chimneys at Grangetown
Grangetown
Grangetown may refer to:* Grangetown, Cardiff, Wales* Grangetown, North Yorkshire, Middlesbrough, England* Grangetown, Tyne and Wear, Sunderland, England...
, south of Sunderland, used as a navigation landmark by Luftflotte (Air Fleet) 5 of the Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
, operating from Stavanger in Norway and Aalborg in Denmark during the Second World War, while engaged in attacks against Belfast and Liverpool.
The reservoir was later covered with a large concrete dome, then believed to the biggest of its type ever constructed, which is still in place today.
Wartime Defences
Two pill boxes were constructed on the South Side on Cleadon Hills to allow placement of machine gun positions overlooking the fields leading from Whitburn to Cleadon. One of these collapsed in the 1970s and remained in a dangerous condition until removed, the other box being demolished at the same time. The undisturbed remains of several concrete machine gun nests can still be found in the undergrowth on the side of Cleadon Hills.Cleadon white horse
A small painted hill figureHill figure
A hill figure is a large visual representation created by cutting into a steep hillside and revealing the underlying geology. It is a type of geoglyph usually designed to be seen from afar rather than above. In some cases trenches are dug and rubble made from material brighter than the natural...
of a white horse, two metres tall and three metres long, appears on a low cliff on the hill. Before houses were built after the Second World War it could be seen from South Shields; today it is much defaced by graffiti. Its origins are unclear—there are at least five different stories that explain why it was painted, possibly as early as the 1840s. One story is shown on information boards nearby and tells a story of a man who rode the white horse off Marsden cliffs.
Post-1945
The village expanded quickly in the post-war period and was a popular suburb for middle class people working in South Shields and Sunderland. Newer houses were built in the 1950s and 1960s among those that were built before the Second World War. The demolition of some cottages and other houses in the village in the 1970s gave rise to some controversy. Cleadon Meadows, now a private housing development, was once the site of a large house owned by John Broderick Dale, a banker. Cleadon Old Hall, now a block of modern apartments, was once the site of a house of the same name that was demolished in the late 1940s to assist in easing the double bend in the road through the village. Another development, sometimes referred to as the 'Lakes' estate, was formerly occupied by gardens and a large number of hothouses. One of the two village ponds, situated on the corner of North Street and Sunniside Lane was filled in during the 1970s, its location now identifiable by a fenced area of grass.Famous residents
Famous people have lived within Cleadon include footballers such as the former Sunderland AFC player Michael Gray. Carlo LittleCarlo Little
Carlo Little was a rock and roll drummer, based in the London nightclub scene in the 1960s. He played in an early version of The Rolling Stones...
, original drummer of the Rolling Stones, and member of Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages
Screaming Lord Sutch And The Savages
Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages were a British rock group from the early Sixties, sporting an ever-changing line-up of musicians and a taste for horror themes and zany humour. Some regard them as forerunners of both The Sex Pistols and Monty Python...
lived in Cleadon for many years. Actor Bill Travers
Bill Travers
William Lindon-Travers was an English actor, screenwriter, director and an animal rights activist, known professionally as Bill Travers.-Life and career:...
also resided in the village at 17, Underhill Road, sometime after WW2.
Amenities
There are no medical surgeries in Cleadon. There are two pubs in Cleadon Village, the Britannia Inn and the Cottage Tavern. Another pond, situated on the corner of North Street and Sunniside Lane was filled in during the 1970s, its location now identifiable by a fenced area of grass.The park in central Cleadon was formerly the grounds of Cleadon House (see above) which incorporates Bluebell Woods and the lake at one time incorporating row boats, but now filled in after several drownings.
The well known boathouse in Bluebell Wood has long since fallen into disrepair. This building is often perceived to be a dungeon or prison due to its metal bars and menacing appearance.The bars were fitted in the 1980s in an attempt to prevent further vandalism. It has recently been speculated that the building may have been originally an ice store serving Cleadon House, the structure later being converted to a boathouse. Bluebell Wood also attracts numbers of BMX and Mountain bikers utilising the rough ground and mud ramps, although this is not popular with the local residents.