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Elisabethville


Did you know there used to be a Belgian village in Gateshead?! Elisabethville in Birtley provided temporary housing for a community of around 6000 Belgiam refugees during the First Word War. It was like a little corner of Belgium transplanted to the North East of England. Many of the residents worked at the National Projectile Factory in Birtley. When the war ended most of the inhabitants returned to Belgium and Elisabethville was occupied by people of British and other nationalities, before the temporaty housing was demolished and replaced with more permanent buildings.

Birtley National Projectile Factory First World War Belgium Birtley
from Beamish (flickr)
Belgian refugees at Witton Park.

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
Elisabethville - Birtley Belgians Project

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
Elisabethville - Birtley Belgians Project

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
Elisabethville - Birtley Belgians Project

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
Elisabethville - Birtley Belgians Project

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
Elisabethville - Birtley Belgians Project

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
Elisabethville - Birtley Belgians Project

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
Elisabethville - Birtley Belgians Project

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
Elisabethville - Birtley Belgians Project

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
Elisabethville - Birtley Belgians Project

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
Elisabethville - Birtley Belgians Project

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
Elisabethville - Birtley Belgians Project

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
Elisabethville - Birtley Belgians Project

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
Elisabethville - Birtley Belgians Project

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
Leon - Beamish Birtley Belgians Project

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
bb3

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
Elisabethville - Birtley Belgians Project

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
Elisabethville - Birtley Belgians Project

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
Elisabethville - Birtley Belgians Project

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
Elisabethville - Birtley Belgians Project

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
Elisabethville - Birtley Belgians Project

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
A group of Belgian refugees from Elisabethville, Birtley

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
Elisabethville - Birtley Belgians Project

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
Elisabethville - Birtley Belgians Project

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
Elisabethville (Birtley) Entry Permit, 1917

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
Elisabethville - Birtley Belgians Project

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
Belgian Girls' School, Elisabethville, Birtley

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
School report for Dorothy Prowse from Belgian School, Elisabethville, Birtley.

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
Plan of the Belgian Community of Elisabethville

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
Belgian gendarme's hat from Elisabethville at Birtley

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
Elisabethville, Birtley 1914-1918

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
Belgian School Report of Jack Prowse, Elisabethville - Birtley

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Beamish (flickr)
British policeman on duty - Belgian village of Elisabethville, Birtley - 1918

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
National Projectile Factory
  Co-Curate Page
National Projectile Factory
- The National Projectile Factory at Birtley was built in the First World War by Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd. Interestingly all the management and workers there were Belgian, from the …
Birtley
  Co-Curate Page
Birtley
- Overview About Birtley Map Street View Birtley is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead in Tyne & Wear. Historically, Birtley was a township in the Parish of Chester-le-Street …
First World War
  Co-Curate Page
First World War
- The 11th of November 2018 marked the 100th anniversary of the singing of the Armistice between the Allies and Germany, bringing an end to the First World War. The 4th …
from TWAM (flickr)
Rough turning the shell body

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from http://twsitelines.info/SMR/8…
Tyne and Wear HER(8628): Birtley, Elisabethville
- "The model village of Elisabethville was built in the First World War to house Belgian workers at the National Projectile Factory. "The Huts" were envied by many local people whose …

Added by
Simon Cotterill

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Tyne & Wear HER: 8628
Grid ref: NZ26945643

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