Topics > Tyne and Wear > Gateshead > High Spen

High Spen


 

High Spen is an old mining village in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead. There is an entrance to Chopwell Wood, whose Christmas Trees sales attract many visitors to the village every year. High Spen has one pub, called The Bute Arms, and two Working Men's clubs. There is also a Primary school, called High Spen Primary School. High Spen also is home to St Patrick's C of E Church.

Transport

High Spen used to have a bus depot (located off Strothers Road) that was home to the Venture Bus Company. Venture used to run services around Derwent Valley, mainly between Shotley Bridge and Newcastle. Venture, and the bus depot at High Spen, eventually passed into the hands of Northern General Transport Company, where it stayed operational until the late 1980s when it was eventually closed down.

Notable people

During the first world war, two soldiers from High Spen were awarded the Victoria Cross: Lance Corporal Fredrick William Dobson of the Coldstream Guards, and Private Thomas Young of the Durham Light Infantry.

Category D village

High Spen was categorised as a "category D village" by Durham County Council, one of many scheduled for destruction and demolition following the decline of mining in the west of the county in the 1950s and 1960s.

Later development

The D-village policy was cancelled in 1977, since when the village has gradually grown and developed, serving as a commuter village accessible to the centres of Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead and Durham City.

Text from Wikipedia, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License (accessed: 28/12/2016).
Visit the page: High Spen for references and further details. You can contribute to this article on Wikipedia.
Gateshead Low Spen Barlow Chopwell and Garesfield Railway Church of St Patrick, High Spen High Spen at War War Memorial, High Spen
5 Resources
Add Resource
from Flickr (flickr)
High Spen and Rowlands Gill view
Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from http://www.folkplay.info/Text…
Guisers' Play from County Durham, 1925
- A traditional Guisers' Play from High Spen, County Durham, thought to have been written and performed in 1925.
Added by
Simon Cotterill
from http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/…
HIGH SPEN -A HUNDRED YEARS
- Detailed article with photos over several pages by Alex Johnson (2000) on the UK and Ireland Genealogy site.
Added by
Simon Cotterill
from http://www.dmm.org.uk/collier…
http://www.dmm.org.uk/colliery/g001.htm
- Detailed information about the colliery and its pits.. Opened: 1800 Closed: 29 Jan 1960
Added by
Simon Cotterill
from http://www.bpears.org.uk/Misc…
High Spen and District - by Thomas William Pears
- Edited and revised by Brian Pears. PDF about the history of High Spen, with photos.
Added by
Simon Cotterill

Comments

Add a comment or share a memory.

Login to add a comment. Sign-up if you don't already have an account.

Related Pages


Geo / Heritage Meta Data

Borough: Gateshead
Wikipedia: High Spen

ABOUT US

Co-Curate is a project which brings together online collections, museums, universities, schools and community groups to make and re-make stories and images from North East England and Cumbria. Co-Curate is a trans-disciplinary project that will open up 'official' museum and 'un-officia'l co-created community-based collections and archives through innovative collaborative approaches using social media and open archives/data.

LATEST SHARED RESOURCES