Handyman Crawcrook

About  Crawcrook in Northumberland

Crawcrook. It is a small village in western Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, in a region known as Tyneside. The designation 'village' would have carried more significance 200 years ago than today. At that time, Northumberland, the English county within which it sits, was the ancestor of all the modern settlement patterns, industries, trade, and politics we are familiar with today. This place's ancient history has been overwritten by subsequent generations. Still, a little effort allows you to peel back the layers and see the incredible history preserved in the village today. More than that, knowing a little about the long history of Crawcrook can give you a better idea of the place now and the people who live here.

Crawcrook has a lovely upland feel. Rivers are running through it, and we border some of England's most beautiful countryside. People here have long since been an asset to those who run the place they are a part of. There is a shortage of cheap coal on the hillside, but there are rivers that can be dammed to power early industry. There is a sufficient and relatively skilled population. Much of this place is protected from the encroachment of private enterprise because it is owned by trustees on behalf of the public. The history, not just of Crawcrook but of the more fantastic world we are a part of, is written into the very rocks of this place that we tread each day

Early Settlement and Development

Name: Crawcrook County, Northumberland Civil Parish, Ryton. Population: 3,650. Standardized Name: Crawcrook. Our small historic village comes from a cluster of farmsteads and probably two sunken trackways on today's Sandy Lane, The Green, and Peth. Subsequently, the Manor was rated as 5 Taxes, indicating a relatively small community, and in the late 17th century, is roughly estimated to have no more than about 20 livestock farms dotted amongst over 800 acres of land that stretched from the 'West Greets' to the 'Roman Road', no doubt dependent on the height of the stock for the quality of the land. An Anglo-Saxon boar's head cross dedicated to St. John the Baptist that came to light in 1876 during road improvements to the junction near the White House/Crook House was incised with a simple fret pattern dated at about 705 AD. If we wanted to talk about early settlement in our parish, we might include the impression of it left on the land.

Finds from antiquarian activity and later more careful observing suggest that the land was first settled in the very late Bronze Age and was gradually but surely used for farming over most of the pre-Christian era; the settlements themselves were concentrated in the valleys filled with soft, efficiently worked soils. What else would anyone want to know about our earliest settlers? Detailed excavation has revealed that in the 17th century, the smaller rural farms of the parish may have become involved in trading coal, salt, slate, hay, barley, and oats with local businessmen and coal miners, and comment that stocks of coal that were diverted from Durham to the Scottish Drovers imply an established trade between Blaydon and Scotland by the 1640s or earlier. In 1662, Mr. Nicholas Brown was successful in gaining a private Act of Parliament to enable direct work on a cross-river Blaydon Waggonway: might his plans have contributed to an unprecedented growth of farms along the extended length of this route, from its junction with the so-called 'Blagdon Wagonway' in Blaydon along its path to Crawcrook or Broomley? Some might include people or families with local residences along the Blaydon to Broomley route mentioned in the late 16th and 17th-century deeds. Our first inhabitants moved onto higher ground, having found the earliest lowland valleys dispersed with drags of spring water were not prone to flooding. Our community is likely to have been formed with more part-time, seasonal migrant workers who would then leave for the winter to return south to cheaper accommodation, possibly returning with their northern 'married women' when the risk of winter floods receded in late May. It appears then that the geographical environment has been crucial in shaping settlement across the early years, the form and success of the communities tardily built in the post-Roman North East of England ultimately depending on the degree to which they became marginal features that stack and gather the final output of flows elsewhere. Agricultural life was defined by growing oats, barley, and rye mixed with a few turnips, radishes, beets, and carrots cultivated on the Morwick till left by melting ice over 35,000 years ago. Smaller scale beehive querns are pointed to from the 17th century, and clay pots called Berels are mentioned in the burial records of Ebchester in the early 18th century. The few settled farmers fished over the River Derwent from below the hill and meadow around Oldburn Hall in the North to the Grappet trough in the grove beyond Oldwater Farm in the South. An area also considered as waste, so here, it would be reserved as common grazing for those who could best exploit it and the in-between hardy breeds of Herdwick. In the late 17th century, Crawcrook can be seen as a structured village, although defined and still defined by its 'local topographical tables – crooked places' taken on the near meander of the River Derwent.

Industrial Revolution and Growth

The Industrial Revolution

Technological advancements in railways, mining equipment, and steam engines have significantly transformed many industries, in particular coal and iron. These two industries were the leading employers in the Crawcrook area. Iron was being smelted, and iron goods such as spades, shovels, hammers, and axes were being made in various foundries around the area. They were being sold to the population during significant population movement and deprivation. Pre-industrial society was very different from what we recognize today. Men, women, and children worked longer hours with generally poorer standards. Hard labour was conducted outdoors, and working in the fields was necessary. A change from within the area has had lasting implications, resulting in family disruption, deprivation, and migration.

The village was closely associated with several local collieries and mines, including Barlow, Clara, Mitre Place, Primrose Hill, Greenside, Marley Hill, and Victoria Garesfield drift mines. Northumberland became a developer of shipbuilding and allocated not one but two timber ships to a local museum. Crawcrook established itself in the industrial era and became the centre of coal and iron manufacture, responsible for 50% of finished steel engraved with 'Made in Crawcrook.' Innovators and entrepreneurs in their own right at that time expanded the industry from local ironworks in 1787, employing a workforce of about 25, to become a part of a multinational industry by 1875. Around 5,000 men went to work daily from Crawcrook by whatever means were available, but the vast majority walked. Although only 2 miles away as the crow flies from the iron mine and works at Clara Vale, workers had to take a 5-mile, approximately 3-hour walk to work. When they all returned home, around 3,000 were then accommodated in 340 homes, which had been built at Crawcrook miraculously within the same period!

Cultural Heritage and Traditions

Culture and the continuity of tradition have significant historical importance within Crawcrook, with many local customs, festivals, and practices reflecting the historical community. Both the Viking and Dutch migrations have influenced life in the village, creating deep ties with the land, reflected in decorative artwork and basketry. Crawcrook has a rich history of folklore, with the belief in Dobbies on one grassy knoll and sacrificial pits on the other. Storytelling and entertainment boxes are a testament to the abiding literacy and live literature. Village publications formed educational institutions that uphold the okay educational links within the area, creating active agents of social change who reflect upon history in academic writings. These illuminated texts clearly illustrate how, despite differing physical landscapes and social over-determinations, historical ties and continuities are maintained and are primarily grassroots, highlighting their relative independence from the superstructures of the ages. The intense community spirit among residents has facilitated the transformation of tradition from animal feasting to human.

In 1787, a Newcastle chronicler spoke of the "ancient superstition" in the borough, such as the "sacrifice of an ox," described as "an ancient rite" practised at an otherwise unrecorded holy day, St. Walstan's, about the annual Boiling Bree, "a wake and fair" held at 'Crock. Such social gatherings and practices encourage the preservation of local history and folklore and contribute to the communal human association that generates social wealth in the form of human warmth and conviviality, which is, however, immeasurable. Storytelling within a large community of people appears to spawn a new branch as we informally retell a story that was told to you. It must, therefore, be recognized that such informal testimonials lie close to the basis of the oral tradition, and the system of contractual recording that makes them durable forms part of our historical consciousness.

Modern Day Crawcrook

Analysis of twentieth and twenty-first-century historical development indicates still slow growth in the population but increasing diversity in the range of occupations and more women working in the area. However, development is still based on service industries. Around 60% of people in the ward are employed in managerial, professional, and other white-collar occupations. Further, construction, public services, health and education, retailing, and businesses provide employment in the ward. There are around 28 farms in the area, but more residents own nine or more cars. Nearly 180,000 vehicles pass through the vicinity of the survey area each day. Local banks and building societies have branches in the ward and do local business. A former doctor's surgery has been controversially converted into a restaurant. New viable local enterprises mentioned by residents and surveyed by the research worker are a residential school for autistic children, a pizza manufacturer, a legging factory, mobile sandwich shops, van and car repair businesses, electrical contracting, and garden maintenance firms. Visionary local leaders may also need to examine whether a new local industry may be viable and worth publicizing. Tourism could become a local cottage industry. Demographic changes such as migration, age, birth, death, marriage, and divorce rates are shown in the records. The information here is unremarkable and would cause or exacerbate crises to alter how people feel about themselves and their place. Crawcrook is part of the Blaydon parish and has its own parish council, including a historian. Some residents feel passionately about preserving its heritage.