South Shields Sanddancers Forum

I have a book somewhere with pictures of old Marsden Village but I've searched for it and cant find it, I'll keep looking, I know it had a picture of marsden Station in it and the Co-op.

Jarrow Pete has a good book on Marsden Village with lots of photos in it.
It also lists the names of the families who lived there around the time the
book was published, most of the family names mentioned were well known
to me, even some relatives of mine are mentioned in it.

In talking about the cows on the leas, no doubt a few of us will remember playing in the old farmhouse at Blackberry hills when it was derelict.

And the machine gun emplacement.

Marsden Cottage or Halt station was below Blackberry Hills more or less below where the old farmhouse was. The station was the stop for Salmons Hall, later the old farmhouse was a youth club in the late 50s.
The next stop on the railway was to the east of No 2 shaft at Whitburn pit, in the early 1900s it was moved to the west of the pit buildings next to the Coast Road across the road from the pit baths, a bridge used to connect the baths to the station platform.
When I was at Horsley Hill juniors in the early 50s the leas were covered in corn fields and it used to come over the tops of our heads when we ran along the Leas.
The emplacement on Blackberry Hills was an observation post for enemy shipping off the Tyne, there was another identical one to the East of the stables above the golf course.

Well we were both right then....sort of i remember playing at the station nearer to Souter. I also remember the gun emplacement behind the riding school in front of it was the golf course and behind it the reservoirs.

The bottom picture that Pilot has scanned is of the old co-op building, remember going to dances there before the youth club opened on the other side of the road. What were the dates Pilot when you lived in Grotto Road?

pete, from when the houses were brand new I think 1950/51,I was two or three years old till August 1960 when I was 12.

This is leading from Lizard Lane to the Coast Road over the railway line.



This is the Westoe Lane station


comeonthen

Here;s a map of the line as it was in 1933.

Well that has marsden station where I thought it was!!!!!!!

Pilot wrote:Well that has marsden station where I thought it was!!!!!!!

Interesting map. There was definitely a station at the base of Blackberry Hill and it was said to have the smallest platform in the country. In the 1930s the line was re routed south of the grotto approx 100 yards inland due to erosion of the cliffs, the new line was in a cutting to the west side of the coast Road, previously it ran to the east side of the road. In the 50s you could see traces of the old line in the southern end of the grotto car park. The line ran between the old electricity sub station and two cottages perched on the cliff top, electricity sub station might still be there but the cottages disappeared just after the line was moved inland due to cliffs eroding. Could that have been site of Marsden cottage station and the one most of us can remember at base of Blackberry Hill was that another one called Marsden Halt station?
Comeonthens excellent photo of the road crossing the line was of a toll road that ran from the coast road to the high road coming out just south of the golf club next to the cottages there, in fact I am sure one of the cottages was called toll house.
Just wonder if Marsden Halt station was built when the houses at Norfolk Road and off Lincoln Road were completed just after the war.The rattler stopped carrying passengers about 1954 and was used solely for mineral traffic after that.

Here's another map showing the line in 1891.In a book I've got it says ,Marsden cottage halt was 3/4 of a mile north of marsden.which left visitors quite a walk to marsden bay.

In Fig. 73 (the 1891 map) shown above, South Shields appears to be further inland away from the river than it's present position.

Any idea where it used to be ? (possibly, Westoe or the Town Hall area). ???

That is S/S station on the mineral line, the real S/S station can just be seen at the top of the map near the river.

3/4 of a mile north of Marsden Village puts you very close to the grotto and Marsden Bay.

Comeonthen has posted some excellent pictures of Whitburn pit on the Shields board. One of them shows the cottages above the grotto before the cliff eroded away and they collapsed into the North Sea. Photo ref A1900-15

This is an excellent thread.
I was too young to remember the Rattler, it had pretty much been dismantled by the time we were roaming those areas.

I've walked past the Westoe Lane station on Spohr Terrace many a time, and never even knew what it was!! Just another interesting old building. The pictures are great, and the memories very informative.

Thanks everyone.

Wow this realy takes me back . We used to ride the buppers on the old Marsden Rattler, and the cops caught us in the cow shed before they pulled it down. Sargent Welch lived across the road from the farm house and was not pleased when he caught us. I was about seven years old. Jock the cart horse was a great ride, and tatty picking one of our great adventures, eating naggies down in the caves. Boy those were good days, but there were no vandels then and child snachers had not been heard of. the station was down the path from the farm house, Blackberry Hills.