COMPLETE Pipewellgate, Gateshead

[Riddlebrick]

Hello

I have just received my Gt Grandmothers birth certificate and her place of birth in 1903 was Prockters Buildings in Pipewellgate Gateshead.  I was wondering if anyone knew what this building was, was it a tenement?  I know that Pipewellgate fro the mid 1800's was not a very nice place to live.

Also her parents James and mary ann swanston on the 1901 census are shown to be living in Chatham, St Mary's parish, Gateshead.  Does anyone know where this was?


Thanks in advance

Emma

[Ecneps]

Hi Emma,

They do sound like apartment buildings and they were near the River Tyne, the enumeration page for 1901 states: (no commas used!) 

Pipewellgate (both sides west of High Level Bridge) Rabbit Banks Road High Level Road Wellington Street (west side of) Hudson Street Half Moon Lane (portion opposite Coal Depots) Bruce's Buildings Pipewellgate Banks Chapel Yard Chatham Harrison's Buildings Procter's Buildings Providence Place Scotts Buildings Scotts Row Scott's Cottages Veitch's Buildings Bowl Alley Bank Blacksmiths Bank Brown & Thistle Yard Marlins Yard Pipewellgate Road Askew Road (no houses)

map of the area here: http://www.rootschat.com/links/0546/

Hope this helps,
Barbara

[Riddlebrick]

Barbara

Thank for this, using the word Apartment makes it sound much more glamorous than the slums they were at the time and indeed stayed until they were demolished in the 1930s .

I had tried a google search but found nothing.

It would also figure that Askew Road had no houses as I believe they were built after 1900, the family did move up there eventually as a marriage cert from 1922 shows this.

Regards

Emma

[stanmapstone]

See http://isee.gateshead.gov.uk/info.php?s=pipewellgate&type=all&t=objects


Stan

[Ecneps]

Thank for this, using the word Apartment makes it sound much more glamorous than the slums they were at the time and indeed stayed until they were demolished in the 1930s .

Thought it sounded better than tenements!
 
Barbara

[Riddlebrick]

It certainly does sound better than tenements I will have to describe them that way when I let my Aunt know.  She'd be mortified if she thought her grandmother was brought up in a slum.
 

Emma

[stanmapstone]

Pipewellgate ran parallel to the river and consisted of small factories, workshops and tenemented houses. It was generally regarded as one of the worst residential areas in Gateshead. Reports of local doctors and inspectors frequently condemned the area. In 1850 Inspector R. Rawlinson wrote of Pipewellgate, 'Neither plan nor written description can adequately convey … the true state and condition of the room-tenements and of the inhabitants occupying them. The subsoil on the sloping side of the hill is damp and most foul, the brickwork of the buildings is ruinous, the timber rotten; and an appearance of general decay pervades the whole district … Single rooms are let off as tenements which are crowded with men, women and children; the walls are discoloured with age, damp and rot; the windows are broken, old rags, straw and boards occupying the place of glass, so that means of light and ventilation alike are absent'. (Manders, 1973)

http://isee.gateshead.gov.uk/detail.php?t=objects&type=all&f=&s=pipewellgate&record=25

Stan

[billslad]

I'm a bit late in the day on the subject but new to this

Proktors Buildings. like Scott's Row, Veatch's Buildings and Scott's Buildings previously mentioned, were rows of tenements built on the hill between Pipewellgate and High Level Road.  The houses on each were linked by external staircases, either wooden or stone flagsones, and each "landing" had a cold water tap and an earth or ash closet.  (Health and Safety eat your heart out).

New Chatham was an area at the west end of Pipewellgate, under the present Metro bridge.  Probably named by someone who had a business there and who originated in the London area.  I remember New Greenwich and New Deptford to the east of the Baltic.

The reason for Askew Road having "no houses" (as mentioned in another post) was because the Greensfield Locomotive Works, which had its northern boundary on High Level Road, had its southern boundary on Askew Road.  Last time I looked, the original boundary wall was still there.  However, further west of the Works, houses were being built on, and branching off from, Askew Road in the 1870s.

Hope your aunt wasn't too mortified - there were some good folk came out of Pipewellgate

John

[Riddlebrick]

John

thank you for this, I was curious about Proktors Buildings as Gt grandmother Alice Swanston (born in Proktors Buildings) was given the middle name of Proctor.

The family eventually moved to the new houses up on Askew road.

Emma