Hazel,
In the mid 1870s, A Newcastle newspaper, The Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, published a series
of articles of life, industry, housing, education, worship, etc on mining communities in Northumberland and Durham,
entitled " OUR COLLIERY VILLAGES".
The 26th article, published on 12 April 1873 was " CHOPPINGTON". It filled 4 newspaper columns.
Below are a few( I am a poor typist) snippets, mainly on Scotland Gate....
" As we leave the station (Choppington railway station) we are flanked on either side by two
most respectable looking hostelries and a number of tenemented brick houses, which at first we imagine to be Choppington.The station master however informs ud that Choppington is not a
single village, one and indivisible, but rather a whole colony of villages. You come first upon Choppington Station, then you reach Scotland Gate, then comes the Guide Post, while away
to the northward you have Choppington Colliery and New Choppington Colliery."
Then Guide Post is described, then.....
" Leaving the Guide Post a walk of half a mile along a very muddy road brings us to Scotland
Gate, which is as it were, the capital of Choppington, more on account of its central position,
than for its size or for any other virtue which it may possess.
Scotland Gate may be described as consisting of one broad street about three or four hundred yards in length, the houses at each side being respectable looking brick houses, two storeys high
, the property of various individuals. Many of these houses are tenemented with a family residing
in every room, and where this state of things exist, there is a lamentable want of exterior accommodation. The west side of the street is much the worst in this respect, and it may be as well to observe that the east side is much the most respectable side of the street, the houses having newer and fitted up with more regard to the requirements of decency and comfort.
In one case at the west side, only four privies are provided for the use of twenty families, and these privies with their attendant ash pits, are situated at such a short distance from the doors
of the houses, that in summer the stench from them must be well nigh insufferable"
" Nor are these the only nuisances to which Scotland Gate must submit, for almost at their very doors , they are stormed at by fire and smoke from to different sources
( a burning pit heap and a brick factory)
And lots more on schooling and worship.. then finale...
" We turn our face homeward, thanking heaven that we have a Town Councils in our large towns which though sometimes neglecting their duty, never permit the public health to be endangered
by such sanitary abuses that disgrace Choppington"
Michael
