Dunston is situated in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear where the River Tyne joins the River Team and it was probably a good source of salmon and other fish that attracted its first settlers but the earliest mention of Dunston is found on a tombstone in Whickham Church Yard bearing the inscription :- “Robert Pescod of Dunston died 14th Febrvarie 1609″ Below left.
Welcome to the history pages of Dunston, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear. Dunston is located on the banks of the River Tyne in the Metropolitan Borough
of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear and lies on the mouth of the River Team, Prior to 1873 Dunston formerly known as Lowhand was a township in the parish of WhickhamIn a document which is still in existence and bearing the date 1623 it is named “Dunstle”.
The earliest occupation connected with the stretch of river at Dunston dates from the 1100′s when "yares’ or dams with traps set in them were built to catch salmon as they moved up river, the next occupation and first industry as we think today was the erection of the staithes, these were built from the mid-1300′s onwards and eventually grew in size until those built in 1893 by the North East Railway Company.
Coal at Dunston was cheap and plentiful to mine, before steam it could be carried in wains along runners down to the Tyne or River Team, the first ever railway ran between Ravensworth Colliery and the original Teams Staithes in 1671. (Team Staithes stood on the River Team down Clockmill Road).
Teams is the name of the area east of the River Team opposite Dunston but also an alternative name for the river. In the nineteenth century this area was part of Low Team and noted for a ropeworks. To the south beyond Lobley Hill Road was High Team, now the northern part of Team Valley Trading Estate in the vicinity of Lobley Hill Road
However, back in 875AD it is known the Vikings (the Danes) overwintered at the mouth of the Team after they had entered the river estuary and destroyed Tynemouth Priory. Once the winter was over they raided the North East and Scotland and ransacked Hexham Abbey.
The orgin of the name is something of a puzzle “Dun” means usually means “Hill” so this can be interpeted that Dunston means “Hill Town” as the original Dunston started at the top of Dunston Bank the former Dunston Hill Hospital and was once home to the Carr-Ellisons who owned the lands called Dunston, the flat areas down towards the River Tyne once part of Whickham was called “Lowhand”, Whickham at the time was split into four quarters, Lowhand, Swalwell, Fellside and Whickham Township. Lowhand eventually became known as Dunston which was the area by the Tyne which grew from the growing industries at the time , Dunston was part of Whickham up untill 1872 when Dunston formed its own Parish with the building of Christ Church on Wellington Road.
Another possibility of the name "Dunston" (first recorded in 1244) derives in fact from a description in the old-English and translates "Hill-Rock" It refers to a fort and wood close to Dunston Hill, later the residence there was occupied by the family of folk hero Bobby Shafto the trader who went to sea "with silver-buckles onhis knees".
Another way Dunston could of been named was Dunston = Hill With Stones" (Dun=hill), on the top of the Bankie Fields was a cottage called the "Seven Sisters" this cottage, area, took its name from a set of standing stones that was reported to have been near by.
The History of Durham by McKenzie contains the following description of Dunston as it was in 1834 :- “Dunston is a populous township. It stretches from the River Team westward along the margin of the River Tyne for upwards of half a mile, the site seems to have been mostly gained from the River Tyne and is therefore called “The Bishop’s Waste”. “The houses which are built with surprising irregularity have mostly gardens attached to them, there are two or three neat and convenieny houses occupied in the coal-works but most of the cottages are inhabited by keel-men” “Mr. Henry Winlo’s large sawmill worked by steam, a candle manufactory belonging to Harrison, Cuthbert and Co, a coal wagon wright and a keel builder are among the useful concerns of the place which also contains four public houses”.“Dunston Lodge stands a short distance from the village, it is the property of General Marley and is at present occupied by Mr. John E. Wilkinson who keeps
a lunatic asylum”
“At the foot of Dunston Hill is Cowheel, containing a farm hold, two public houses and a blacksmith’s shop, on the edge of the hill are two very neat cottages”.
In William Bourn’s “History of Whickham Parish” he lists “the village with a population of Dunston as 1,150 contained ten public houses, three of them being connected with the staithes” “The population in 1811 was 1,094, in 1821 1.150, in 1831 1.184, 1841 1,192, in 1851 1,618, in 1881 2,691, in 1891, 3,325.
The local directory of 1851 lists the local gentry as being John Barras of Farnacres, Jane Wilkinson of Dunston Cottage and Ralph and Samual Parker of Dunston Hill. It also lists the four public houses.. as being The Board, The Keel, The Highlander and the Cross Keys, the Dun Cow was one of the public houses in Cowheel.
Heritage
Modern sites of importance to the local cultural heritage include World War Two pill boxes and a road block site, one road block site was on Gas Yard Bank just over the River Team bridge and one Pill box is still in existence.
Dunston Hill
Half a mile east of Whickham stands Dunston Hill Hall, one of the seats of J. R. Carr-Ellison, Esq, commanding a beautiful prospect of Newcastle and the adjacent country. Entering the park from the Whickham turnpike, you have a short but charming walk along the carriage drive to the hall which stands on your right, it is a large handsome mansion facing both north and east, on your left are the stables and cottages for the workmen a walk between two lines of splendid beeches brings you to the gardens containing two and a half acres laid out with great skill and taste.
Returning to the Hall a winding carriage drive conducts you to another entrance at Carrs Bank, half way down this road you cross Halliwell Lane the old road which formerly connected the main road to Whickham with Dunston before Carrs bank was made, this old road is marked out by two lines of trees, it was here on reaching Halliwell Lane that the “Leigh Lonnen” terminated, and by which most of the coals were conveyed in wains to Dunston. On the north side of the hall is a path to the cottages near to the foot of Carrs Bank, halfway down this path is a well, which formerly called “The Holy Well” and of which Halliwell is probably a corruption.
Dunston Hill Estate was formerly the seat of the Shaftoe Family but was purchased by John Carr in 1704, in 1739 John died and his son Ralph inherited the estate, Ralph enlarged the estate and built the present hall in around 1760, Ralph’s son John Carr (1764-1817) inherited the estate after Ralph died in 1806, John married Hannah Ellison, eldest daughter of Henry Ellison, Esq. of Hebburn Hall in 1758, they had nine children, their eldest Ralph Carr (1805-1884), who was born 23rd November 1805, was educated at harrow and Oxford, as a gentleman commoner and succeeded to the family estate upon the death of his father in 1817, in the year 1829 he married Elizabeth Werge, second daughter of Major John Werge of the 38th foot and had eleven children. For many years he was a county magistrate, in 1845 he was High Sheriff of Northumberland.
It was in 1870, on becoming entitled to a considerable portion of the Ellison Estates, that he added the name Ellison to his own and thus became Ralph Carr-Ellison, in the parish he was always called “the squire”. Mr Carr-Ellison died on the 4th February 1884 and a few days later his remains were interred in the family vault at Whickham.
Dunston Hill Estate was offered for sale to Whickham Urban District Council in 1914, it was proposed to turn the grounds into a public park but with the outbreak of the First World War the Estate was leased to the War Office for use as a temporary hospital until 1956 when it passed into the hands of the Ministry of Health.
of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear and lies on the mouth of the River Team, Prior to 1873 Dunston formerly known as Lowhand was a township in the parish of WhickhamIn a document which is still in existence and bearing the date 1623 it is named “Dunstle”.
The earliest occupation connected with the stretch of river at Dunston dates from the 1100′s when "yares’ or dams with traps set in them were built to catch salmon as they moved up river, the next occupation and first industry as we think today was the erection of the staithes, these were built from the mid-1300′s onwards and eventually grew in size until those built in 1893 by the North East Railway Company.
Coal at Dunston was cheap and plentiful to mine, before steam it could be carried in wains along runners down to the Tyne or River Team, the first ever railway ran between Ravensworth Colliery and the original Teams Staithes in 1671. (Team Staithes stood on the River Team down Clockmill Road).
Teams is the name of the area east of the River Team opposite Dunston but also an alternative name for the river. In the nineteenth century this area was part of Low Team and noted for a ropeworks. To the south beyond Lobley Hill Road was High Team, now the northern part of Team Valley Trading Estate in the vicinity of Lobley Hill Road
However, back in 875AD it is known the Vikings (the Danes) overwintered at the mouth of the Team after they had entered the river estuary and destroyed Tynemouth Priory. Once the winter was over they raided the North East and Scotland and ransacked Hexham Abbey.
The orgin of the name is something of a puzzle “Dun” means usually means “Hill” so this can be interpeted that Dunston means “Hill Town” as the original Dunston started at the top of Dunston Bank the former Dunston Hill Hospital and was once home to the Carr-Ellisons who owned the lands called Dunston, the flat areas down towards the River Tyne once part of Whickham was called “Lowhand”, Whickham at the time was split into four quarters, Lowhand, Swalwell, Fellside and Whickham Township. Lowhand eventually became known as Dunston which was the area by the Tyne which grew from the growing industries at the time , Dunston was part of Whickham up untill 1872 when Dunston formed its own Parish with the building of Christ Church on Wellington Road.
Another possibility of the name "Dunston" (first recorded in 1244) derives in fact from a description in the old-English and translates "Hill-Rock" It refers to a fort and wood close to Dunston Hill, later the residence there was occupied by the family of folk hero Bobby Shafto the trader who went to sea "with silver-buckles onhis knees".
Another way Dunston could of been named was Dunston = Hill With Stones" (Dun=hill), on the top of the Bankie Fields was a cottage called the "Seven Sisters" this cottage, area, took its name from a set of standing stones that was reported to have been near by.
The History of Durham by McKenzie contains the following description of Dunston as it was in 1834 :- “Dunston is a populous township. It stretches from the River Team westward along the margin of the River Tyne for upwards of half a mile, the site seems to have been mostly gained from the River Tyne and is therefore called “The Bishop’s Waste”. “The houses which are built with surprising irregularity have mostly gardens attached to them, there are two or three neat and convenieny houses occupied in the coal-works but most of the cottages are inhabited by keel-men” “Mr. Henry Winlo’s large sawmill worked by steam, a candle manufactory belonging to Harrison, Cuthbert and Co, a coal wagon wright and a keel builder are among the useful concerns of the place which also contains four public houses”.“Dunston Lodge stands a short distance from the village, it is the property of General Marley and is at present occupied by Mr. John E. Wilkinson who keeps
a lunatic asylum”
“At the foot of Dunston Hill is Cowheel, containing a farm hold, two public houses and a blacksmith’s shop, on the edge of the hill are two very neat cottages”.
In William Bourn’s “History of Whickham Parish” he lists “the village with a population of Dunston as 1,150 contained ten public houses, three of them being connected with the staithes” “The population in 1811 was 1,094, in 1821 1.150, in 1831 1.184, 1841 1,192, in 1851 1,618, in 1881 2,691, in 1891, 3,325.
The local directory of 1851 lists the local gentry as being John Barras of Farnacres, Jane Wilkinson of Dunston Cottage and Ralph and Samual Parker of Dunston Hill. It also lists the four public houses.. as being The Board, The Keel, The Highlander and the Cross Keys, the Dun Cow was one of the public houses in Cowheel.
Heritage
Modern sites of importance to the local cultural heritage include World War Two pill boxes and a road block site, one road block site was on Gas Yard Bank just over the River Team bridge and one Pill box is still in existence.
Dunston Hill
Half a mile east of Whickham stands Dunston Hill Hall, one of the seats of J. R. Carr-Ellison, Esq, commanding a beautiful prospect of Newcastle and the adjacent country. Entering the park from the Whickham turnpike, you have a short but charming walk along the carriage drive to the hall which stands on your right, it is a large handsome mansion facing both north and east, on your left are the stables and cottages for the workmen a walk between two lines of splendid beeches brings you to the gardens containing two and a half acres laid out with great skill and taste.
Returning to the Hall a winding carriage drive conducts you to another entrance at Carrs Bank, half way down this road you cross Halliwell Lane the old road which formerly connected the main road to Whickham with Dunston before Carrs bank was made, this old road is marked out by two lines of trees, it was here on reaching Halliwell Lane that the “Leigh Lonnen” terminated, and by which most of the coals were conveyed in wains to Dunston. On the north side of the hall is a path to the cottages near to the foot of Carrs Bank, halfway down this path is a well, which formerly called “The Holy Well” and of which Halliwell is probably a corruption.
Dunston Hill Estate was formerly the seat of the Shaftoe Family but was purchased by John Carr in 1704, in 1739 John died and his son Ralph inherited the estate, Ralph enlarged the estate and built the present hall in around 1760, Ralph’s son John Carr (1764-1817) inherited the estate after Ralph died in 1806, John married Hannah Ellison, eldest daughter of Henry Ellison, Esq. of Hebburn Hall in 1758, they had nine children, their eldest Ralph Carr (1805-1884), who was born 23rd November 1805, was educated at harrow and Oxford, as a gentleman commoner and succeeded to the family estate upon the death of his father in 1817, in the year 1829 he married Elizabeth Werge, second daughter of Major John Werge of the 38th foot and had eleven children. For many years he was a county magistrate, in 1845 he was High Sheriff of Northumberland.
It was in 1870, on becoming entitled to a considerable portion of the Ellison Estates, that he added the name Ellison to his own and thus became Ralph Carr-Ellison, in the parish he was always called “the squire”. Mr Carr-Ellison died on the 4th February 1884 and a few days later his remains were interred in the family vault at Whickham.
Dunston Hill Estate was offered for sale to Whickham Urban District Council in 1914, it was proposed to turn the grounds into a public park but with the outbreak of the First World War the Estate was leased to the War Office for use as a temporary hospital until 1956 when it passed into the hands of the Ministry of Health.
Dunston Hill Hall Today.
FAMOUS PEOPLE FROM DUNSTON...
Harry Clasper, born 1812 died 1870, professional rower and boat builder. He was an innovative boat designer who pioneered the development of the racing shell and the use of outriggers. He is said to have invented spoon-shaped oars. He was the first of three well-known Tyneside oarsmen, the other two being Robert Chambers and James Renforth, Harry Clasper on wikipedia >>
Paul Gascoigne, (Gazza) footballer, Paul was born in Pitt Street, Teams, Gateshead, May 27 1967 and attended Brighton Avenue Primary School, Breckenbeds Junior High and Heathfield High. He moved to Dunston when he was 11 years old and lived in Clephan Street.
Brian Johnson of AC/DC is a Dunston lad from Beech Drive.
Victoria Hopper, born 1909 in Vancouver, a 30's film star emigrated to Dunston with her family when she was 14, Victoria died in 2007.
Harry Clasper, born 1812 died 1870, professional rower and boat builder. He was an innovative boat designer who pioneered the development of the racing shell and the use of outriggers. He is said to have invented spoon-shaped oars. He was the first of three well-known Tyneside oarsmen, the other two being Robert Chambers and James Renforth, Harry Clasper on wikipedia >>
Paul Gascoigne, (Gazza) footballer, Paul was born in Pitt Street, Teams, Gateshead, May 27 1967 and attended Brighton Avenue Primary School, Breckenbeds Junior High and Heathfield High. He moved to Dunston when he was 11 years old and lived in Clephan Street.
Brian Johnson of AC/DC is a Dunston lad from Beech Drive.
Victoria Hopper, born 1909 in Vancouver, a 30's film star emigrated to Dunston with her family when she was 14, Victoria died in 2007.
