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Some photos of North Wylam Railway Station kindly supplied by David Payne.  North Wylam Railway Station. Photo supplied by David Payne (2016).  North Wylam Railway Station. Photo supplied by David Payne (2016).
 North Wylam Railway Station today. Photo A Curtis (2011).
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On Monday 13th June 2016 Christopher Wardale talked at our monthly meeting about one of his lifetime passions, stained glass. His first degree from Newcastle was in Fine Art and he has been designing and researching the ancient and modern art of stained glass ever since. He trained as an Anglican priest, now retired, and has considerable knowledge of of some fine examples of stained glass in the north-east. His talk revolved around a Metro tour of Newcastle but was interspersed with historical information and personal anecdotes. William Wailes (1808–1881) established a stained-glass firm in Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1838 which became one of the largest in the country. Wailes made a name for himself through the provision of windows for local churches and at the height of the business had 76 employees turning out a new window every day. Christopher Wardale described how Wailes' produced windows often show particular colour combinations making them easily recognised.  St Nicholas Cathedral, Newcastle upon Tyne, east window (detail) by William Wailes. Photo by William Starkey (2014).  Hadrian's Wall, Heddon on the Wall. Photo A Curtis (2011) Hadrian's Wall shows signs that it was planned in straight lines, at least in the relatively flat sections at its west and east ends. This is very similar to Roman roads that take long straight line routes across country often regardless of the intervening topography.
The 200m conserved section of Hadrian's Wall at Heddon on the Wall shows a prominent bend in the broad wall situated just west of the Great Hill on the east side of the village. What does this tell us? According to a book published in 2010, quite a lot.
 Stephenson brick, Close Lea, Heddon on the Wall. Photo A Curtis (2011).  Mr William Stephenson had established a brick and tileworks near the Maria coal pit by 1849, making firebricks, common bricks, quarls, field drainage tiles and soles. Early handmade firebricks were marked “W.S.& Sons, Throckley”, or “Stephenson, Newcastle”. In the 1920s a new grinding plant was installed and two new brick machine presses. The brickyard eventually had 34 Newcastle-type kilns. In 1951, these kilns were replaced by a 20-chamber Staffordshire transverse-arch kiln, and produced six million bricks per year. A tunnel kiln was built in 1965 and the works modernised by the Northern Brick Company. The Throckley yard is the only survivor of a group of 26 brickworks that were owned by the National Coal Board in 1947. In 1973, Gibbons (Dudley) Ltd took over the remaining nine brickworks and by 1977 only Throckley and Cramlington were still working. A brickworks at Newburn was in existence from the 1850s to 1965. The buildings were demolished in 1979 and is now occupied by a recycling plant on the Newburn to Walbottle Road. The Throckley brickworks is now owned by Ibstock plc, registered in Ibstock Leicestershire. http://www.penmorfa.com/bricks/england20a.html
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