Heddon-on-the-Wall: The Church and Parish.
Cadwallader J. Bates M.A.
Archaeologia aeliana v11 p240-294 (1886)
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Appendix E from
Heddon-on-the-Wall: The Church and Parish. Cadwallader J. Bates M.A. Archaeologia aeliana v11 p240-294 (1886)
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Tyne & Wear Historic Environment Record (HER) - Sitelines - lists two cinemas in Throckley, both buildings now demolished. Tyne and Wear HER (7963): The Picture and Variety Palace, Bank Field Terrace. Shown on third edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch to 1 mile of 1920. The planning application for the picture theatre was made in 1912. The building was to be single storey, 70 feet long by 45 feet wide, and constucted of timber with a corrugated iron roof. The picture theatre was demolished by 1952 and the site was turned into a car park in the 1970s. Cinema Treasures website provides further information. The Picture & Variety Palace: 1 screen, 600 seats. Located on Bank Field Terrace, off the main Newcastle to Hexham Road, in the village of Throckley to the west of Newcastle upon Tyne. The building was constructed out of corrugated iron on its side walls and roof. It was the former Picturedrome of Newburn (October 1910-1911) which was designed by architect E. Tweddle of West Hartlepool. It was dismantled and and transported to Throckley by operator Towyn Thomas in October 1912. An additional 12ft was added to its length. It was granted a Cinematograph Licence on 12th November 1912. In July 1922 it was taken over by Charles Nichol and was re-named Imperial Cinema. On 12th December 1922 it was destroyed by fire. A car park now occupies the site The village of Throckley was without a cinema until the Lyric Cinema was opened in 1935 (it has its own page on Cinema Treasures). Tyne and Wear HER (12844): Lyric Cinema, Newburn Road. The Hinge circuit built the Lyric to designs by Percy L. Browne. It had a 850 seat auditorium with a dance hall and 7 shops. The Lyric opened on 15 May 1935 and the proceeds were donated to the Newburn and District Nursing Association, Newburn Cottage Homes and other local charities. The cinema had ruched curtains which changed colour from orange to green to red before the show started. The Lyric closed in October 1966 and became a bingo hall. It closed in the mid 1970s when permission was refused to convert it into an amusement arcade. Cinema Treasures website provides further information. Lyric Cinema, Throckley 1 screen, 858 seats. Located in the village of Throckley, which today is a district to the outer west of Newcastle upon Tyne. The Lyric Cinema was built by the E.J. Hinge Circuit and opened on 15th May 1935 with William Powell in “The Thin Man”. Designed by architect Percy Lindsay Browne in an Art Deco style, seating was provided in stalls and circle levels. There was also a cafe & darts club in the building, which also had a row of shops attached. It was equipped with a British Talking Pictures (BTP) sound system. The Lyric Cinema was closed in October 1966 and became a bingo club. It was closed in 1976 and the building became derelict and vandalised. It has since been demolished and the site is now a car park for Sainsbury’s Supermarket. The end shop unit still stands and is in use as Lyric Wines. Junction of Newburn Road & Hexham Road, Throckley. Photo A Curtis (2011). Taken from the roundabout at the junction with Hexham Road. St Mary's Church is on the left NZ1566 : St Mary the Virgin Church, Throckley. The small building behind the car is the only reminder of the Lyric Cinema which used to be at this junction. The store is called, 'Lyric Wines'. The Lyric Cinema opened in 1935 and closed in 1966. Screenshots and information below taken from Martins Bank Archive. The Bank of Liverpool and Martins opened a branch at FIELD HOUSE, Throckley in July 1922 – one of fifteen new branches and sub-branches opened that year. It was in service for fourteen years until 30 June 1936. More than thirty years later, Martins decided to open a sub-Branch in Throckley once more, this time choosing ALLENDALE HOUSE. This opened on 23rd October 1967. Martins merged with Barclays in 1969 and the Throckley branch finally closed ten years later on 29th June 1979. In both cases Throckley operated as a sub-Branch to Newburn, and the more recent bank opened across the full banking week. Although known as the Walbottle Hoard, this cache of over 5000 Roman coins of the third century was found by Hadrian's Wall in Throckley, close to the now-disused water filter beds. The Tyne & Wear Historic Environment Record (Sitelines HER ref. 1241) describes: The cache of over 5000 Roman coins, known as the Walbottle hoard, was found in 1879 during the construction of the Newcastle and Gateshead Water Company's filter beds (HER ref. 4236). It seems likely that the hoard may have been concealed in the Wall ditch near the site of Milecastle No. 11, at Throckley Bank Top. The coins were mostly of the decade AD 260-70. The hoard was dispersed in small lots by the finder, an Irish labourer, but subsequently some eight hundred or more were acquired by the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle. As recorded in HER ref. 4236: The water treatment works with extensive filter beds were completed in 1875 for the Newcastle and Gateshead Water Company. This involved extensive terracing and excavation of the area of the treatment plant, during the course of which the 'Walbottle Hoard' (SMR 1421) was found. The find was first described by John Clayton in 1880: Clayton, J. (1880). Discovery of a Hoard of Roman Coins on the Wall of Hadrian. Archaeologia Aeliana Series 2. Vol 8, Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle. pp. 256-280. The discovery was made by an Irish labourer employed in digging for the purpose of laying water-pipes in the bed of the road. He met with the vase at a depth of four feet beneath the surface of the road, and in close proximity to the southern face of the Wall of Hadrian, and at a spot where three or four courses of stones of that wall remain in situ buried in the road. The vessel in which the.coins were contained is represented in the engraving on the previous page; it is of dark-coloured earthenware, and measures in height one foot two inches, and in girth or circumference at the widest part thirty-six inches. 5,028 coins were catalogued by Robert Blair and many were illustrated. They appear to be mainly small bronze coins of low denomination (antoniniani), with a few silvered-bronze (known as 'billon'). The workman sold a small number of coins privately but John Clayton managed to purchase the pot and most of those remaining. A few are now displayed in the Clayton Collection in Chesters museum. A small number of coins from the hoard were later acquired by the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle Upon Tyne (SANT) (see table below). Another paper was published about the hoard in 1931 justified by increased understanding of Roman coinage being able to add considerable information about the dates and places of minting of the coins: Hedley, W. Percy (1931). The Walbottle (Throckley) hoard of Roman Coins. Archaeologia Aeliana Series 4. Vol 8, pp. 12-48. The paper estimated the value of the hoard at the time of its being buried or lost to be only about £13. This would represent the pay of a common soldier for about two and a half years, or one and a half years if it had belonged to a centurion. The paper explains that in AD 270-272 there were disturbances on the frontier that could account for the concealment of the hoard. Peter Guest has recently published papers reexamining the basis for Roman coin hoards: Guest, P (2015) 'The Burial, Loss and Recovery of Roman Coin Hoards in Britain and Beyond: past, present and future' pages 101-116 in J. Naylor and R. Bland (eds) 'Hoarding and the Deposition of Metalwork from the Bronze Age to the 20th Century: a British Perspective.' Oxford: Archaeopress. Guest P. (2018) ‘The Walbottle Hoard of 1879: re-examination and reassessment’, Archaeologia Aeliana 5th series, vol. 46, 41-75 (with F. McIntosh and M. Ponting). He concludes that the two previous papers about the Walbottle hoard reflect modern attitudes towards the Roman past rather than proven archaeological reality, and the continued failure to accurately date when hoards were buried and lost remains a significant problem: "imagined ‘events’ that led to its owner hiding the jar and coins in the ground, both authors believed, firstly that the 5,000 coins had been buried because of an imminent threat to the owner and presumably his property, secondly that it was the intention of the owner to return at some point in the future to recover his buried wealth, and finally that he had been unable to do so because of some unforeseen incident." Why the hoard was buried and not recovered is likely to remain a mystery for the foreseeable future.
The Prohibition Movement Papers and Proceedings of the National Convention for the Prohibition of the Liquor Traffic, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, April 3rd to 9th, 1897. Edited by Guy Hayler (1897). The following is reported on pages 25-26. The Newcastle Daily Chronicle gives the following testimony in favour of Prohibition. “As at Ford, at and Scot's Gap, as at Belsay, so at Throckley. But there is a difference. The former places are rural villages devoted to agriculture and the peaceful pursuits of the country. But at Throckley, only six miles west of Newcastle, the hum of modern life is distinctly heard, and the quiet seclusion Of the other Prohibition estates mentioned is wanting. It is a place no less ancient, however, than the rest, for it dates back further than the ancient city of Newcastle. When William the Conqueror's eldest son Robert led, as far north as Falkirk, the expedition which was principally memorable from the fact of his founding the New Castle upon the Tyne during his homeward march, and the real conquest of Northumberland began, the county was parcelled out among the warriors who helped to win the victory at Hastings. Throckley, however, with other sundry small places, remained in the hands of its Saxon proprietor. There had been people at Throckley long before this, and a very fine ancient British barrow at Dewley, which is now considered part of Throckley, is not yet obliterated by the plough. Dewley, it may be recalled, was one of the places where George Stephenson, the great locomotive engineer, lived in his early years,while he was married at Newburn, of which parish Throckley is a part. It was not far from Throckley, it is said, that Martin the painter selected the view over the Tyne towards Wylam for reproduction in his picture, 'The Plains of Heaven.' "Prohibition has existed at Throckley for some thirty years, since the starting of the colliery. Formerly there were two public-houses. Now the sale of drink is prohibited on all the estate, which is leased by the colliery company, and on the land which belongs to Greenwich Hospital, and which was formerly owned by the ill-starred Derwentwater family. Not only can the inhabitants not buy drink, but they may not keep dogs or pigeons, and so gamble on the result of rabbit-coursing, greyhound-racing, or pigeon-flying. It is estimated that the number of inhabitants now reaches close upon 2,000, and for a pit village it is claimed that in the orderliness and prosperity of its people it is second to no other in Northumberland and Durham. More than half of the miners are total abstainers, for the prohibition of drink, dogs, and pigeons keeps away those that are inclined thereto, and the result of the repulsion of these is a sort of artificial selection of steady workmen, who have in the course of years formed themselves into an industrious, peaceable and thriving community, as is evidenced on every hand. The Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist Chapels and the Church (which is an offshoot of that of Newburn, the head of the parish) are all well attended, and the ministers and clergy report that the number of men they find attending morning service at these places of worship is quite exceptional. The miners are equally good in turning up for work in an efficient condition on Monday mornings, guiltless of 'after-damp' from any Saturday and Sunday potations—and it is said that Throckley Colliery leads all the collieries of the county in this respect. Fortunately in regard to work the pit is one of the most regular in the district, having worked eleven days per fortnight for several years past, and the men earn an average of 5s. a day. At the excellent and commodious British Schools there is an average attendance of 500 scholars, and the Board of Guardians at Ponteland is called upon to pay the fees of only three. Pinching poverty is almost unknown in this healthy and well-conducted village. "One of the plainest manifestations of the thriving character of Throckley is to seen in its Co-operative Society. The members' share capital amounts to over £14,000, and each quarter's sales exceed £8,000, while it pays a dividend averaging 3s 8d. in the pound. Besides the handsome block of store buildings in which its business is carried on, the Co-operative Society has built at a cost of about £I,500 a large handsome hall of corrugated iron on a brick foundation. The build- ing is handsomely fitted up inside, and contains a smoking room, a reading room, a billiard and games room, and an entertainment hall with accommodation for nearly 600 persons. Members of this institution. which is also carried on on Temperance principles, obtain for a small fee valuable social privileges, and in the winter a busy round of entertainments of various kinds is kept up almost nightly. During the summer. these entertainments are not entirely suspended, and every pay-day a ball is held, which is carried on merrily into the small hours like any city dance. This does not end the Society's enterprise, for it has bought a piece of land adjoining the highroad on which members have built eleven cottages, costing a sum of £2,640. These the owners do not themselves occupy. for they are pitmen living in colliery houses rent-free, but. having by their thrift become small capitalists, they have adopted this manner of investing their savings. It is the exception for members of the Co-operative Society to withdraw their quarterly dividends, and nearly every member has a tidy little sum to his credit in the Society's books. Others of the miners have bought from the Greenwich Hospital Trustees plots of half an acre of land on part of which they have built houses, and they employ their leisure in cultivating these little estates with considerable skill. The rows of miners' houses are very neat and clean. and all the gardens fully worked, while several occupants have erected small greenhouses therein, and others have built stables and sheds and are the owners of horses, traps, and carts, which they let on hire or use for adding to their incomes. "On what is known as the Bank Top is the Mechanics' Institute, in which are a reading room and recreation room, the latter containing a billiard table and facilities for playing other games. In the summer time a large flower show is held, managed by a committee of working men, and the members of the Co-operative Society promote a leek show, which is held in the Co-operative Hall, as a counter attraction to the leek shows held at the public-houses in the neighbouring villages. The Mechanics' Institute members also hold picnics during the summer, as rival attractions to those of the inns, that, taking things as a whole, the Throckley people contrive to get for themselves plenty of recreation, amusement, variety, and excitement on strictly Temperance principles. Full employment is found for three abstinence societies. each flourishing and with a membership continually at work—the Good Templars, the Rechabites, and a branch of the British Women's Temperance Association. Possibly one active cause of the maintenance of Prohibition in Throckley, more potent, perhaps, than all the efforts of the proprietors of the colliery, is the existence in the village of a perfect water supply. The Newcastle and Gateshead Water Company have filtering beds at Throckley, and they supply the village with water of a quality that is not obtainable at every mining village in the North Of England. This is a great and exceptional advantage, and must be held to supplement very materially the eflorts which have been made by all parties to make Throckley a striking instance of the beneficial results of the application of Prohibition in regard to drinking and other habits which militate against thrift and prevent the acquisition of comfort and independence amongst the working class inhabitants." The population on the 1891 census was 1,464. Showing former location of the Mechanics' Institute (at Bank Top), Newcastle & Gateshead Water Comapny Filter Beds, Wesleyan Chapel and Colliery Schools. Tyne & Wear HER (Sitelines ref 1957) provides the following information: In September 1870 the Throckley Coal Company determined upon building day schools for the children of its employees, and the following year a site was chosen on the north side of the Hexham turnpike, belonging to the Lords of the Admiralty, at a cost of 1/- per annum. The school buildings, constructed of local sandstone after 1872, cost £1,293.16.4d. About the same date a Wesleyan Methodist Chapel was built immediately west of the schools (the chapel was demolished in 1998/9 and has been replaced by two houses). The school was opened in 1873, a fact recorded on a sign adjacent to the main entrance and on a commemorative stained glass window inside. The Throckley Colliery School was later renamed Throckley Undenominational School. During the Second World War air raid shelters were built on the north side of the playground. The original stone school buildings were altered and adapted throughout the 20th century, but were due for demolition in 2003. Throckley Methodist Church, 1906. Newcastle Libraries ref. 024553. A view of the exterior of Throckley Methodist Church Hexham Road Throckley taken 1906. The Church is in the centre with the Church Hall to the right and the Water Company Resevoir to the left. Two groups of children are standing/sitting outside the Church and Church Hall.The Wesleyan Methodist Church was built in 1871 and the Church Hall in 1905. My attempt (with help from friends) at transcribing a poem in the Northumbrian dialect by J Peter Athey. Any errors are mine. An mp3 of the poem was posted to the website, Caught by the River, on 9th June 2011. The Poem About the River Coquet by J Peter Athey A mile oot by at Buckham’s Waals it first sees light o’ day; The wee-bit wobbling twickling sike, barely strength to run away. Noo like a bairn in its early years it grows with quickening speed; As it starts its journey to the sea from the wastes of Coquet Heed. Noo it’s here by the Usway Burn, then joined by the Ridlees Watter; It’s running noo with yelp and skelp, with splash and foam and clatter. Past Alwinton on Show Day, and aal the happy thrang; Past Angryhaugh and Harbottle, with its ancient castle strang. Mair slowly noo at Hepple, where speckled trooties lie, To test the skilful angler with his fancy tethered fly. Rothbury racecourse and Weldon Bridge, then Felton doon to Amble, Past gentle staring sheep and coos, and lambs that skip and gamble. Twixt the piers and o’er the bar, to freedom past the Isle, This my friends is wonderland, for nigh on fifty mile. So whichever village ye come from, for aeons the poets have spoke it, It’s the silver threed that binds us aal, the queen of rivers, the Coquet. I was reminded of the work of Peter Athey by a letter from Ron Bailey published in The Northumbrian (p.61, Issue 196, October/November 2023). Athey posted poems at obscure locations in the countryside, including Cateran Hole on Bewick Moor, Redheugh Crag, Caller Crags and along with a constructed gallows on Rimside Moor. Many of the poems have subsequently disappeared. There is some more information onthe website of Fabulous North. Erected in 2010, just west of the wood at Old Moorhouse Inn A poem, 'The Hungry Gallows Tree', written in a Northumbrian dialect by Peter Athey for the occasion is attached to the upright post: The first stanza setting the theme of his 'fanciful tale' of betrayal and a grisly hanging is given below: Twixt Greystone Knowe and Wellhope Knowe, On the auld North Turnpike Road Stood the Rimside Inn In former times a place o' grim forbode. Leanmeanmo writes: "There is a small shelter below the Holly bush. The cave contains a surprise to which the bush is relevant! Update. The surprise, 'Ode to Guyzant Meg' by local poet J. P. Athey, has sadly disappeared." This is one of the poems duplicated and replaced by Ron Bailey, referred to (and reproduced) in his letter to The Northumbrian. Athey's poem left at Caller Crags was photographed by Leanmeanmo in 2014 and posted on Geograph (below). Constructed by Mr P J Athey and erected on Glantlees Hill with kind permission of Mrs Judy Fortescue. Lit for the first time on 15 October 2011 at 1900 hrs. Above photo taken from a post in 2010 on The Otter's Holt. Five of the luxury bedrooms of the Northumberland Arms in Felton were named by J.P. Athey:
Eshot Castle “Over seven hundred years it’s stood here, to bring you peace, to belay your fear”. Brainshaugh Priory “In this protective arm o’ the Coket river; peace and solitude bide forever”. Thirston House “In this stately, lovely genteel house, Lives friendship. Be ye rich or poor, Man or Mouse”. Bockenfield Market “Here neath the green grassy sod concealed, lays the ancient Market Town of Bockenfield”. New Moor Tower “Neath Overgrass farm, stands New Moor Tower. Counting the Century’s, as we Count the Hours”. Historic England Research Record ID: 22701 Site of a 16th century house, incorporating a 15th century fortified house or bastle. A centurial stone was found built into the tower in 1887. The building has since been demolished. More information : NZ 1695 6514. The remains of Newburn Hall, originally a Pele Tower, to which a 16th century house was added, are embedded in Messrs. Spencer's Steel Works, immediately to the north of the railway at Newburn. An inscribed stone was found in 1887, built up in an old tower at the Newburn Steel works. It measured 1' 3" x 11", and read:-"Leg(io) XX V(aleria) V(ictrix) C(o)ho(rs) IIII C(Centuria) Lib(urni) Fro(ntonis) C(Centuria) Tere(nti) Mag(ni)". ("Built by the 20th Legion styled Valeria Victrix, the 4th cohort, the century of Liburnius Fronto (and) the century of Terentius Magnus). In the centre at the bottom is an eagle; on the left a vexillum inscribed Leg XX; on the right a standard. (1) The remains of Newburn Hall have been demolished and its site re-developed. The centurial stone is now in the Museum of Antiquities in the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Acc. No. 1887.26. (2) Newburn Hall was a 15th century tower with a 16th century dwelling attached to it. The Percys built both, and in 1530, Sir Thomas Percy, brother of the 6th Earl, made the hall his home. (3) Listed as a bastle. (4) Figures below from: Knowles, W. H. (1915). Newburn Hall and Manor House, Northumberland. Archaeologia Aeliana Series 3. Vol 12, p. 186-199. William Henry Knowles (1857-1943) was a Newcastle born architect and antiquarian. He was a leading member of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and became the Society's Vice-President in 1913. So his sketches were published shortly after this. Knowles was involved in several archeological excavations and also produced many sketches of buildings in Newcastle, including those published in the book "Vestiges of Old Newcastle and Gateshead." (1890). He had an office with a Mr Armstrong at 8 Mosley St. They were responsible for the Grand Hotel in the Haymarket and the old YMCA building on Blackett St, neither exist now. From Facebook Post by Nichol Morton. Roman inscribed centurial stone now in the Great North Museum: Hancock (RIB 2077) Figure below from: Bruce, J. Collingwood. (1889). On some newly discovered Roman Inscriptions, etc. - An Inscribed Slab from Newburn. Archaeologia Aeliana Series 2. Vol 13, pp. 192-196. Stevens, Arch. Ael. 4th Ser. 26 (1948) 40 n. 87 considers that the inscribed stone is ‘perhaps a “carry” from Benwell [fort] but may be from a fort at Newburn’. As, however, Benwell lies nearly 4.8 km. from Newburn, and no site has yet been proved at Newburn, it seems best to place this inscription among items of uncertain origin. The flanking reliefs and the mention of two centuries make the stone exceptional R.P.W. Location of Newburn Hall shown on National Library of Scotland Side-by-side viewer. 1st Edition OS and modern Bing satellite. The former location occupied by Newburn Hall roughly coincides with the modern factory building known by the name "Old Neolith Building". This is the white-roofed prefabricated building just west of the former cordage works (later Pringle's vehicle dismantling yard) and Trojan Scaffolding and Skip Hire). Knowles also describes another old building, Newburn Manor House. Both the Manor House and Newburn Hall are visible in T. M. Richardson's engraving, Village of Newburn (British Museum number 1956,1018.3) "At the beginning of last century Newburn hall comprised three sides of a square, open to the north, and was then occupied by a farmer and other tenants. It is easily recognized in T. M. Richardson’s coloured print, Village of Newburn, wherein the hall is to be seen in the foreground amidst picturesque surroundings,the church and manor house in the middle distance, and on the sky-line, on the opposite bank of the river, the spire of Ryton church. On November 5, 1891, the east wing, then used as a pattern shop, was destroyed by fire. Only the west wing, much altered, and the walls abutting thereon of a portion of the south wing now remain." Tyne and Wear HER(1291): Newburn Manor House "A house traditionally called the Manor House, said to date from c.1600, demolished 1909, apparently situated on the West side of what is now Station Road where it appears on the First edition Ordnance Survey plan. A photo in the Northumbelrand County History shows a 2-storey building in coursed stone rubble with dressed quoins, and a pantile/stone flag roof. Two fireplaces from the manor are said to have been reinstated at Washington Old Hall. Its recorded residents included Thomas Finney, a surgeon, in the 1850s and Thomas Hayes in 1879." "This picturesque building of circa 1600 is worthy of note. It was locally known as the manor house and was demolished in 1909. The arched door, the mullioned windows, and the chimney stacks which surmounted the gable were all of simple and effective detail. Within were two fireplaces, one contemporary with the building, the other a century later in date." He states that the fireplaces are now preserved at Alnwick Castle but I think there is certainly one very similar to the one shown below, with the opposite swords and central heart, in Washington Old Hall, as described in the Northumberland HER entry.
Two cricket pitches here, with brick-built pavilion and, opposite side of the eastern cricket pitch, a score hut, were developed in the late 1800s. Before the Second World War cricket weeks at Close House attracted famous touring sides. There is a legend that W.G. Grace once played here and undoubtedly took tea in the pavilion. Matches were played regularly when Close House was owned by the University of Newcastle upon Tyne from 1960 to 2004. When golf superseded cricket the pavilion became the main golf club house. A new, custom-designed club house has been built on a different site to support the post-University development of Close House Mansion and its two golf courses. "Close House, a Georgian mansion in the countryside west of Newcastle, had its own cricket pitch and indeed - between the wars - its own cricket team. The 1894 pavilion and scorebox - both little changed externally - were designed by Newcastle architectural practice Septimus Oswald & Son, best known for their work with Newcastle Breweries. The former cricket pitch is now a golf course, and the pavilion is currently serving as the golf clubhouse." The Architecture of Cricket: Pavilions Home and Away by Lynn Pearson (2011) The old cricket pavilion was turned into a luxury golfer’s lodge in 2017 with two bedrooms providing accommodation for golfers with use of their own golf cart.
ChronicleLive 9th July 2017 Close House Posted on Facebook page: Memories of old Ryton, Crawcrook, Greenside and Claravale villages by John Terence Arthur on 13th September 2023.
Nice oil painting entitled Ryton Jetty by L Brown dated 1911 though the former Archie Scott's boat house was no longer there by then, partly swept away by a flood later to be demolished. |
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