• Home
  • Calendar
  • Introduction
  • Where are we?
  • History Map
  • Timeline
    • Prehistoric
    • AD43 to 1599
    • 1600 to 1799
    • 1800 to 1899
    • 1900 to 1999
    • 2000 to 2099
  • Heddon's History
    • Hadrian's Wall>
      • Vallum excavation (1893)
      • Hadrian's Wall excavation 1926
    • Six townships>
      • 1 Heddon township>
        • Heddon in the Middle Ages
        • Common Land
        • Middle Marches
        • Tithe Award
        • St Andrew's Church>
          • Stained Glass Windows
          • Churchyard
          • Monuments of church & churchyard (1991)
          • Vicars of Heddon
        • Village property
        • Heddon Hall>
          • Sale of Heddon Hall 2012
        • Heddon Banks Farm
        • Frenchman's Row
        • Methodist Church>
          • Heddon Methodist Church Centenary 1877-1977
        • Men's Institute
        • Women's Institute
        • Welfare Field
        • Knott Memorial Hall
        • Memorial Park
        • Schools
        • River Tyne
        • Coal Mining
        • Quarrying
        • Water Supplies
        • Transport
        • Waggonway & Railway
        • Occupations from 1800
        • Miscellaneous
      • 2 West Heddon township>
        • Richard Burdon
      • 3 East Heddon township
      • 4 Houghton & Close House township>
        • Close House
      • 5 Eachwick township
      • 6 Whitchester township
    • Rudchester
  • People
    • Sir James Knott
    • Cadwallader J. Bates
    • Hugh Sinclair (Tim) Swann
  • Old Photos
    • Postcards
    • Old photos 1
    • Old photos 2
    • Old photos 3
    • Old photos 4
    • Old photos 5
    • Old photos 6
    • Old Photos 7
  • Old News
    • Sad boat accident at Ryton (1877)
    • Coronation tree (1902)
    • The Swan (1972)
    • Heddon WI (1987)
    • Foot & Mouth (2001)
    • RAF at Ouston (2007)
    • Close House Golf Course (2009)
    • Heddon pupils celebrate British heritage (2011)
    • Roman Wall Forge (2011)
    • Diamond Jubilee 2012
    • Auction of Bronze Statue, Close House (2012)
    • Puffing Billy Festival 2013
  • Memories
    • Olive White
    • Betty Cockburn
    • Isabel Snowdon
    • William & Winnie Watson
    • Edith Ward
    • Mark Parker
    • Jack Lawson
    • Winnie Spoor
    • P Reay
    • Mr and Mrs Hall
  • Other documents
    • Mackenzie (1825)
    • Bates (1886)>
      • Early & Roman
      • Townships
      • Heddon Church
      • Heddon & Houghton
      • Whitchester
      • Eachwick
      • West & East Heddon
      • Records
      • Addenda
      • Appendix A
    • History of Northumberland (1930)
    • Post Office Directory (1879)
    • Collingwood Bruce (1853)
    • Whellan (1855)
    • Place names
    • Ad Murum
    • Archived documents
    • Thomas Bewick's History of British Birds (1826)
    • Census data 1801-1991
  • Walks
  • Blog
  • Contact us
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Heddon on the Wall Local History Society
is an organisation within the historic village of Heddon on the Wall for people interested in the history of the village and the wider area of Northumberland, Tyne & Wear and Durham.

The Society is a member of the Association of Northumberland Local History Societies. We hold meetings once a month, usually taking the form of an illustrated talk by a local speaker, and also have occasional outings to places of interest outside the village. You are most welcome to join us or just come to any of the talks that interest you, usually for only a small charge.

Much of the information on this site is based on the memories and research of local people. I must  in particular, thank Pat Farnaby, a previous resident of Heddon, who had assembled historical information about the village for his previous village web site. This I have extensively reused here, with his permission. I have also used the historical information on the village collated by the late George Clark of Station Road, Heddon (died November 7th 1966 aged 63 years), previously serialised in 'Vision', the newsletter of St Andrew's Church. Without their prior efforts, my job would have been considerably harder. Many others have provided the photos and memories reproduced here. Please respect their copyright.
Picture
Hadrian's Wall, Heddon on the Wall
Picture
St Andrew's Church, Heddon on the Wall
Photos © Copyright Andrew Curtis and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
To quote from the Northumberland Village Book (Northumberland Federation of Women's Institutes 1994):

"Among the new, however, still lurks the old - the carter's cottages, the joiner's/undertaker's cottages (with the stables behind), the first church house with the hearse house next door, the depot where coal was stored before being taken downriver to Newcastle and beyond. The village is now an amalgam of old and new, but totally homogeneous in character. It is people that make a village community, and despite the changes of bricks and mortar, the character of the village has not changed."

I gradually came to see the history of the village through photography of the present for the Geograph project. I make no apologies for making extensive use of those photos here. One thing that becomes clear is that history starts today. There is a need to record and document more recent changes too, that will soon seem as strange to new generations as those that took place 100 and more years before.

Puffing Billy Festival 2013

Picture
Click photo for more details.

'Time flies - memory remains'
Any errors or omissions are those of the present editor. Please tell me about them and I'll try to put them right.
This web site is a continuing project. Please help me to develop it further.

For what's new on the site see here.

We are pleased to announce that this site has been selected by
The British Library
for inclusion in its web archiving programme.
UK Web Archive
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