Cruddas Terrace: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 10:13, 9 September 2023
Provided by Stan Owen 4/9/23.
Originally called Bellum Brae, Cruddas Terrace is the earliest and best surviving example of the houses built in the early 1840s for workers at the Hareshaw Ironworks.
When demand for iron was high, this was an attempt to make Bellingham into an industrial town by mining the ironstone, limestone and coal that were found east of the Hareshaw Burn.
The iron was of excellent quality, some being used in the High Level Bridge in Newcastle, but it proved too costly to transport without the railway, which came to Bellingham in 1861.
The company went bankrupt in 1848 after just ten years’ production.
In the 1860s, some of the houses were refurbished and used by railway workers and miners at the Ridsdale ironworks of Sir W. G. Armstrong, who renamed it Cruddas Terrace after George Cruddas (1788-1879) who was a partner at his Elswick Works.
It is on the “industrial” side of Bellingham and the former Foundry Yard is now a small industrial estate.
Cruddas Terrace consists of six houses, though census evidence suggests that there were once more, perhaps eight or nine. In the 1901 Census the trail becomes very obscure. The terrace goes from 9 dwellings to 7 and there is no indication where two have been lost or amalgamated. The houses are not numbered in the 1901 census. In 1891 George Armstrong was living in number 9 which had 4 rooms; in 1901 he appears to be in the same position in the row but in a house with only 2 rooms. There is another house at the other end of the row (Todds) which now has 4 rooms instead of 2. The census enumerator appears to record the houses in the. same order as formerly. In 1911 when the numbers are again recorded Nos. 5,7,8 and nine have disappeared. Numbers 1,2,3,4,5 and 6 are recorded in 1939.
Cruddas Terrace circa 1910-20 - from the Collier Collection of Stan Owen
Today, Cruddas Terrace is “in a lively country village with a good selection of pubs, cafés and craft shops, as well as the Heritage Centre (opposite) and other amenities.”
Links to individual houses in Cruddas Terrace:
