Northumberland Voices

A podcast to accompany our true crime blog series: Murder at Bigges Main: Part One - Northumberland Archives Murder At Bigges Main: Part Two - Northumberland Archives Murder At Bigges Main: Part Three - Northumberland Archives Murder At Bigges Main: Part Four - Northumberland Archives Lisa researches the life of Elizabeth Phillipson, a witness to the murder and cousin of the victim. By using onlin...

The Illuminated Sheep Project is taking the opportunity to produce a series of Podcasts from the oral history archive created by Sheep Tales in 2011 and 2013. https://www.sheeptales.org . This is the third podcast, Short Baaaack and Sides; Northumbrian shepherds talk shearing and dipping. Northumberland Archives and Libraries have planned a series of events from September to December 2022 as part...

The Illuminated Sheep Project is taking the opportunity to produce a series of Podcasts from the oral history archive created by Sheep Tales in 2011 and 2013. https://www.sheeptales.org . This is the second podcast, Births, Bottles and Blizzards, Northumbrian shepherds talk about lambing. Northumberland Archives and Libraries have planned a series of events from September to December 2022 as part...

The Illuminated Sheep Project is taking the opportunity to produce a series of Podcasts from the oral history archive created by Sheep Tales in 2011 and 2013. https://www.sheeptales.org . This is the first podcast, Some Men and their Dogs , Northumbrian Shepherds talk about their Border Collies. Northumberland Archives and Libraries have planned a series of events from September to December 2022 a...

Hetha Butler lived at Ewart Park, Northumberland from the age of one in c.1897 until 1937. She was the grand-daughter of the social reformer Josephine Butler. In this podcast she describes her childhood at Ewart Park. She talks about the servants in the household and being brought up by a governess. Hetha was not very interested in academic learning and describes the other activities that she enjo...

Peter Connelly, Northumberland Archives intern and third year history student at the University of Strathclyde, introduces his podcast for Northumberland Voices. Peter revisits some old favourites from the series and presents some new voices to give listeners a flavour of life in the mining communities of Northumberland during the 1920s. A blog about the 1921 Miners' Strike by Peter can also be fo...

Jean Mather talks about her life in Craster where she was evacuated during the Second World War. She talks about her grandparent's house where she lived and of the food that her grandmother cooked. She describes clootie dumplings and proggy mats as well as Christmas time treats.

Bob Hepple was born at Sook Hill Farm, Cawburn, near Haltwhistle in 1891. Bob dedicated his life to shepherding on the hills in the Tynedale area. In the first of these oral history extracts Bob talks about the hirings, when farmers engaged farm workers. He also describes sheep dog training and even reads some poetry! For more about Bob Hepple's oral history, see our...

Extracts from an Oral History interview with Tom Easton. Tom was born in 1896 and lived in West Sleekburn as a child. He joined the Tyneside Scottish Brigade during the First World War. After training at Alnwick, Tom fought in France and Flanders until he was captured in April 1918. As a prisoner of war, Tom opted to work down a German coalmine near Brambauer in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Margaret Elizabeth Palmer attended school in Throckley, Northumberland. She did well at school and passed exams that allowed her to become a student teacher. From the age of 13 to 18, Margaret travelled into Newcastle to a teacher training centre. She gave up her job when she got married, but was persuaded back during the First World War. Here she talks to Amanda Arrowsmith, archivist from Northum...

Oral history interview of William Pattinson (with some help from Mr Sullivan). William Pattinson decided not to follow the route that most boys in the area took when they left school; to the docks or down the mine. Instead, he chose to work on the land. At 17 he started at the Cowpen Colliery Company farm, Malvin's Close Farm, where he took care of the pit ponies. Robin Gard, the County Archivist...

Bob Reay was a retired miner from Coxlodge, Newcastle upon Tyne. He was 78 years old when he was interviewed by Northumberland Archives in 1971. Bob was born in Seaton Terrace, Seaton Delaval, Northumberland, around 1894. He spent some of his early years at Seghill, Northumberland before moving to Dinnington at the age of 15 years and finally to Coxlodge, Newcastle upon Tyne (then Northumberland)...

Mary Keaney worked as a maid from the time she left school at 15. After several positions, she eventually worked as the head maid for the Adamson family of Linden House (now known as Linden Hall). On her marriage she left her job but stayed on the estate with her husband who managed the farm for the Adamson family. This is her story, in her words. Mrs Keaney was interviewed by Northumberland Archi...

Trigger warning: some description of animal remains William Hall was born in Netherton on 3 May 1892. He claims to have started school at the age of three years and was helping his father and grandfather to shoe horses by the time he was seven. In this oral history recording that was made on 15 October 1971 (T/10), he talks about the family blacksmith business and the fate of his favourite horse....

Northumberland Voices  Archie Dagg was born in Coquetdale at the very end of the nineteenth century. His father and grandfather were shepherds and when he left school at 14 years of age, Archie joined the family trade. Many of the tasks related to the job were dictated by the seasons and the weather. This is an extract of Archie's oral history recording that was made in 1978 by Northumberland...

Women's History Month, March 2021 Recorded in 1975, Northumberland Archives holds a fascinating oral history recording of Norah Balls, a suffragette. Norah talks to the archivist Amanda Arrowsmith about her life and campaigning. She reminisces about joining the Women's Social and Political Union and the people that she met, including the Pankhursts. She describes brushes with the law and the...