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Seaham history

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Christine

Christine Report 18 Jul 2008 21:11

My aunt and I are currently researching our family, many of whom are from Seaham. Have just had a birth certificate for my great grandfather John Robinson Greener Watson (25/11/03) which states he was born at Hawkeys Yard, Back North Railway Street, Seaham Harbour.
I have searched for Hawkeys Yard on google and google maps and been unsuccessful. I have, however found Back North Railway Street and assume that Hawkeys Yard has probably long since been demolished/fallen down and rebuilt on-there is a car park in the area which could be where it was.
I am intrigued, as I can find no mention of it anywhere, and wonder if anyone knows of it, knows what became of it, and whether there is anything else to tell.

doddsy1

doddsy1 Report 18 Jul 2008 21:32

It obviously must have been demolished as now it's Hawthorn Square and Tees Street and Aldi.
North Railway Street (about 15 houses still stand)
There was once a railway line directly over the road to North Railway Street, (hence it's name - it was north of the railway by about 20 yards) and that railway was used for trucks to transport coal from South Hetton pit to Seaham Harbour docks using a type of pulley system (forgot the correct term ) but a trucks full of coal came down the gradient from South Hetton and their weight pulled the empty trucks back up to South Hetton

Christine

Christine Report 19 Jul 2008 22:46

Thank you for that, its nice to get some sort of history of the area, particularly as I have never even been to Seaham and yet it seems that a very large proportion of my family are from there. If anyone else knows anymore more about Hawkeys yard, what exactly it was for example, I would be very interested to hear from you. Thank you again to both of you for your comments.

Maureen

Maureen Report 19 Jul 2008 22:56

Christine
If you go to www.east-durham.co.uk they have a web site of Seaham. They have some old pictures on there of the area as well. They are helpful as well.I met up with someone on 4th July this year and they arranged to open the Church so I could have a look round. Maureen

Christine

Christine Report 24 Jul 2008 21:49

Thanks Maureen, very helpful advice, someone replied to my question in quite a bit of detail and I got pics too!