After World War Two there was a huge shortage of houses in Bedlington and Hartford Camp was the ideal solution to the problem with the Nissen huts on the site.

Sometime in 1948 many families decided to move into them. However, they were deemed squaters by the authorities.

In 1949 the council decided to make it legal for the families to stay there and began a project to repair the huts and install essential services.

A school for the juniors was erected in late 1949 to help cater for the children as there was over 350 failies on the site by then. The school even had a canteen and lots of space for the children to play and enjoy themselves.

Please note that the older children of the camp went to school in Bedlington, itself.

If my memory serves me right the families were eventually rehoused during 1956-57 ?

The later events after this date are as it is now, with the gypsy site and the country park being set up during 1974- to late 1976.

Never been down there for many years, but wondering if there is anything left now ?

Edited May 26, 201313 yr by johndawsonjune1955

There were a couple of lads (twins) who were at Westridge at the same time as me (62 - 67) and I'm pretty sure they lived on a 'caravan site' at Hartford. The one I knew was Peter Oliver and maybe, just maybe his brother was called Michael; they'd be 62ish now.

There's a picture somewhere of a single, derelict brick structure which is apparently all that remains of Hartford Camp. I'm fairly certain that's where we lived and there should have been a portion at one side that must have been torn down. There were three families in the front part and one at the side, the Charltons. They had one child at the time. His name was Alan. I happened upon a post at one time by 'alanc' stating he lived at 54 Netherton Moor but I can't seem to find it again. Can anyone help, please?

i will see if i can find out a bit more on Hartford Camp as it is interesting and i like to really delve into topics like this.

Put you some pics up too m8.

Can you remember Johnn Raey ?

Sorry, don't remember anything as I was too young. Thanks for the pics though I remember pics that me Mam had of the huts. I'll try and track some down, maybe my sister has some.

There's a picture somewhere of a single, derelict brick structure which is apparently all that remains of Hartford Camp. I'm fairly certain that's where we lived and there should have been a portion at one side that must have been torn down. There were three families in the front part and one at the side, the Charltons. They had one child at the time. His name was Alan. I happened upon a post at one time by 'alanc' stating he lived at 54 Netherton Moor but I can't seem to find it again. Can anyone help, please?

I had this pic on here before but don't know which thread, maybe you havn't seen it.

I had this pic on here before but don't know which thread, maybe you havn't seen it.

Somebody should be able to put a few names to that pic. If that was taken just after the war, those two bairns would be about 70 (ish)

don't recognise anyone, but will show it to johnny rae ask him, it'll be nice to get names

I don't recognize anybody and I'm not sure about the building either. It might have been where the Salvation Army held services once in a while. If so, it would have been near what we called the Black Garage, a large building in the shape of a half cylinder and covered with what I assume was a pitch-like substance. We never saw anyone enter or leave that particular building. We used to believe they had kept a plane in there during the war. We had vivid imaginations!

Hartford Camp

my dad said he lived at 7a no1 camp for a while, nice to see some pics of the camps they are few and far between, my dad is Terence Young his dad was tucker and his mam Mary waddell he was born in 1943

The lady in the front row with the child on her knee 3rd from right is Jean Rutter who lived at 34 Melrose Avenue near the Bank Top pub. I grew up next door to her. The child could be her daughter Catherine who now lives in Blyth. Jean was married to Jack Rutter who won local 'Britain in Bloom' competitions for his garden and was also a keen member of Cambois camera club and St Johns Ambulance Brigade. Sadly Jack & Jean are no longer alive.

The little man sitting in the middle of the front row is my Grandad Adam Mair who was councillor for Netherton ward at the time which I think Hartford came under at the time. AB

found the info here very interesting, took some photos today, wanted some info on the history of the building. Remember the hall being used to help miners recovery from accidents. Is the Hall back in private hands now? Any one got a picture of the missing gates?

I don't have any pics of the gates myself, Pansy Blue, but you'll find a nice one here:

https://historicengland.org.uk/advice/heritage-at-risk/search-register/list-entry/1378283

 

ref the gates -- when they started building new housing at the hall a few years back the gates were taken away by the developer for 'cleaning and restoration' never to be seen again! at the same time there were a lot of complaints about build quality and faults in some of the housing and I think the  'developer' was never seen again?

the brick building mentioned is still there along towards morpeth on the north side of the road. (it is mistakenly listed as an raf building on another site which puts it as part of Cramlington  aerodrome

certainly stone from the quarry was used in London as well as the hall and at sometime there was a dwelling built into the wall of the quarry on the section just below the wall on the left of the road going towards morpeth from the bridge. the cutouts for the support timbers can still be seen in the rock face..

Further ref to the gates, more info can be found at hot following website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/chrisjackson/2011/11/keeping_your_eyes_peeled_gets.html

I'd heard the developer took a shotgun into the middle of a field and tried to blow his head off but missed, leaving him alive but terribly injured. 

Anyone know if this is true? 

20 minutes ago, webtrekker said:

I'd heard the developer took a shotgun into the middle of a field and tried to blow his head off but missed, leaving him alive but terribly injured. 

Anyone know if this is true? 

Yes it is, however he succeeded later with the help of a train.

Nasty!!

Thanks for that though. I always wondered what the eventual outcome was and why no more work was being done to finish off the estate. 

On 28/07/2012 at 03:19, keith lockey said:

Can anyone put me onto a good site for Hartford Hall history. Everytime I google it I get real estate. I've found some but they are sporadic and not what i want. One thing I want to know about is this mysterious gray lady ghost. Cheers all.

The tale of the gray lady was around when I lived in Hartford in the sixties,..jayne delancey(nee fielding)scary huh!!!

Way back in the 60's and 70's a couple of men lived in a cottage on the river bank deep into the grounds of Hartford Hall and I believe they were brothers. Possibly ex staff from the 'old hall?' They were getting on and had been there many years. the cottage had no mains facilities and they had to 'barrow' coal from the hall down through the woods as well as anything else they needed. I have no idea who they were or what happened to them.