Chris Verguson

I visited my grandmother Ella and stepgrandfather George Allen. They had been housed there when George could no longer work the land as a temporary measure probably. They had previously been at Stable Cottage, Bothal and I think the farm there was owned by the NCB although my mum thought it was the co-op. It is almost certain that the NCB by this time owned Spruggy Hoose as everybody called it. The lighting was by oil lamp, cooking on a range and I still remember that when the wardrobe door was open you could somehow hear men’s’ voices from the coal seam below. Quite a shock to a young child from suburban Merseyside. I also have memories of Stable Cottage but can’t work out where it was. I think my dad said it was demolished to make way for a fire station which was itself demolished and its place taken by housing. They do have a photo of Sparrow House at the Northumberland Archives at Woodhorn.