Stockton and Darlington House Plaques

[JonR]

I'm doing a bit of research into the Stockton and Darlington house plaques that have survived. My question is, does anyone know if any more have survived that I've not been able to account for in the list below? One I'm particularly interested in is J2 which was recorded as being in Witton Park Environmental Studies Centre, but is now missing since the closure of the centre, I've contacted DCC and they have no records of where the collections went when it closed. Thanks for any help So far I know about the following:
In situ:
B3 Nunthorpe Station
D13: Yarm Branch Depot
F3: Carlbury Crossing
F5: Gainford
F7: Winston
F10: Barnard Castle crossing
F11: Barnard Castle, Galgate
G1 Whilley Hill
G9: Hackworth House, Shildon
G12: Rose Cottages, Shildon
H1: Brusselton Engine House
H7: Butterknowle goods depot
J4: Wear Valley Junction cottages
J5: Witton-le-wear crossing keepers cottage
J7: Witton-le-Wear old station house
J11: Frosterley Station
K4 Weatherhill Engine house
K9: Waskerley

In Museums- E9: North Road Station & G2: Heighington Station, (Darlington Railway Museum), J10: Wolsingham (NRM)

Private Collections- E15: Darlington Goods Station, J8: Harperley, H5: Etherley Engine House, & I1: South Church Station

[sss750]

Have you got a photo of any as I've never seen one before.

[Bedders]

http://collectionsonline.nmsi.ac.uk/det ... &t=objects

This seems to be the NRM one

[1H was 2E]

Today I took with me 1955 R.O.s to read while waiting connection on my travels. The coincidence is that, on page 238 on of the August edition, there's an article by T E Rounthwaite "Past and Present on the Stanhope & Tyne Railway which later mentions a visit to Crawley. The next paragraph (which, presumably, is still referring to Crawley, but not absolutely clear) starts "The original engineman's house bearing plate S & D. K3 still stands and boasts a TV aerial, whilst house S&D K1 is down at the kilns". I assume that the full stop after 'D' is an indication of abbreviation, rather than the end of a sentence. It's obviously unlikely they still survive but they did last into the era of people appreciating their value, so someone might have 'saved' them.
At midday I didn't know S&D numbered their houses, and now I'm answering queries on the subject...

[richard]

I don't know who is running it, but a list of extant S&D buildings & ruins is probably of great interest to the UNESCO World Heritage bid...

[JonR]

Thank you
Yes there's a group been formed called friends of the Stockton and Darlington Railway that's undertaking a field walking exercise at present to catalogue the remains. These are being added to the relevant historical environment records to try and prevent loss. This will then be used for any heritage status and listing bids.

The plaque on house K3 has been removed but it still stands and the K1 plaque has been covered by an extension to the building.

[JonR]

Sorry here's the

[PinzaC55]

There was a folder of research material published for the S&DR 1975 celebrations and it included a list of all S&DR plaques either existing or known to have existed. I had a copy but sadly I think I sold it.
I used to own the plaque from Harperley station but they are rarely seen in auction.

[1H was 2E]

Included in the Great Central Railwayana Stoneleigh sale on 4th June (the catalogue is on the web, but I don't know how to link to the item) is what is described as an "S&D house number". It has the prefix 'I' (I2)
Guide price £800 - £1000...
Edited because I misread it as 12 not I2

[JonR]

Thank you very much. Have added it to the list. Followed up a few leads on "J2" but they always seem to come up against a dead end.

[1H was 2E]

The S&D "I 2" house plate went for £1,000 + buyer's premium. I did have a look at it before the sale, and I was surprised to find that it was very light - not made out of cast iron or from stone, as I'd assumed, but a curious material, very smooth in finish and off-white. The nearest description would be a good glass fibre/plastic moulding - though it obviously isn't. Presumably it's some type of plaster but it seems to have stood up very well to being outside for over a century.

[Tilemap]

Here is a link to a Northern Echo piece which looks as though it was one of a series researching/speculating on the locations of the plaques - though I can't find any others on the Echo's site. This one looks specifically at the Guisborough branch

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/histor ... _the_wall/

It includes the following information:

"We’ve looked at the J-plaques, from Howden-le- Wear up to Frosterley, where four out of the 11 survive in situ."

Then we looked at the A-line, from Middlesbrough to Redcar, and learnt that none of the seven survive.

"B3 (is)on Nunthorpe station house.The crossing keeper’s cottage (at Nunthorpe)...has been demolished – we guess it had plaque B4 on it....Hutton Hall...had its own station, with its own station house which had its own S&DR plaque: B11.... Guisborough...station was demolished and B12 was lost. We guess that when the A1043 by-pass steamed around Nunthorpe, the Morton Carr crossing keepers’ cottages were lost, and that road widening.. also accounted for the gatekeepers’ cottage at Gypsy Lane.

While we are about it, let’s do the C series of plaques. There was just one of them, C1, and it was on Middlesbrough station house. Presumably, the ever-logical railway bosses thought that because Middlesbrough was the starting point for two lines – the A-line to Redcar and the B-line to Guisborough – it should have an identity all of its own."


Logically, then, B1 would have been Ormesby station and B2 Gypsy Lane crossing. If Nunthorpe station is B3 and the crossing cottage was B4 that leaves 6 structures between there and B11 at Hutton Gate. One must have been Pinchinthorpe station (which is extant but presumably sans plaque?). Where were the others, I wonder?

Look forward to any more information.

[JonR]

Thank you very much, the plaques are ceramic tiles rather than cast iron. The only reference to them in the S&DR papers is in a minute from 1857 where permission was granted to attach them to railway properties with sitting tenants in. They appeared on all residential buildings that were present in 1858 but not on any later buildings, i.e. those on the Stainmore line, the Saltburn extension and the Frosterley to Stanhope line, these being constructed in 1859-60 suggesting that they were put on in one batch and further ones were not added when these lines were added in the early 1860s. My suspicion is that as the S&DR was planning to merge with the NER by this point to prevent a takeover by the LNWR they didn't feel it necessary to add these plates to the new buildings.

As for their purpose, it appears that they were likely to have been a building reference for the purpose of rent collection and/or maintenance but any records of rents or repairs have not survived. The S&DR was in the process of absorbing all the affiliated companies at this time and the plaques could have been part of the process of this merger. Unfortunately without more references to them in the railway records it's difficult to pin down their intended purpose but they are a strong reminder of the Stockton and Darlington Railway company's presence and influence in the area.

[Cuddie Headrigg]

Here's one in situ on Waskerley Depot Offices (K8).
https://ironroad.smugmug.com/ROAMING/i-bwNpmG9/A

[JonR]

Hi Bill.
Thank you very much. Unfortunately Waskerley goods station was flattened many years ago and is now a car park for the waskerley way footpath. The goods shed and a loading platform still survive as does house K9. There were 2 terraces K10 and K11 that were also flattened. A whole village that almost died off when the railway closed.