Children's Homes

In 1909, South Shields erected a row of cottage homes at Cleadon, about three miles from the main workhouse. The homes provided accommodation for pauper children in "family" groups of fifteen to twenty children, each looked after by a house-mother or father. There were three pairs of boys' cottages (named Ivy, Sycamore, Snowdrop, Hawthorn, Daisy and Laburnum) and three pairs of girls' cottages (named Pansy, Violet, Rose, Primrose, Maple, and Oak). A staff/adminstrative building was placed between the boys' and girls' homes which were laid out along one side of a "street". The main house still stands. Only one cottage remains, formerly Woodbine Cottage, a single house at the entrance to the homes. This appears to be smaller than the other children's homes so is possibly a later addition, perhaps a receiving home for new arrivals. The homes closed in 1962. Now the site of Oakleigh Gardens School. In 1999 a commemorative plaque was put up by Edward Barber who lived there from 1923 until 1938.