In Barlow there was an RAF camp for Women's Auxiliary Air Forces (WAAF). The buildings included an accomodation block and other prefabricated buildings. The camp was equipped with a radar dish.

This shelter was partially hit when the Farringdon Row/Ayres Quay Road area was bombed on 3rd March 1941. Thankfully the shelter was unoccupied (Rowley and Pears reference N548).

A two-storey air raid shelter was archaeologically recorded here before demolition in 1998. The exterior walls were stone and brick built, with a concrete render on the roadside elevation. The floor and roof were of reinforced concrete. The shelter was supplied with a louvred ventilator.

The schools acted as ARP premises. There was a first aid post at the central school, and a dam provided an emergency water supply. The former open air school was used as an emergency rest and feeding centre, able to provide breakfast and tea and hot mid-day meals. It is therefore little surprise that the schools were equipped with air raid shelters. A plan of April 1940, deposited with the Northumberland Record Office by Mauchlen and Weightman of Saville Row, Newcastle, shows sixteen proposed shelters, of two types, each could accommodate 45 children. A similar plan shows eight proposed shelters at Heaton School, which could accommodate 60 children.

There are three craters in Chopwell Woods - two close together on the north-west side of a forest track at NZ 129 572 and the third on the south-east side of the track at NZ 130 572. The bombs fell at 11.36pm BST on Sunday 12th October 1941. Presumably they were dumped from a plane returning from a raid elsewhere in the country as there were no raids on the North-East that night. The craters provide a unique wildlife habitat and are protected as a Site of Nature Conservation Importance (SNCI).

The bomb was dropped at 3.30am DST (Double Summer Time) on Friday 1st May 1942 during an air raid which affected many parts of the north east. There were some 40 fatalities in the region that night, and widespread damage. The crater survives in a field between the A694 and the Derwent Walk. It lies immediately south-west of an electricity pylon. Best seen at end of year when reeds grow in it.

There was a huge shelter under Wilkinson’s lemonade factory. It could hold up to 210 people. The shelter had three rooms, one was a smoking room, and each was equipped with bunk beds. Critically the ceiling was not reinforced and so at 11.12pm on Saturday May 3rd 1941, when a single bomb directly hit the shelter, 105 people were killed, 41 of whom were children. However, Ellen Lee, the ARP warden for the shelter bravely rescued 32 people from the explosion, despite having been badly burnt herself. It was the worst bombing incident in this part of the country during World War Two.

An attractive heart to the village. Wild (2004) suggests that the characteristic green villages of Northumberland date back to the reconstruction of settlement in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest and the 'harrying of the north'. The greens originally had a defensive function to protect livestock against Scottish raiders. The wide open space in the centre of the village could also be used for fairs, markets, for grazing animals and a meeting space (Rowley and Wood, 2000, 41). Dwellings were often built around the green, with a common forge, bakehouse, pinfold, smithy, alehouse, stocks, spring or pond on the green itself (Roberts 1977, 146). A cross dated 1795 marked a meeting place at Ryton for farm labourers at the beginning of the hiring seasons in May and November. Riotous fairs were held on the green but were abandoned after 1866. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE
The Village green played an important social and economic role within the community of Ryton. It was the common land around which the buildings were gathered – often historically where animals could be sheltered in times of danger. Aside from the church, it was the centre of the community both in physical terms and in terms of activity, and most of the big events in the village calendar would take place here. These included the Hirings (an opportunity for servants to find work, and the wealthier villagers to employ new servants), the May Day celebrations (a pre-Christian festival that had been important in the culture of England for centuries), including maypole dancing, and perhaps the election of a May queen, and the village fair (after the population increased sufficiently to prevent the use of the constricted churchyard). Despite the important and ancient church, it was also the scene of some occasions of religious importance, as both John and Charles Wesley preached here (Charles on several occasions). 'Green Villages' were a common village form, where houses were clustered around a central green of common land. They had often been introduced after the Norman Conquest in the 11th century, but there is also evidence of 'village' greens in Anglo-Saxon settlements, and even at Romano-British sites.
The triangular form of the green is typical, as villages were often located at the meeting of three roads, and the historic mapping indicates that the positioning of the path through the green has been retained on the same trajectory since at least the mid 19th century. The mature trees also add to the interest of the space – offering a place for birds to inhabit as well as shelter for passing pedestrians. The green is a rare survival in the borough, and of crucial importance as the crux of the medieval settlement of Ryton (Ryton old village), for group value with the surviving buildings, as an attractive area of green open space, as the setting for these building, and in particular the old village cross, and for its historical associations. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Hirings
Annually there was the hirings that took place on the Friday before the 12th May and 22nd November. The village was cleaned up all the houses were whitewashed and painted. The purpose of the hirings was to bring the community together for a village fair, and for the villagers to hire servants. The servants for hire would stand around the market cross and wear a green sprig either in their hat if they were male, and the females would carry a sprig or would attach it to their clothing. The hirings would have also attracted jugglers and minstrels. There were stalls set up from the village green to the Jolly fellows where sweets and the hirings would attract people from surrounding villages, and would carry until dusk. The dancing would then carry on and move into rooms above the local pubs, it was tradition to give the fiddler and tin whistler a penny a tune. The hirings continued in Ryton until 1866. It is not sure when they started again but could have been around the early seventies late sixties, until the eighties.
The Village Fair
The village fairs were first held in the churchyard on the anniversary of the founding of the church. The fairs involved jugglers and dancers and stalls selling local produce. The fairs became popular and had to be moved on to the village green, because of the number of people attending.
The Open Spaces Society states that in 2005 there were about 3,650 registered greens in England and about 220 in Wales. FUTURE RECOMMENDATIONS
In order to safeguard the future of the green, it would be positive if a programme of events were developed to encourage regular use and appreciation. (As the current situation is not known, this may already be taking place). LOCAL LIST

The Team Valley Trading Estate was established in 1936 - one of the first purpose built industrial estates in the country. It was built as a response to the failure of traditional industry in Gateshead. Nearly £2,000,000 of central government funding was awarded under the Special Areas (Development and Improvement) Act of 1934 into economic regeneration to create a clean pleasant light industrial environment. The resulting TVTE intended to provide employment for 15,000 workers with 15 years. It was mastermined by William G Holford under Colonel Kenelm C Appleyard, formerly of Birtley Iron and Engineering Works, who headed a new company, North Eastern Trading Estates Ltd. Constructed began in 1936 and the estate was formally opened by King George VI three years later. The 650 acre estate is recognised by Pevsner as a remarkable example of planned architecture by W. Holford. The building of the estate involved extensive reclamation works and culverting of the River Team which originally was decorated with trellises and climbing roses. The estate was designed on a grid plan and consists of wide roads and verges. The double row of Wheatley elm on Kingsway North is perhaps the most significant landscape feature. Originally factories were encouraged to create their own garden areas, although sadly there are no remains. In the late 1980s the estate underwent a major environmental improvement scheme in an attempt to attract new development. This scheme by Brian Clouston & Partners reinforced many of the original features, including the replanting of the elm avenue with lime as well as solving unsightly late C20 problems such as the containment of car parking and storage yards. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE
The Team Valley Trading Estate was a pioneering solution to the economic depression of the 1930s as the first government industrial estate; with its sponsoring body the first publicly funded Estate Company. Various sites were considered, but the Team Valley was eventually chosen, mainly due to the topography of the site and the excellent transport links by road and rail. The 700 acre site, designed by William G Holford (later Lord Holford and only 29 at the time), was transformed from boggy pasture land using colliery waste. The main north-south axis road, Kingsway, was 2 miles long, and at the time the widest in England. In the vast space was included two 24’ carriageways, with a landscaped strip 24’ wide between, bordered by 4’ grass verges and 6’ cycle tracks, privet hedging and 8’ footpaths. Services were laid in the verges in order to facilitate easy and unobtrusive access. The architect showed a great deal of foresight, as in addition to this generous provision, he ensured all factories were to be set back 30’ from the pavement to allow for ample parking for motor cars, which were rare at the time. Together these would have given a feeling of great openness that was very modern compared with the cramped alleys familiar in the centre of Gateshead. The landscaping also created an attractive setting for the brave new world of light industry, contrasting with the unwholesome and contaminated setting of the heavy industrial past. The intention to look positively to the future is clear. On Kingsway North, a double row of Wheatley Elm is of particular landscape interest, but when the site was officially opened these were but a small part of the planting scheme. 10,000 plants and bulbs were introduced along the full length of Kingsway, including tulips, daffodils, palms and ferns, giving an exotic feel. A narrower east-west axis connected Low Fell and the Ravensworth Coach Road. The dirty River Team (known locally as ‘The Gut’) was cleaned up and canalised to improve the environment, in what was, at the time, the longest river rectification system in England. It was culverted for 100 yards in the centre, but for the first mile, at the south end of Kingsway, its course was diverted into a deep concrete channel, which replaced the central grass strip to the northern end. With aesthetic as well as safety concerns, wire mesh covered these concrete channels, and roses and other climbers were planted to enhance the area. A football ground, tennis courts and a large playing field were originally included in the design, to allow for the recreational and exercise needs of workers. Even the secondary streets were named after elements of the natural world (many trees, but also some birds etc.), presumably in order to bolster the connection with a healthy, natural environment. It is of great importance, too, that a quirkily irregular historic plot known as Twenty Pound Close was retained in the design, with its distinctive woodland character.
There is now a garden behind St George’s House, but more gardens were apparently originally envisaged that were never laid out. This is likely to have been due to the onset of war, as many of the factories were requisitioned and labour and financial resources became restricted. The landscaping scheme, though, remains impressive and is an interesting design of its time, with great potential for restoration and enhancement into the future. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The Trading Estate came out of the central government’s Special Areas initiative, commissioned to address the problems in those areas worst hit. It was hoped that the introduction of Light Industry would offset the decline in heavy industries. Although there are no gardens as originally envisaged, a renewal scheme in the late 1980s in sympathy with the original design included replanting of avenues of trees and removal of inappropriate intrusions. MATERIALS / SPECIES Concrete, lawn, Wheatley Elm DESIGNER W G Holford
Roads/services George Wimpey & Co DATES Built 1936 Opened by George VI 22/02/1939 LOCAL LIST

LOCAL LIST