Birtley Belgians

The First World War

c a u s e d t h e b i g g e s t

movement of refugees in

h i s to ry whe n ha l f a

million Belgians fled their

country and 7,000 of

them came to Birtley.

Birtley's First World War

experience was unique in

t h a t t h e c o l o n y o f

Elisabethville became the

largest community of

Belgians in the world - a

bit of Belgium here in

Birtley. The story begins in the

early stages of the First

World War 1914-1918

when Britain realised its

a rmament s were no

match for those being

used by the German

a r m y . T h e B r i t i s h

G o v e r n m e n t b e g a n

b u i l d i n g m u n i t i o n s

factories al l over the

country but had problems

finding workers, since

most men had gone off to

War. It was suggested

that perhaps the Belgian

Government might be

able to help , and the

result was that 1,000

skilled Belgian armaments

workers were withdrawn

from the Front to help

train other volunteers,

some o f whom were

men who had been badly

wounded and were unfit

to return to war, but not

unfit to do a job of work.

So, late in 1915 several

hundred Belgians made

their way to a brand-new

muni t ions factory in

Birtley, County Durham,

t o b e g i n t h e i r

a l l - importan t job o f

making shel ls to help

defeat the enemy. Over the next months

t he i r numbers g rew

steadily until there were

about 3,500 men, but it

was obvious that there

was nowhere for them to

live, and so it was agreed

that a village would be

built alongside the factory

- financed by the British,

b u t o ve r a l l c o n t ro l

handed over to Belgian

management . At the

s a m e t i m e b o t h

Newsletter Date 3rd June 2015 Volume 5, Issue 2

Chester le Street Heritage Group Newsletter

Special points of

interest:

Birtley Belgians

with kind permission

of Birtley Heritage

Group.

Inside this issue:

Birtley Belgians 1

Elizabethville

Memories

3

The Soldiers

Story continued.

4

Lumley Castle 5

I love Graveyards 6

and the Birtley factory

demolished.

All that remains today of

t h e V i l l a g e o f

Elisabethville are the

blocks which were the

f ood s to re and t he

b u t ch e r ' s s ho p [ on

Devon Crescent ] , a

small piece of the iron

railings next to the Fire

Station, and the main

thoroughfare named

Elisabeth Avenue.

Page 2 Chester le Street

governments set about

re-uniting the married men

with their families, many of

whom had been forced to

flee Belgium, so in the

course of time a Belgian

colony of well over 6,000

people was established

within the British village of

Birtley. They called the vil lage

'Elisabethville' after the

B e l g i a n Q u e e n .

E l i s a b e t h v i l l e w a s

completely surrounded by

a high fence with the main

gate opposite the Three

Tuns public house, and

passes were needed to get

in and out. The village was

totally self-sufficient with

its own shops, church,

school, hospital, police

station, prison, canteens,

pub l ic l aundr ies and

b a t h s a n d e v e n a

cemetery. The houses,

or 'Huts' as they were

c a l l e d , w e r e v e r y

comfortable even by

today's standards, they

h a d w o o d b u r n i n g

stoves, electricity, and

indoor toilets and were

the envy of Birtley's own

residents at the time. Th e B e l g i an s h ad a

limited amount of spare

time and were banned

from public houses in

the area and fraternising

w i t h t h e l o c a l

population, but managed

to form literary, musical,

dramatic and sporting

societies. These societies

had one aim - to raise

War in 1940 and became

the Roya l Ordnance

Factory. Now owned by

cash for Br it i sh and

B e l g i a n w a r t i m e

charities. For over two years

these 'war wounded'

worked twelve-hour

shifts, day and night, in

conditions of extreme

heat producing one and

a half mill ion shells -

many more than any

other Projectile Factory,

a n d w e r e h i g h l y

commended for their

efforts. With the end of the

War in 1918 and the

BAF Systems, the factory

has only recently been

moved to Washington

Armistice, the whole

enterprise came to a

s u d d e n e n d a s t h e

Belgians returned home

and the Village in Birtley

became a ghost town,

the furniture sold at

auction and 'the huts'

taken over by the local

people. The National

Projectile Factory was

p a r t l y s o l d o f f b u t

r ema ined i n u se by

various industries until it

was opened up again by

the Ministry of Defence

for the Second World

Thanks to Birtley

Heritage Group for

granting permission

to publish this

article and to David

Bracken for his

communication with

the group.

.

Page 3 Volume 5, Issue 2

f ight for the Belg ian

Army. Elizabethville was

given as a gift from the

King and Queen of the

Belgians to thank Britain

for their help during

W W 1 a n d h o u s e d

Belgians who'd been in-

jured in the war. My parents met whilst

both were working at

the munitions factory at

Birtley and married at

C h e s t e r - l e - S t r e e t

Register Office on 9th

June 1917. A l l t h e v i l l a g e w a s

Volume 5, Issue 2 Page 3

T h e f o l l o w i n g

recollections were

written down by my

late mother Alice

Pinson/Lipscombe in

1994. I w a s b o r n i n

Elizabethville in the town

of Birtley in Co. Durham

on the 9th September

1918 to a local g ir l ,

Maud Lashley of Pelton

F e l l a n d a B e l g i a n

Canadian father Louis

P i n s o n o f B r i t i s h

Columbia, Canada who

came back to Europe to

prefabricated, the living

a ccommoda t ion fo r

families being bungalows

(called 'the huts' by the

locals!) and there was a

police stat ion, a f ire

station and school, all

controlled by Belgian

l a w , i n f a c t a s e l f

c o n t a i n e d p i e c e o f

Belgium in Britain. I was

born in Hut I .17 .B . ,

Elizabethvil le and my

mother Maud said she'd

lived in three different

Huts in the village but

t h e o n l y o n e I c a n

the class and we all had

to give it a good shake,

and that we had to do

this all day. This was to

demonstrate how butter

was made and she said

whoever had been the

best behaved could take

i t h o m e f o r t h e i r

mother. At the end of

the day I couldn't believe

it when she said 'Alice

you can take it home'. I

also remember we had

c a r d b o a r d s c r e e n s

decorated to represent

village shops, they were

so met ime s no t t oo

wisely. When he was

delivering me he told my

mother he would have

to use forceps as 'He

couldn't hang around' as

so many of his patients

were dying like flies of

the 'flu! (The influenza

epidemic in the winter of

1918 that killed millions).

Dr Johnson was a kindly

m an a n d wa s m u ch

respected by his many

pat ients . He a lways

w o r e a s i l v e r g r e y

homburg hat, a grey suit

and grey spats. I also

remember a long queue

of people outside his

surgery when there was

a smallpox epidemic and

everyone was advised to

be vaccinated and we all

wore a scarlet ribbon on

the sleeve of our coats. I'm not sure where I was

baptised although I do

remember seeing my

baptismal card when I

was a child but it must

have got mislaid. My aunt s p l a yed an

important part in my life,

remember was Prospect

Terrace situated on the

main Newcastle road

looking over the fields in

t h e d i r e c t i o n o f

Washington. I loved

go ing to the v i l l a ge

school and I remember

one day when I was in

the Infants the teacher

bought a pint of milk

into class. She must

have put the milk into a

bottle as it was sold in a

jug in those days! She

told us that we had to

pass the bottle around

During my time in the

village I caught scarlet

fever and was sent away

to Langley Park Fever

Hosp i t a l , and I c an

remember my parents

and my aunts coming to

see me and waving to

me t h rough a g l a s s

window as they weren't

allowed to talk to me. Our doctor was Dr.

Johnson, his surgery was

on the main road in

Birtley, he was a short,

tubby Scottish gentleman

who imbibed well, but

arranged so we could go

ins ide them, and we

were given cardboard

money, the class being

divided into shopkeepers

and shoppers, and in this

way we were helped to

unders t and pounds ,

shillings and pence. I

was sorry when I had to

l e a ve E l i z a be th v i l l e

school when I was nine

to go to live in London

as my father couldn't

find work in the North

E a s t d u r i n g t h e

Depression.

June 1914

At a meeting of the

‘Chester-le-Street

Hairdressers’, it was

unanimously decided to raise the

prices of shaving

from 1½d. to 2d. and haircutting

from 3d. to 4d. It

was stated that the

last rise had taken

place 36 years ago,

1878 no less !

The change in prices commenced

6th July, 1914

Memories of Elizabethville

Li ly Denton l ived in

Wallridge Fell and Ethel

Roberts lived in Hemel

S t r ee t , Che s t e r - l e -

Street. My maternal

grandparents, Alice and

William Lashley lived on

Mission Row, Pelton,

moving to Front Street,

Chester-le-Street when

my grandfather had to

retire from the pits. At the end of the war

most of the Belgians

returned home. My

father wanted to return

t o C a n a d a b u t t h e

Be lg ian Government

refused to pay for his

passage so my parents

lived in Elizabethville

until 1926. As my father

spoke perfect English he

helped in the v i l lage

where he worked for

the Ministry of Works

under the Manager, Mr.

Woolgar. I lived in the

village until we had to go

to London.

Best wishes

Lesley Walker

The artillery were first

to go with the advance

party leaving on 8th May,

a n d T h o m a s ’ s w a r

record shows that he

departed on 10 th May

after 269 days training

with the 53 rd Brigade

RFA. They arrived in

Bilques 32 miles south

east of Calais on 13 th

May. From there they

m o v e d E a s t t o S t

Sylvester where they

arrived 16 th May then

they travelled on to Bois

Grenier where the guns

we re “mo ved i n t o

action”. This action was

a prelude to the first

ba t t l e o f Loos and

Thomas and his brigade

were in action until 7th

June when they with-

Page 4 Chester le Street

d r e w t o b i l l e t s i n

Erquinghem.

On 1st June Thomas was

promoted from Gunner

to “Acting Bombardier”

To be continued………….

100 Years

Ago This

Month

In the Chester Le Street

Chronicle dated June 4th 1915

alongside the regular

list of local casualties

of the war, was this

notice about sending

letters and parcels to

those serving at the

front

T h o m a s P i r r i e , a

soldier of the great

war. In May 1915 orders were

received and a message

from HM King George V

was also received :- “ O f f i c e r s , N o n –

Commissioned Officers

and Men of the Ninth

(Scottish) Division, you

are about to join your

comrades at the front in

bringing a successful end

to this relentless war of

more than nine months

duration. Your prompt

and patriotic answer to

the Nat ions ca l l to

arms, wi l l never be

forgotten. The keen

exertions of all ranks

during the period of

training have brought

y o u t o a s t a t e o f

efficiency not unworthy

of my Regular Army. I am

confident that in the field

you will nobly uphold the

traditions of the fine regi-

ments whose names you

b e a r . I h a v e c l o s e l y

watched the growth and

steady progress of al l

u n i t s s i n c e y o u r

enrolment and I shal l

continue to follow with

interest the fortunes of

your division.”

The Soldiers Story of WW1 cont

At Yesterday Belongs to

you I t a l ked to the

Sunderland Antiquarians

g r o u p a b o u t t h e i r

under the chargers of

venison, barons of beef

and hogshead of ale,

y o u n g m e n n o w

c o n t e m p l a t e t h e i r

comparatively meagre

rations. They are young men

who, having given some

of their best year to the

service of their country,

are now taking up their

books again . Lumley

Castle has stood host to

countless companies but

to none more worthy of

its hospitality than this

reporter (H.J. Wilson)

visited Lumley Castle,

s t u d e n t s w e r e

sunbathing while they

worked. They sat on

chairs lay on the grassy

slopes that overlook the

Wear, meandering past

Chester-le-Street on its

winding course through

Durham County. Lumley Castle is now a

D u r h a m Un i v e r s i t y

h o s t e l , p r o v i d i n g

o v e r f l o w

accommodation for men

who are at University

ghost. The article then

gives the story of Lily

concluding with; - But if

Lily haunts the castle the

students have not seen

her. They can only show

you the smal l upper

room, where a stone

slab set into the wall for

a s e a t i s i t s o n l y

furniture. The magnificent hall 60

feet long and 30 wide

with a vaulted ceiling 30

feet high is the students’

dining room. Where

tab les once creaked

Page 5 Volume 5, Issue 2

acquis it ion of bound

copies of the Sunderland

Echo and when they

were available to the

College. Forty of them

live there, travelling daily

to and from Durham six

miles away. The students, almost all

of whom experienced

l i fe in Service bil lets

during the war, count

themselves lucky to be

living at Lumley. They

thought so last winter

w h e n a n e x c e l l e n t

central heating system

kep t t he c ave rnous

quarters of this 14th

Century castle warm and

n o w , w i t h s p r i n g

public. Last Wednesday

m o r n i n g I w e n t t o

Sunderland and spent a

fasc inat ing couple of

h o u r s r e a d i n g

newspapers from 1947.

The Antiquarians have a

full run of years from

1928 but nothing around

the Great War. In May 1947 I came

across an article about

s t u de n t s i n Lu m le y

Castle. When a Sunder l and

Echo photographer and

Lumley Castle by Dorothy Hall

touching the wooded

countryside as far as

the eye can see, they

are in a delectable spot. On broad window-

ledges of the upper

rooms as well as on

the meadow below,

students sunbathe and

tell you that although

t h e y h a v e s a t u p

o’nights hopefully, they

have failed to catch a

glimpse of the castle’s

reputed ghost. Lily of Lumley is the

name they give to the

one. Un ivers i t y Co l l ege

Durham leased the

castle in 1946 as a hall

of residence from the

Group of Companies

opened the Castle for

El izabethan Banquets

£3.25 per head inclusive

o f w i n e s a n d

entertainment to be held

most evenings around

8pm but you must book

in advance read the

advert in the Durham

Chronicle May 1971.

The first banquet was

held on April 17th 1971.

In 1972 the plan was to

turn the castle into a

hotel with 50 bedrooms.

T h i r t y n i n e w e r e

modern with the others

being historical with four

p o s t e r b e d s a n d

furn i ture to g ive an

impression of past ages.

T h e E l i z a b e t h a n

banquets continued as

b e f o r e . T h e h o t e l

opened in November

1972. The room tariff in

1973 was -single room

f rom £5 .50 , Doub le

room £7.50 –and from

1st April 1973 VAT was

to be charged.

In 1976 the management

of the castle was handed

over to No Ordinary

Hote ls . In 1985 the

cast le went under a

transformation costing

£240,000 plus a further

£60,000 on extensions

and improvements. The

castle remains in the

ownership of Richard

Osbert, 13th Earl of

Scarbrough.

Of course there are

many examples of what

I c o n s i d e r t o b e

interesting features of

graveyards. The first

that springs to mind is

the headstone of one

“ J ane R ichardson” ,

which stands against

the periphery wall of

our Parish Church. It

reads as follows:

literally not realising that

it was a play on words

and wondered how they

knew in the first place

where the centre of any

town or v i l l age was

going to be and why

were the people buried

there first before the

p l a c e w a s b u i l t ? I f

nothing else, at least at

that young age I was

b e g i n n i n g t o t h i n k

laterally.

Page 6 Chester le Street

“Here lies the body of Jane

t h e w i f e o f W i l l i a m

Richardson who died April

the 31st 1780, aged 57

years”. I suppose we

would call it a typo, but I

w o n d e r i f t h e

stonemason received a

clip around the ear for

that little mistake. O n e o f t h e m o s t

Impressive cemeteries

I ’ve vis ited over the

Earl of Scarbrough. The

s t u d e n t s k n o w n a s

Castlemen spent their

f i rst year at Lumley

Castle and the next two

years at Durham Castle.

In 1948 there were 75

students in residence.

The ro le o f Lumley

Cast le in Univers ity

College's history is still

c o m m e m o r a t e d b y

students in the biannual

' L u m l e y R u n ' . T h e

University was still at the

Castle in1967 when The

Pageant of Chester-le-

Street took place. But

sometime shortly after

t h i s t h e Un i v e r s i t y

College students moved

out. Historic Productions

“I Love Graveyards Me” Alec Thompson

around a graveyard ,

unless they needed to

pay their respects to a

family relative or friend

who had sadly passed

away, well hopefully the

following might help to

sway your mind. When I was a kid, my

dad told me “Son, did

y o u k n o w t h a t

graveyards are the ‘dead

centre’ of every town or

v i l l a ge?” I took th is

To many people, a visit

to a cemetery is the last

place they would want

to go. However, I have

found them not only to

be peaceful and relaxing

places, but also a rich

soure of history and

interesting facts and if

‘well maintained’, can be

a pleasure to visit. Now I can hear you

s a y i n g w h y w o u l d

anyone wish to wander

years was the one at

H a w o r t h , W e s t

Yorkshire where the

Bronte sisters lived in

the parsonage. Right

outside their home is

the most congested

graveyard I’ve seen so

far (see picture). It must

h a v e b e e n a s c a r y

experience when they

w a l k e d f r o m t h e

parsonage through the

graveyard at night to

r e a c h t h e c h u r c h

opposite for evening

prayers – it looked bad

enough during daylight

hours. Last year I had

f a s h i o n a b l e w i t h

monumental masons not

only as symbol of the

death of the deceased,

but as reminder to all

who pass by of their

own mortality. The carving of an hour

glass would signify the

passing of time, wings

suggest the speed with

which it slips away and if

it is seen to be on its

s i de i t i nd i c a t e s an

“untimely” death. A re f erence to our

mortality is more than

graves would be those of

pirates, but in-fact these

represented the graves

of a crusaders who had

b e e n k i l l e d o n t h e

battlefield and it was

often just their skull and

thigh bones that were

returned to England.

T h u s t h e y b e c a m e

known as the symbol of

death and of course a

favourite for pirates with

which to terrorise the

high seas. In the 17th and

18th centuries the skull

and crossbones were

ever brought to the

c a s u a l g r a v e y a r d

w o n d e r e r , b y t h e

i n s c r i p t i o n o n a

h e a d s t o n e i n a

N o r t h u m b e r l a n d

cemetery which reads:

“Once I stood where

thou dost now” “And viewed the dead as

thou dost me” “Ere long thou'lt lie as

low as I”

“And others will stand

and look on thee.”

some impressive head-

stones, ornamentation

and enclosed interments.

However, the one that

caught my attention the

most was this one which

displayed the deceased’s

whole family tree. As

you can see from the

f r o n t a l v i e w t h e

stonemason must have

spent some considerable

t ime produc ing th i s

Intricate family record,

which I was surprised to

see extended over both

sides of the headstone.

Page 7 Volume 5, Issue 2

occasion to visit a place

called New Abbey which

is situated on the coast-

l i n e j u s t s o u t h o f

Dumfries in Scotland.

After looking around the

Family tree frontal view.

Family tree rear view.

This year I called into

Cartmel Priory in south

Cumbria . Here the

i n t e r i o r f l o o r i s

virtually made up of

memorial stone slabs

depicting those who

are buried there. One

thing that stood out

was the number of

g r ave s tones wh i ch

displayed carvings of

the skull and cross-

bones. Now initially

you may think that this

would indicate that the

remains of the abbey

(yes it was an old abbey

– n o t n e w o n e ) , I

v e n t u r e d i n t o t h e

cemetery to the rear of

the abbey which had

The Skull & Cross

Bones engraving

with the Hour

Glass below

CONTACTS

Events Diary

Chester le Street Heritage Group

Chairperson -

DAHALL52@aol.com

Information requests/web

heritage.group@virgin.net

Friends friendsclsheritage@hotmail.co.uk

Newsletter

brian.k.pirrie@btopenworld.com

Date Time Event Location

Every Tuesday

until end of July.

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Drop In Session

All Welcome

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Citadel Low Chare ,

Chester le Street.

Wed June 17th

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Location Low Chare showing Palace Cinema -Photos by Jim Rutter

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