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THE L.N.E.R. (GOSFORTH GARDEN VILLAGE) LTD HISTORY OF THE VILLAGE
The Village was entirely surrounded by fields or trees. The only vehicle access was via Salters Lane (most of which has never altered), but there was also a pedestrian access via a cinder path from a point near the side of Tom Lawson's house (No 120 Hollywood). The path wound its way across the fields to the side of the then Ponteland railway line to emerge onto the Great North Road beside the current Jaguar garage. The paths in the Village were also composed of cinder and the roads surfaced with loose 'iron' stones rollered into the earth.
The end house in Rosewood was No 13 but the Avenue continued past the front of the Tennis Courts to finish in a sand pit where pure sand was quarried to mix with the cement that built the houses and later the roads. No 62 was the last house on the east side of Briarwood.
There was therefore easy access to the burn where, as kids, we could paddle in the then clear stream, fish for tiddlers, gather frog spawn or hunt for rats with catapults. One also has access to the burn along the whole of the stretch beside the gardens to Dentsmire Bridge.
Fernwood Avenue ended at No.14 on one side and No 37 on the other. The space now occupied by 14 to 46 Fernwood and 15 to 25 Rosewood was still a derelict field in the early thirties, the centre of which was the sand pit of which reference has already been made. Since our childish minds had been filled with stories of the 1914 - 1918 War we used this field to create dug-outs and during the 'Hoppings' we made gambling side shows in the sand pit.. The standard currency was cigarette cards.
The south side of Hollywood (the side nearest to Cheswick Drive) started at No.6 (as it does now) and finished at 120 (opposite the end of Fernwood) with a gap in it from 68 (just before the house with 'The Pantry') to 86. [
This local shop on Hollywood Avenue closed in 1998 and was converted into a residential property. Edited June 2002.] The north side ended at 63 (Fernwood Avenue). There have been several conjectures as to why Hollywood starts at No.6. One explanation could be that there was a Smallpox Isolation Hospital in Bushey Park - the area now occupied by Salters Close. Smallpox itself, however was dying if not dead in this country and a house built nearer to the Hospital in the (then) future would perhaps be more acceptable to a potential buyer. Bushey Park, including the hospital, was owned by Gosforth Urban District Council who sold it to a Scout Group.
Last updated by: ukpets99
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