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AND FINALLY.. (By John Yarham)
Two acres of land were allocated for the proposed cemetery, on Hollywood Avenue, by the Council on the 11th October 1939. By the 14th January 1940, this had been increased to 3.10 acres. On the same date the Gosforth Council said that all its trees would be subject to preservation. (a policy not carried on by its successor, the City of Newcastle).
By March 1941 the disused isolation hospital (constructed in 1901) was being used as an ARP School. On the 2nd July 1941 the Council adopted the top section of Hollywood Avenue. The construction of the cemetery started on the 9th April 1942. This had been deemed necessary as the cemetery at St Nicholas churchyard was now full. By May 1943 Mr Turner (of Hollywood Avenue) was being allowed to graze goats opposite Woodlea Gardens. Whilst interments started on the 19th July 1943, the cemetery site continued to be used for emergency food production. In 1943 potatoes had been grown. In 1944 cereals and grass were planned.
On the 3rd November 1943 arrangements were started to adopt the footpath from Briarwood Avenue to Woodlea Gardens. The Council was told on the 10th January 1944 that the footpath was only meant to be used as an access to the land on the south side of the Ouseburn. It was during 1943 that the brick walls fronting the council houses were built, replacing iron railings that had been removed for the War effort.
On the 27th September 1944 temporary housing was recommended for Hollywood Avenue. These were eventually built on part of the allotments site at the top of Beaumont Terrace.
On the 20th of December the Council was told that the Laycock estates were attempting to sell their remaining land on the Low Gosforth Farm for the proposed DHSS site. With sinking mine workings on the site the Welfare State might have sunk with them! However, Benton Park Road had already been chosen. When built it was designed as an emergency hospital in case of World War Three. As I write (spring 2003) some of the old pavilions can still be seen.
On the 5th December 1945 Gosforth Urban District Council asked the Corporation for a limited stop bus service to the foot of Hollywood Avenue. On the 6th March 1946 the old limited bus service to Henry Street was reinstated and extended to the top of Hollywood Avenue as route 7. On the 3rd of April United buses proposed a service from Marlborough Crescent to the foot of Hollywood Avenue. It would have linked with an existing service towards Ryton.
On the 3rd September 1946 Newcastle Corporation was proposing a trolley bus service to Gosforth, with one of the termini being the Garden village. They would have run in via Hollywood Avenue, Fernwood, Briarwood, and back up Hollywood. Mr Cummings was now Secretary of the GGVRA, and it was later in September that Blue Bus Service route 10 to the foot of Hollywood was approved.
On the 23rd October 1946 Mr FS Aitken of 71 Hollywood Avenue applied for a building licence for a Post Office. By April 1947 the TA was asking to take over the wartime AA site. This they did until Northumberland County Council took back the site for schools. On the 22nd October 1947 further extensions to the garage at the top of Hollywood Avenue were approved. Some had been done during the War.
The Council agreed on the 28th January 1948 that the foot of Hollywood Avenue should be widened to accommodate the turning of buses. They were told on the 30th June 1948 that Longbenton UDC were refusing to repair their part of the Bridle Path. This lay between Dents Mire Bridge northwards to Heathery Lane.
On the 17th of November 1948 the Gosforth planning Committee was told that the stones from the South Gosforth Farm byres, being demolished by J.Morpeth was being used in reforming the road in Hollywood Avenue. By the end of 1949 building regulations must have started to be relaxed as more people started to apply for bay windows, and a harbinger of the future, garages.
By the 19th of April 1950 George Embleton was reported to be secretary of the GGVRA.
On the 25th April 1951 the Gosforth Planning Committee was told that the Council was proposing a house and WCs at the cemetery. Only a small brick waiting room was eventually constructed.
The Roads Committee was told on the 13th June 1951 that Dentsmires Bridge was under repair. The arch stones were being refixed and a concrete reinforced saddle was to be put in place. The total cost would be £240 split 50/50 between Gosforth and Longbenton UDCs. This was the route by which much of the Garden Village milk supplies came from Low Gosforth Moor Farm. The road between Salters Bridge and Dentsmires Bridge was designated a Bridle Path under the Countryside Act 1949.
At a Roads Committee meeting of 14th November 1951 there was a report of a boy drowning near to Woodlea Gardens. The council decided to erect fencing at the site. (The south west corner of the bridge, where the fencing has just been renewed, in 2003).
The Roads Committee was told on 18th February 1953 that Hollywood Avenue was subject to pressure grouting by Purdie Lumsden to repair the concrete slabs caused by settlement of the subsoil.
The Roads Committee was advised on 20th October 1954 that the Gosforth Garden Village Residents Association was to be `renewed`. The Council said that it had no objection other than provision should be made for the making up of Woodlea Gardens, and that they had no wish to become owners of the land at the north west end of Woodlea Gardens.
Comments regarding LNER (Gosforth) Garden Village Ltd:-
1. Woodlea Gardens, only the footpath made up. The Hawthorne hedge forms the old boundary.
2. Path from Briarwood Avenue serves a garage at 26 Briarwood Avenue, not yet taken over by the Council.
3. Vacant land adjacent to the Ouseburn behind 28-70 Briarwood Avenue and varying 100-22 feet in width. Access from Woodlea gardens. Fence erected in 1924 in disrepair. This was replaced after the child was drowned.
Mr Thompson was now Secretary of the GGVRA.
On the 16th February the Roads Committee was told that the cost of making up would be for the path £253.19.0, and for Woodlea Gardens £2384.14.9. Following payment Woodlea Gardens was eventually adopted.
Records of the LNER (Gosforth) Garden Village Ltd no longer exist at York. A few annual reports have survived from the Central Station offices consisting of the 2nd to 7th, and 11th reports. These are mainly of interest to accountants, each consisting of a four sided folded document. (Reference DT/NER 2/40/1-7 at the Tyne and Wear Archives).
The second report, to 31/12/1925 said that the LNER had advanced £50,000 and the LNER Housing Trust £35,000 and £60,000. By 31/12/25 161 houses had been, or were in course of, built. running sands etc were causing problems, and recreation facilities were receiving attention. Shareholders in the company seemed to have bought shares of £1 each, although a few had 5, and one had 200. The architect was CHE Bridgen, and the secretary H Denton.
By the end of 1926, 199 houses were built.
By the end of 1927, 238 houses were built.
By the end of 1928, 266 houses were built.
The questions of roads and paths were being taken up with the local authorities.
The 6th annual report to 31/12/29 said that the LNER Housing Trust would lend at 4% £6000 for 10 years to flag the paths. At the 11th AGM, members were advised of a circular that had gone out advising of a method of paying off the mortgages more quickly.
And finally…
In the 1960`s two more houses were built, one in Briarwood Avenue at the end, and one in Woodlea Gardens. These were to be the last of the developments in the Garden Village until British Rail started to sell off its land holdings in the area. This resulted in the demolition of numbers 94-96 Hollywood Avenue. Gosforth Council had in the meanwhile completely reconstructed Hollywood Avenue from the bottom up, and surfaced the remaining concrete roads with tar macadam.
In the early 1970`s Salters Bridge was closed for a year so that a mason from Durham Cathedral could repair the stonework. Northumberland Council then resurfaced it, enabling Hollywood Avenue to become the South Gosforth Bypass. This followed the dropping of the long term plans to extend Hollywood Avenue over a new bridge. One of the shops on Hollywood Avenue is now a house, while a bus service of sorts still runs to the foot of Hollywood Avenue. A small area of land that had been in Longbenton UDC (subsequently North Tyneside) was transferred to Newcastle in recent years. With the sale of the last of the Laycock Estate to Gosforth Golf Course this has enabled the improvement to the Bridle Path.
At the top of Hollywood Avenue one pair of the villas was demolished to make way for the current garage. This is in turn to make way for a furniture shop in 2003. The Northumberland County Rugby Club sold their site to Asda, who then, and since, have paid for a variety of "road improvements" and, what is laughingly described as, "traffic calming".
House numbering. Due to the estate being built from the bottom up, the postal house numbers are numbered from the bottom of Hollywood Avenue. There is no indication in the various plans seen as to why they start at 6. However, the Post Office may have considered Salters Lodge as number 2, and the building in between, later the ATC, as number 4.
LNER records. So far as housing is concerned, these records no longer exist at York, the National Railway Museum, or the Public Record Office. However the NRM do have a few staff magazines with articles concerning railway housing.
References and sources:
Gosforth and its Parish Church/George Harbottle/1974
A History of the Parish of Gosforth/Richard Welford/1879
The North Eastern Railway: Its Rise and Development/WW Tomlinson/1915
Tyne and Wear Archives Service, Blandford House, Newcastle
City of Newcastle Libraries.
Boldon Book/Editor David Austin/Phillimore/1982
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