When showing a visitor the points of interest in the neighbourhood of Witton Park, you would be sure to take him to the top of the incline, or along the Slag-heap to give him a view of what was one of the most extensive iron-works in the North of England.

Indicating with your finger a certain portion of the ruins, you say: "This is Paradise" You notice his look of mingled perplexity and amusement, and you know its cause: he is contrasting the grim unsightliness of the ruins and their surroundings, with the exquisitely fair name you have just uttered.

The incongruity strikes most visitors in the same way. Those who looked upon the same spot, some years ago, saw a much greater contrast. I refer to the time when the iron trade was at its zenith - a period when the scene was one of dust, smoke, fire and confusion - a perfect pandemonium. You hasten to explain that the field in which the works were erected, was called "Paradise Field," and you also wonder how such an ordinary field came by such a name. The very breath with which you utter it, seems imbued with the perfume of groves, of orange and myrtle, and a myriad of flowers, whose innumerable lovely tints, blending with the beautiful plumage and gorgeous hues of bird and butterfly, as they flit amongst the glorious foliage and clusters of redolent fruit; picture themselves in the mind’s eye, reflecting there what the house of old Adam must have been.

Paradise: The articulation of the name is like the cadence of some divine song – the numberless inflections from the throat of a thousand feathered songsters, trilling a paean of Peace and Plenty.

It will require no very great stretch of the imagination to arrive at a solution, if we go back to the time when, ’ere the ruthless hands of the black trades – two of the prime factors in England’s commercial greatness had left their unsightly marks upon the fair scene. The landscape was one of the prettiest that nestled in the lap of the Valley of the Wear; when the wooded slope, from "Nab Hill" to "Pit Houses," abounded with hazel and bramble, with Car Wood and Heckle Wood (Hazel Wood) forming the background. When the little brook known as Beechburn, was hidden by the graceful foliage of the overhanging branches of the trees from which it derives its name, and which afforded the privacy and shelter so necessary to the existence of that most beautifully plumaged of all British birds – the Kingfisher.

How beautiful the Wear Valley must have been at the time when the records in the Bolden Buck were written. When the "villains of Aucklandshire, to wit North Auckland and West Auckland, and Escomb and Newton; found at the great hunts of the Bishop for each oxgang, one rope, and made the Bishop’s hall in the forest. When William and "Little Usworth," Simon Vitulus with Plausworth, John de Houghton and little Burden, rendered so many shillings, carted wine with so many oxen, and went in the great chase with two greyhounds each; and "all the villains of Stanhope" made, "at the great hunts, a kitchen and a larder, and a kennel; and carried all the Bishop’s carrody from Wolsingham to the lodges."

The river, we are told, ran in what is called the "Old Course," beginning near Witton-le-Wear, passing Plumtree Hall and terminating with a sweep towards its present course. In Mr Allison’s fields, on the north side of the railway embankment; and that at some period during last century, a great flood left it in its present course. It mast have swept the site upon which the blast furnaces stand, and close to the foot of Nab Hill.

Witton Park was so called on account of its close proximity to the demesne of Witton Castle - in fact, part of the ground upon which the parish stands was really part of the estate, and up to 1845 contained only a number of farmhouses.

"In the Auckland district, was a ‘certain collier’ living in the reign of Henry II. He had for neighbours Elizabred, and Alan Picuadrac, and Umfrid the carter, but unfortunately his own name is not given. All we know of this primitive ‘carbonarius’ is that ‘he held one toft and one croft, and four acres, and found coal for the making of the iron-work of the ploughs at Coundon. A tenant of Bishop Pudsey in the year 1183, he is the historic father of the coal trade of South Durham, the earliest coal-miner of our acquaintance."

Recently in the vicinity of Witton-le-Wear, the coal has been worked by what is called "baring", i.e. removing the surface from the seam. During this operation a lot of bell shaped mounds were exposed. These mounds are simply debris - mostly shale - that has been thrown back to fill up the old "bell-pits," as they are called, from which the coal has been worked may years ago.

In 1839, Donald Maclean Esq. bought Witton Castle and estate from Sir William Chaytor, for £100,000. At this time, coal was not the universal cynosure it afterwards became; and yet, it was undoubtedly the magnet which drew into the neighbourhood the former gentleman, whose affairs soon became insolvent. The estate came into the possession of Henry Chaytor Esq. JP, in 1851.

The first rail of the Darlington and Stockton Railway was laid on the 23rd day of May 1822, and opened on the 27th September 1825. Its nearest direct communication with the Wear Valley up to 1844, was Black Boy Colliery. The old railway by which the coal was conveyed from the Etherley and Witton Park collieries to the main line at Shildon, was worked by ropes from two stationary engines - one on the top of Brussleton Old Incline, and the other in Etherley. The former worked the communication betwixt Shildon and St. Helens Auckland; the latter, between St. Helens Auckland and Witton Park.

The extension of the "Bishop Auckland and Weardale" branch of the railway was commenced on the 8th November 1843. The first passenger station erected in Witton Park was a wooden structure, which soon gave place to what is still called the "Old Station," which building has been pulled down recently. It may be interesting to know that the late Mr John Hogg, late of the Queen’s Head Hotel, was the first Station Master.

Messrs. Bolckow and Vaughan began the erection of the Iron Works in the year 1845. No.1 Blast furnace was put into blast on St. Valentine’s. Day 1846. It was about this time that the proprietors began to build Stable Row, Railway Row and Old Row. Most of the workmen lived in Toft Hill, Etherley, Escomb and Bishop Auckland.

On the site of Carwood House and Carwood Cottage, now occupied respectively by Dr. A. Vaughan Williamson and Mr. Thomas Dawson, there stood two buildings. The larger was called "The White House." Carwood Road, at this point, was barred by a tollgate, and toll was levied upon certain traffic. Carwood Road was but an indifferent country lane, very crooked and uneven. A clump of larches grew at the point where the present footpath leading from it to the Villas at Woodside begins. A curious incident occurred here; Robert Hutchinson ("Old Bob"), who lived at Carwood Farm, used to take his horses every morning to drink from the troughs at Stable Row. On one occasion, he found the gate at the entrance to the latter place, closed against him. It was evident that someone thought he had no business there, and meant to stop him. "Old Bob," however, was too canny for them. Returning, he deliberately hung a chain across the lane, near to the clump of larch tress, and attached to them. The fields here, on one side of the road belonged, as they do now, to Carwood Farm, and Mr. Hutchinson claimed some privilege of barring the road against the firm’s wheel traffic. We are told that "Old Bob’s" horses were allowed free access to the troughs in future.

The present footpath leading from Carwood Road to the Villas at Woodside, is a substitute for one which formerly crossed the field in front of the White House. It passed over the ground upon which stands the west front (a new wing) of Woodside Cottage, near the premises of Woodside Farm, and through the field ’till it joined that running from California to Escomb.

There was also a bridlepath from Woodside. It passed Woodside Farm, and on by the riverside to Bishop Auckland. Part of it, old standards tell us, is covered by the slagheap. A ford is also spoken of in connection with it; and what appears to be an old ford-stead is still visible near Escomb.

What is now called the "Black Road" was originally a bridle-path, and skirted the right-coming from the Baltic of the present construction. It crossed the track of the railway near the "Old Station," and forked somewhere near the blast furnaces. One branch running through Paradise Field to a ford; and the other near to where the foundry stands, and along the riverside ’till it came into conjunction with one leading from Woodside to Bishop Auckland.

Near to the point at which the line was crossed by the bridle path in question, a blast-furnace man was killed by a passing engine. An action was brought against the Railway Company by the friends of the unfortunate man, which proved an easy victory for the former. It was proved that he had not been crossing at the exact point of juncture of the road with the line; inasmuch as he was found on the side of the crossing contrary to the one to which he must have been carried, considering the direction in which the engine passed.

A man on horseback was once stopped on his way through Paradise Field, by Mr. Cumbers, who was superintending the sowing of mangelwursel. Out of courtesy, the former had taken the "headrig." When told by the latter to "keep the road" a hint that he ought to have gone round by Witton-le-Wear, or Bishop Auckland - he gave Mr. Cumbers to understand that he knew perfectly well which was the road. In lieu of par1ey, he returned to the gate, and rode deliberately across the newly sown field to the ford, repeating the performance, to and fro, until he had made a thorough, beaten track; then dared Mr. Cumber to put the plough into it.

When the metal-yard extended to where the brick-sheds now started, it was found that the metal had been stacked across the course of the bridle path just mentioned. Peremptory orders were at once given to those in charge, to have a way, 4 feet in breadth, cleared through the yard. This necessitated the removal of a great many tons of pig iron.

Another footpath is spoken of as having fallen into disuse. It communicated with Carwood Road and Black Road, left the latter near the top and struck across the fields by Witton Park old pit, to Witton Row. Where the communication occurred between the Black Road and Carwood, it will be difficult to determine. The chart shows no road, I believe, in the neighbourhood of Carwood House.

There are certainly many footpaths that have been unfairly closed and ought to be re-opened. There are others that have fallen into disuse naturally, and would be of no benefit to the public were they opened.

In reference, to the great drawback to Witton Park in respect of roads, instead of the present bridle path across the river, we might have a highway. It was always Mr. Ralph James’ idea to have, instead of the present bridge, one suitable to highway purposes, and a road running straight from it and parallel with the railway, to join the highway at Wear Valley Junction. The ballast-heap, he contended, could have been utilised in the scheme.

A quantity of ordnance for the Crimea was manufactured in the Foundry in 1855.

It was, I believe, in 1855-6 that an epidemic of cholera raged in Witton Park and Woodside. Day and night, the undertakers were plying their grim trade. It is spoken of by people who remember it as "a terrible time". All available tar-barrels were used for making disinfecting fires.

Witton Park experienced all the troubles of the principal disputes in the Iron trade. In the strike, which began in the winter of 1857 and lasted 16 weeks, many people were evicted and lived in tents. The lockout in 1860 lasted four weeks: the "long strike" of 1866, twenty-two weeks. The latter was very keenly felt in Witton Park.

As the iron trade prospered, and the works extended, more houses were rapidly "run up." Rents were high, and property was naturally valuable. To show how much property in Witton Park has depreciated, I mention the fact of a certain gentleman being offered a thousand pounds for a batch of houses in one of the streets. He wanted more. The same property is worth little more than one-fifth of that amount to day.

Gasworks were erected at a cost of about £2,000; and the streets were lighted in l864-65. A further expenditure of about £300 was incurred by the company to secure to themselves the right. A fatal explosion occurred at these works on the night of 7th January 1879. The frost had been severe, and the water in the pit of the gasometer, at the point most exposed to the weather, became congealed that it caused the meter to lift unevenly, until the tilt became so great as to raise the rim on the unfrozen side above the surface of the water.

It was close upon midnight, and just after a staff of men had been brought to remedy the defect, the unfortunate calamity occurred. Most of the men were busy at the meter, when a labourer (Ralph Richards) came abruptly upon the scene with a lighted torch-lamp, which he thoughtlessly, and before any remonstrance could be made, lowered into the pit at the most dangerous point. Eleven were burned, two of whom were Ralph Richards, and Mr. Benjamin Spoor. The latter gentleman was present in an official capacity. He was one of the most prominent men in the neighbourhood, and his fate was a great shock to the whole countryside.

The gasworks have been dismantled very recently.

The building of No 5 Blast furnace was commenced on the 24th May 1870, and was put into blast on the 17th April 1871. No 6 was opened on Guy Fawkes Day 1873, and was "blown" at the beginning of 1875. There were only two other furnaces in England to equal these in the output of pig iron. I believe their joint capability was 1,100 tons per week.

In 1874, the number of houses, including public houses and shops in Witton Park and Black Road, was 630.

In 1875, the population numbered about 4,000 persons, an average of between 6 and 7 per house. The sanitary arrangements were the same as those in existence before the sweeping alterations enforced by the County Council. It will be seen from this, that the houses, mostly four-roomed, were abominably over crowded. It is a fact to which many can testify that the beds were never cool in very many of the houses: as the dayshift men turned out, the nightshift men turned in. One case in particular seems incredible; yet, I have been assured again and again of its validity. A man and his wife, with three or four children, lived in King Street and kept fourteen lodgers. It will be readily admitted that this state of things was not conducive to health or morality; and that those who were building houses at this time, were conferring a great boon upon the neighbourhood.

The "good old days" before the advent of the steel rail, were the "maddest and merriest" in the annals of Witton Park. Metaphorically the sewers ran beer. ‘Matutinal libation’ commenced at 6 a.m. prompt. ‘Hosperian potions’ begat as great a love for Bacchus and John Bar1eycorn as for Venus. If a person was asked to drink and refused, he generally got the contents of the half-gallon jug down his back. Faction and free fights were as common as Salvation Army Prayer Meetings today, and sometimes ended fatally. One man was kicked to death in the Railway Tavern, John Street; another beneath the bridge near Stable Row: and a third in front of the Stobart Hotel, Woodside. It was supposed that the real culprits, in each of these cases, escaped. Some of their accomplices were sentenced to moderate terms of imprisonment.

This is how a row began in John Street in 1862. One Saturday evening, two very antagonistic factions were drinking in the same public house, but in different rooms. One was being entertained by a man playing upon a harp. The other, thinking it had an equal right to be serenaded, deputed one of their number to invite the performer amongst them; but this the latter’s audience would not allow. Whereupon, a member of the disappointed party took a shove1, and filling it with hot coals from the grate, another opened the door, and the fire was thrown indiscriminately amongst their unsuspecting enemies. Two or three rushed to the doors to prevent the escape of aggressors, who, with their comrades, were charged and mauled unmercifully with jugs, pots, glasses, and anything that could be used as a weapon. A crowd was soon attracted, and being largely composed of partisans of both gangs of combatants, the fight became general. A cart-load of old paving stones that had been pulled out during the repaving of a butcher’s premises, were freely used, and the windows and doors of the house in which the riot began, were literally smashed to pieces. The police were busy the next day making arrests. Every man they met in the streets who had a suspicion of sticking plaster, or a bruise, was marched off to "limbo". The policemen never troubled themselves by asking how their prisoners came by their bruises or strips of plaster: it was enough that they possessed them.

There are men struggling for the most meagre subsistence today, who were getting their twenty, thirty, and forty shillings per day when the works were going.

But enough of this morbid matter; Witton Park had its bright side. It could boast of as many places of worship, institutions and benefit societies, as any parish of the same magnitude. For a long time it was the possessor of three fairly good bands of music. Again, it was about the only place for miles, in which you could hear a bit of really good singing. Each place of worship had its choir, of no mean ability. There were also glee singers, troupes of minstrels and dramatic societies. I have known lads and lassies, ranging in age from 12 to 16 years, who could take up a piece of not very easy vocal music, and almost sing it at sight. How delightful it used to be to hear three or four young people of this description, blending their voices in the rich harmony of some beautiful melody, as they took their summer evening stroll through the woods of Witton Castle. The performances of members of the Welsh Choirs were always an especial treat in this respect.

The We1sh Independents had a Meetinghouse in Old Row

Prior to the construction of the present Catholic Chapel, which consists of a number of dwelling houses laid together, the Rev. Father Singleton of St. Wilfred’s Bishop Auckland, and his curate Father Parkinson, in turn, celebrate Holy Mass on Sundays and Wednesdays, in the Cambrian Co-operative Society’s Hall - the premises in High Thompson Street now occupied by Messrs. J. and W. Green. Shortly before the cessation of the works, a parish was formed, and a site for a new Catholic Chapel was presented to it by Messrs. Bolckow Vaughan & Co. Had the work continued, Witton Park could have boasted as pretty a 1ittle chapel as any in the neighbourhood. The fund is still kept intact, I believe, and a cherished hope may yet be realised.

The Wesleyan school was built in 1870, the new Day School in 1871.

There was also a branch of the British and Foreign Bible Society; three Good Templar Lodges; one Degree Temple; and one Juvenile Temple.

The following is a list of the Benefit Societies that flourished in the good times:

I. O. Oddfellows Queen’s Head Inn

A. O. Foresters Vulcan Hotel

Juvenile Foresters Vulcan Hotel

A. Q. Druids King’s Head Inn

Sons of Temperance Wesleyan School

When the works were permanently stopped, hundreds of men were thrown out of employment, and the distress in the neighbourhood soon became very severe. Many a great, able-bodied man, was glad to walk two or three miles to work in the stone yards for the miserable pittance of eightpence a day. By degrees the population decreased, and for a number of years most of the houses remained untenanted, and as a result, fell into a very dilapidated condition. Some of this property represented the hard-earned savings of working men. When the prospect at the collieries brightened, and the streets, long desolate, began to assume a more cheerful appearance, the poorer owners, also made an attempt as far as their purses would allow, to restore their houses to a habitable state of repair. Unfortunately, many of these houses became the temporary abodes of an itinerant element, only too common in the country, at the best of times. I do not refer to any class of people at present living in Witton Park; but to that class of mortals who are continually moving about in that here-today gone-tomorrow fashion. This is the class who care and were followed, for a long time, by a continual succession of the same peccant type, resorting to the same modus operandi, and leaving behind them, duped landlords, and swindled tradesmen. This kind of thing was carried on in our midst to an alarming extent, and added much to the distress of the a1ready impoverished property.

The spoliation of much of the property in the village was not, I am very sorry to say, by the natural decay resulting from neglect. My meaning will be obvious to many. The manner in which property in Witton Park and John Street has been demolished is a standing disgrace to the whole of our village.

The County Council was treated by its Health Officer to a report - which had the reputation of being the blackest in the County; on the condition of Witton Park. Now, the death rate at Witton Park is as low as that of any other place of its size; and the number of infectious diseases, probably less. It is also a fact that there were houses in a far less inhabitable condition than many that were on the "black list."

Why Escomb Township allowed the Crook sewage to be deposited on its threshold without some remonstrance, it is difficult to understand. This fever-bed is now to be augmented at a cost of several thousands of pounds - to come from the coffers of Escomb and Witton-le-Wear. It was the boast of a down-river community that the quality or their water supply was second only to any in England; yet the Medical Officer of its Urban Council, in a recent report said, "they wanted a purer water supply". Surely, "the cure is worse than the disease" - to Escomb, at any rate, since it must pay the fee for another’s potion, and inhale the miasma into its own system.

There seems to be a great amount of inconsistency in the question of a pure water supply. An individual is peremptorily requested to close his draw-well, or pump, and to take in Waskerly water, the "main" of which passes near the premises to be supplied. Why should not this apply to a body corporate, as well as to the individual? Wherein lies the difference when the water supply of the corporate body has been declared to be impure, and its chance of a purer supply is as good as that of the owner of the condemned pump or draw-well?

The work of dismantling the iron-works began shortly after their stoppage and has been continued to the present time without intermission. Nearly all the old blast furnaces have disappeared. The sheds of the old mills are fast tumbling to pieces. No. 5 and No. 6 Blast furnaces, however, still remain a1most intact, and stand as "towering monuments of the past". "Will they be put into blast again?" ‘Will they?" you repeat.

The slag is being worked from the "tip", and utilised for highway purposes by the board. It is, however, vastly inferior to whine, and in the summer when the weather is showery, the roads are pervaded with a sulphurous exhalation very disagreeable at times. Nevertheless, it gives employment to a number of men.

It is a matter of speculation as to what the future Witton Park will be. We cannot expect the collieries to work forever. Furthermore, we cannot close our senses to the fact, that if it were not for the collieries, the value of most of the property would be merely nominal.

Some new and steady industry may spring into existence and Witton Park may be better off in the future than it has been in the past, even in the best of times when money was made and scattered broadcast. The height of its prosperity was but a raging fever. Let us hope that the "turn" is for the better - that, although like the fever patient, its pulse has been at the highest flow and lowest ebb; it may soon attain a normally healthy condition. And that we, or those who may follow us, may have every reason to be proud of our village.

Mr T Gray, was the first man to teach Shorthand in Witton Park in 1900.

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