Deckham

Deckham is a residential suburb in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead in Tyne and Wear, England. It is bordered by Gateshead town centre to the north, Sheriff Hill to the south, Felling and Carr Hill to the east and Shipcote to the west. It lies on the B1296, the route of the old Great North Road, south of Gateshead town centre, south of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and north of the city of Durham. In 2011, Deckham had a population of 9,938.
Deckham's history is sparsely documented but suggests that the settlement was established at the junction of Carr Hill Road and the Old Durham Road in the early 19th century alongside the estate of Deckham Hall, built several centuries earlier and inhabited at one time by Thomas Deckham. The village grew, and at the turn of the 20th century was enveloped by urban spawl when neighbouring Gateshead absorbed its outlying villages and settlements. Deckham is largely distinguished from other areas by a commercial area on Old Durham Road which is the principal route through the suburb. Historically, Deckham was a village in County Durham and was incorporated into the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead by the Local Government Act 1972.
Deckham has steep topography which has shaped the character of the suburb. Residents can enjoy striking views towards Newcastle upon Tyne and across the Team Valley. The settlement is governed locally by a Parliamentary Labour council and elects a Labour MP.
Deckham is an area of social and economic deprivation, in the top ten per cent of such areas according to the Index of Multiple Deprivation. Housing stock is predominantly council housing and is, in many places, outdated and in need of modernisation. Whilst once the site of a coal mine, there is today no major employer in Deckham, which is considered a residential suburb of Gateshead. The main economic activity is in a commercial development on Old Durham Road. Deckham has a number of public houses, one of which, the Plough Inn, is more than 150 years old. The only education provision is at South Street primary school, which is a good school according to OFSTED. There are two churches, one of which, the Church of St George, is a Grade II listed building, and community facilities are provided by Gateshead Older People's Assembly and the Elgin Centre in Carr Hill.

History

Unlike Sheriff Hill, Carr Hill and Low Fell, Deckham's history is sparsely recorded. It indicates that, by the middle of the 19th century, there was a small settlement which was part of Gateshead Fell; a wild and treacherous area of common land notable for the criminality of the tinkers and hawkers who lived there. Ordnance survey mapping illustrates the sparsity of buildings in 1860; the area contained little except Deckham Hall, a few other dwellings and two public houses at the point where the old turnpike road branched off towards Carr's Hill. The two public houses were the 'Speed the Plough' and 'The Ship'.
The Deckham Hall estate was on the east side of Old Durham Road, 1.25 miles from the Tyne Bridge. It is evidenced in 1614 and belonged to Thomas Deckham, who died the same year and bequeathed it to his granddaughter with "three pounds for the bringing home of water" to the poor people of the area. It changed hands regularly between the families Wooler, James and Bowker, in the centuries after Deckham's death and varied in size whilst doing so. Alderman Benjamin Biggar, Mayor of Gateshead 1861–2, is thought to have lived at Deckham Hall.
By the turn of the 20th century Deckham's rural aspect had changed. Whilst there remained large areas of grass and woodland between Deckham and Gateshead, there was a period of extensive building; several dozen dwellings were erected by 1895 in the Mount Pleasant area as Gateshead expanded southwards. A public house was built at the junction of Taylor Terrace and Split Crow Road. Two years later, a tract of Tyneside flats was built on the west side of the Old Durham Road and many streets in the area, such as Chandos Street, Shipcote Terrace, Raby Street and Northborne Street, are evidenced, along with an unnamed school. By 1919, some rural scenes could still be enjoyed but the fields were "rapidly encroached upon" in the 1920s and 1930s and replaced with more terraced housing at Caris Street, Fullerton Place and Methuen Street and large tracts of council houses. By this time, Deckham Hall was in a state of disrepair and was notable to residents for its resemblance to a haunted house "because of its air of gloom and the strange echoes to be heard on windy nights". The hall was demolished in 1930 and more council houses were erected on the site.
Since the intensive period of house building, little has changed. At the west end of the suburb, the Tyneside flats at Northborne Street and surrounding streets remain in situ and here there is "housing and little else". Much of this housing is in poor condition, some is in "crumbling disrepair" and requires substantial investment. Old Durham Road has developed into the focal point of the neighbourhood and is the sole commercial area, with small, independent shops running along the western end of the road backing onto the streets from Inskip Terrace and Shipcote Terrace. Whilst many retail units are in a state of deterioration, and despite a report describing recent housing development on the east side of Old Durham Road as "poorly handled and unsightly", the area remains "interesting and lively". By contrast, the central and eastern areas of Deckham are affected by a more marked decline. At the western edge there are stone remnants of an old, rural settlement, but the remainder, grouped around Edgeware and Kingston Roads, consists of bland, repetitive social housing arranged on long, curved streets which combine to create an environment which is anonymous, claustrophobic and disorientating. One source describes the environment as one where "eyesores become landmarks, any slight change in materials becomes significant, and any attempt to do something different becomes a relief ".
The net result is that, in Deckham today:

There is something of a sense of isolation in parts of Deckham, especially further up the hill as development densities drop, commercial and social facilities disappear and activity levels on the street fall away. Around the Old Durham Road the surviving mix of small shops and meeting places generate some impression of communal spirit, but the poor condition of
many properties and the dominance of the public realm by traffic serve to stunt it.

Economy

Unlike Sheriff Hill, Deckham was not founded on heavy industry. It developed primarily for its ease of access to the turnpike road, the principle route between Durham and Newcastle-upon-Tyne which ran through it. There is evidence of coal mining; the Durham Mining Museum has a record for 'Deckham Hall Colliery'. Few records of the colliery survive, and it is difficult to ascertain when it opened, but the colliery was located 1.5 miles south from Newcastle and was in the hands of Hopper, Hughes and Company in 1886. By December 1893 the colliery had been abandoned as being "not workable to a profit".
In common with most suburbs of the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, its economy is dominated by the economies of Newcastle–upon–Tyne and Gateshead town centre. This is reflected in terms of independent commercial space; retail floor space in the suburb totals 1% of that available in the whole metropolitan borough. There are 33 retail units concentrated on Old Durham Road, which provide some employment, though these are at the lower end of the spectrum and provide little choice. There is a good provision of hardware stores, fast–food outlets and hairdressers, a butcher's shop, a greengrocer and a supermarket, but there is no bakery, bank nor building society and the Post Office has closed. The retail units were domestic properties, so many are too small for retail purposes and around 20% are vacant.
Deckham suffers from high levels of unemployment; in 2011 the mean percentage of the population claiming Jobseekers Allowance was 7%. This compares to Gateshead's 5% average over the same period. Youth unemployment is 10%, compared to Gateshead's 9%.

Geography and topography

Deckham, at latitude 54.95° N and longitude 1.59 ° W, lies less than south and east of Gateshead town centre between two main transport corridors; Sunderland Road to the east and Old Durham Road to the west. The distance from Deckham to London is. Deckham occupies an elevated position, especially at its north end which sits on a ridge, and some parts are steeply sloped– notably those which border Sheriff Hill to the south.
In the urban expansion of Gateshead, Deckham was enveloped so that its exact boundaries are difficult to define. The estate had boundaries at Split Crow Road, Old Durham Road, Hendon Road and Carr Hill Road but documents indicate that Deckham stretches to Durham Road in the west and the streets adjoining Hendon Road as far north as the Bankies open space at Mount Pleasant. In 1974 Deckham was incorporated into the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead by the Local Government Act 1972. Until its implementation, Deckham was part of County Durham. It is now bordered by settlements which are part of the metropolitan borough. These are Sheriff Hill to the south, Low Fell and Shipcote to the west, Gateshead to the north and Felling and Carr Hill to the east.
Deckham has distinctive, steep topography which "shapes the character" of the suburb. Though the urbanisation of Gateshead has detracted from panoramic views that were once enjoyed by residents, the topography ensures that residents continue to have excellent views towards Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the Team Valley.

Governance

Candidate name	Political party	Number of votes	% of votes cast
Brian Coates	Labour	1,407	70%
May Ainscow	Conservative	214	10.7%
Karen Therese Crozier	Liberal Democrats	146	7.3%
John Richards	National Front	124	6.2%
Norman Hall	Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition	118	5.9%

Deckham is a council ward in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead. It is approximately in area and has a population of 9,228. It is represented by three councillors. In June 2012, they were Brian Coates, Martin Gannon and Bernadette Oliphant.
Deckham is part of the Westminster parliamentary constituency of Gateshead Central and Whickham. It was previously in the Gateshead East and Washington West constituency which was abolished by boundary changes before the 2010 UK General Election. For many years the MP was Joyce Quin, who retired on 11 April 2005 and was awarded a life peerage into the House of Lords on 13 June 2006 and is now Baroness Quin.
The present MP Mark Ferguson, is a member of the Labour party.
Deckham is in a safe Labour seat. Mearns' success in 2010 followed of Sharon Hodgson, who in the 2005 UK General Election polled over 60% of the votes cast whilst in 2001, Joyce Quin was returned with a majority of 53.3%.