Shildon
Shildon is a town and civil parish in County Durham, in England. The population taken at the 2011 Census was 9,976. The town has the Locomotion Museum, due to it having the first, built in 1825, and locomotive works on the Stockton and Darlington Railway.
History
The name Shildon comes from the Old English word sceld, This translates as 'shelf shaped hill' or 'shield/refuge'. Another possibility is the Old English word scylfe meaning 'shelf' and the suffix dun meaning 'hill'. This refers to the town's location on a limestone escarpment.The earliest inhabitants of the area were most likely present from the Mesolithic period some 6,000 years ago. Although no evidence of settlement has been found in Shildon itself a small flint tool discovered in the nearby Brusselton area may be from this period.
Roman expansion reached County Durham in the first century AD. Possible evidence of Roman infrastructure has been uncovered in the area such as Hagg's Lane which passes through Brusselton Wood. Hagg's Lane formed part of the Roman road known as Dere Street.
The first recorded reference to Shildon came during the Anglo-Saxon period in 821 AD when lands were granted to the church.
Salvation Army
The founder of the Salvation Army, William Booth, visited the town as part of a 'motor-car campaign'. The advertised schedule had him visiting the town on the morning of 1 September 1911.Second World War
In March 1940, Leading Stoker C. Anderson of Shildon was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for 'displaying good leadership' while serving in the submarine.The Minister of Economic Warfare, Hugh Dalton, visited Shildon in 1942. He spoke in the town regarding the need to work harder and consume less.
Railway heritage
19th century
At the dawn of the 19th century Shildon was a few houses on a crossroad. The Industrial Revolution and the coming of the railways saw the town grow. In 1801 the population was recorded at being 100 people. Their occupations were noted as being in agriculture, coal mining and the growing textiles industry.In 1818 notice was given in the London Gazette ''
John Dixon, assistant to George Stephenson recalled the town before the railways came.
The volume of coal being produced by coal mining outstripped the capacity of the traditional method of transporting coal, on horse-drawn wagon ways. Steam power was introduced through the use of static steam engines. These were, in turn, were superseded by steam locomotives. Coal would be pulled by static engines over Brusselton Incline into Shildon where the wagons would be attached to a locomotive.
The population grew with this industrial expansion, the population rising from 115 in 1821, to 2,631 in 1841 up to 11,759 by the end of the century. Records show in 1851 the town had 447 houses that were inhabited and 26 uninhabited. Two years later the value of property in the town was assessed at £11,269 and 10 Shillings.
Demand led to a passenger service beginning from the town on 27 September 1825. The first train, Locomotion No.1 began its journey outside the Mason's Arms Public house. There is an argument that the Mason's Arms could be classified as the world's first railway station. In the early stages of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, tickets were sold at the bar. Between 1833 and 1841 the company hired a room in the pub for use as a booking office.
The railway ran from its northern terminus at Shildon along 27 miles of track to its terminus at Stockton. In 1838 the speed of travel was noted by The Derby Mercury which reported that a servant asked permission to travel to Shildon from Stockton on Christmas Day. She made her request "a little before four in the afternoon" and was able to return home "by seven o'clock the same evening".
Recruited to the railway by George Stephenson in 1824, Timothy Hackworth went on to become superintendent in 1825. He was charged with building locomotives for the company.
Engine works
Timothy Hackworth moved into Hackworth House with his family in 1831. There he supervised the construction of what became the Soho Engine Works close to the property. In 1833 Hackworth renegotiated his contract with the Stockton and Darlington Railway to take over the works himself. This became the Soho Locomotive Building Company.Hackworth was in a partnership with Nicholas Downing in Shildon however the partnership was formally dissolved on 25 March 1837.
The oldest part still surviving is the Soho Shed. The grade II* listed building was built in 1826 as a warehouse for an iron merchant. The North Eastern Railway were the occupant from 1863 before becoming a paint shop for trains in the 1870s. In the 20th century it was used as a boxing gym and rehearsal space for the Shildon Works Silver Band. The shed still has two engine pits and the remnants of a 19th-century heating system. The engine shed along with Hackworth House was refurbished in 1975.
Near the Soho Shed, 110 metres to the east, are the grade II* listed coal drops. Constructed circa 1846/47 or circa 1856 depending on source. The system was used for the refuelling of locomotive tenders. Coal wagons would be hauled to the top of the coal drops where their bottom would open and the coal would fall down a chute into the engine waiting below.
In this area also stand the Black Boy Stables and out buildings. The grade II listed stables were built in the early 19th century at the point where the branch lines met from the Black Boy Colliery and Surtees Railway. Restored in the 1970s the stables were damaged by fire in 1985. However, a 2016 report disputes their being stables. It states that while they are "clearly not stables", it believes one was possibly a plate layer's cabin. The use of the other "adjacent structures is still in some doubt". Other buildings include the goods shed and parcels office. It handled local freight distribution in Shildon from 1857. The parcels office looked after the movement of goods in and out of the shed.
The Soho Works built the first locomotive to run in Nova Scotia, Canada. The engine, named Samson, was shipped from Shildon in August 1838 to move coal from the coal mines at Stellarton.
The Stockton and Darlington Railway expanded their works on the western side of the Mason's Arms Crossing. This expansion alongside the nearby Soho works led to a surge in population as people came to the town for work. The pace of growth quickened further with the opening of Shildon Colliery to the south of the Soho Works in 1873.
In a letter to his sister, Timothy Hackworth Jr. describes the scene in the vicinity of the works:
In 1855 the Soho Works were bought by the Stockton and Darlington Railway and made an extension of their works. Now merged with the North Eastern Railway in 1863 and locomotive production was shifted to their North Road Works in Darlington. The Shildon Works continued but focus was shifted to the construction of railway wagons.
To mark fifty years of the railway, The Northern Echo published an article which included this description of the town:
20th century
A strike in 1911 saw violent scenes in the town and British troops deployed to maintain order. A driver of a mineral train was stoned and dragged from his engine. He was pursued by an angry mob and had to be rescued by soldiers. Mineral wagons had their bottom doors undone and the contents allowed to fall out. Wagons in the sidings had their brakes undone and freewheeled for miles, railway signal cables were damaged and the cavalry had to be called. At one stage soldiers had to mount a Bayonet charge to clear a bridge. The New Shildon Strike Committee condemned the government for deploying the army and called for their withdrawal.Moving further into the 20th Century the Shildon Works became the largest wagon works in the world by 1976, employing 2,600 people. The works built 1,000 wagons a year and repaired more besides. The 27 miles of sidings made Shildon home to what was believed to be the largest sidings in the world. This was until the construction of the Chicago marshalling yards in 1927.
There were concerns for the future of the railway works in the 1930s. The London and North Eastern Railway Company had decided to concentrate their operations to Darlington. Local MP Aaron Curry addressed the matter in the House of Commons on 14 December 1934.
The Soho works laid derelict since the 1940s and were scheduled for demolition in the 1970s when many of the buildings fell into disrepair. However, the buildings were saved when they were restored and opened to the public as part of the Timothy Hackworth Museum. The museum was opened on Thursday 17 July 1975 by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.