Durham, St Hild's College 1929

Photo ref: 82406

The viaduct that strides across Durham City was completed in 1856 and was open initially to goods (freight traffic) in the August of that year, the line had failed a safety inspection with regards to the working of passenger trains and did not open to passengers until 1/4/1857. The route and the viaduct was designed by Thomas E. Harrison and was constructed by Richard Cail of Gateshead.

This photograph of 1929 is of special interest to me because of the long, white building in the top left-hand corner of the image. This was the temporary chapel at the College and served in that capacity from 1925 until the building of the present permanent chapel in 1939. It had been a gift from the Diocese of Durham - perhaps a redundant building from elsewhere. It was licenced for ...see more

My dad went to the tin school and I’m looking for anyone who may have known him as my sisters and I would like to make a book of story’s from his time there for his 60th his name is jimmy Layfield and he had an older brother called Keven Layfield

I was at this school from 1949-57, when I lived in Longacres. I seem to remember a bronze plaque on the hall wall stating that it had been built in 1908. It had evidently been built as a temporary structure, but had managed to last until the early '80s. (I visited it in 1981, I think, when it was closed awaiting demolition, the door was open so I ventured in. The smell of the hall - sour milk bottle tops and chalk dust ...see more