Spirited returns

WASHINGTON Village still has the air of a genteel, peaceful late-Victorian suburb - with the spirit of the past still very much in evidence.

There have been reports of a ghostly presence in the village's most famous building, Washington Old Hall, birthplace in 1868 of Gertrude Bell, the influential diplomat and explorer of Arabia, and, earlier, home to some of the ancestors of the first president of the US, George Washington.

The earliest of these was the nobleman William of Hertburn who moved to Wessyngton, as Washington was then called, from Hartburn, now a suburb of Stockton, in 1183. There may already have been a manor house at Washington or he may have built it but the present house, dating from 1613 during the reign of James I, was built in sandstone on the old foundations by William James, the Bishop of Durham.

The arches between the present great hall and the kitchen formed part of the earlier house.

Five generations of George Washington's ancestors lived in Washington Old Hall before moving to Westmoreland, then Lancashire and Warwickshire, and finally to Sulgrave Manor, near Banbury, from where George Washington's great-grandfather emigrated to North America in 1656.

In the 1700s, the hall was let to tenants, and by 1894 was being described as an "interesting old building now fast falling into decay, and at present divided into tenements of the poorest description". By 1936, it was declared to be unfit for human habitation and demolition plans were prepared. Local teacher Fred Hill saved the building, along with other members of The Old Hall Preservation Committee, by buying the derelict building and surrounding land. The society looked to the people of the US for help and on September 28, 1955, the restored building was opened to the public.

Two years later, it was handed over to the National Trust. Intending visitors should know that the building is not open every day of the week, but Sunday afternoon is a safe bet.

While in the neighbourhood of the Old Hall, visitors might enjoy looking at the local parish church, Holy Trinity, with its circular churchyard showing that there was once a Saxon church on the site.

By June 1112AD, there was a Norman church here which is mentioned again in the Boldon Book, Bishop Pudsey's great survey of all his lands. By 1830, the old Norman church was decreed to be unsafe and was demolished, to be replaced three years later by a new one, not as attractive as its predecessor.

Many locals called it The Barn. The church was improved in 1882, 1902 and 1962, and is now a beautiful building.

Among other sights that are well worth seeing, and dating from the 17th Century at the latest, is the village blacksmith's shop in the shadow of the church. It has fulfilled many roles in its time, more recently acting as a pottery, a health food shop, a cafe and a restaurant.

A famous incident concerning the smithy dates back to Georgian times when highways could be dangerous places. One of the worstaffected roads in the area was the Long Bank at Wrekenton, a favourite hunting ground for highwaymen.

It was there, in 1770, that the infamous Robert Hazlitt robbed the mail coach. The local post boy arrived on the scene just in time to see the bandit riding off on a fine grey mare.

Not long after, the boy was watering his horse at the smithy and saw the same animal being shod. He told the authorities about the incident and when Hazlitt returned to collect his horse he was arrested and subsequently hanged.

For those who believe in such things, the tale is told that the ghost of Hazlitt still haunts the site of his arrest.

The restaurant's owners, staff and customers also report other ethereal visitors. A blacksmith has been seen sitting in the back corner of the restaurant with his elbows on his knees. There is also a grey lady who may be the ghost of Jane Atkinson, a supposed witch who was drowned in the village pond in 1676.

There are two further spirits - a man who stands inside the front door and another who can sometimes be seen sitting on the edge of table six.

Moving on to later developments, in 1964, Washington amalgamated with a number of its neighbours and parts of the populations of nearby towns to create Washington New Town, Wearside.

It has Sunderland to its east, Chester-leStreet to the south-east and Gateshead to the north and like some great mediaeval estate, it is bordered by the A1M to the west, the A19 to the east and the rivers Tyne and Wear to the north and south.

The new town was originally divided into 15 numbered districts but this rather anonymous system caused so much confusion, especially to visitors, that the numbers were replaced by village names, some of them original to the area.

They are, for the record Donwell, Usworth, Concord, Sulgrave, Albany, Glebe, Barmston, Biddick, Washington Village, Columbia, Blackfell, Oxclose, Ayton, Lambton, Fatfield, Harraton and Rickleton and Mount Pleasant.

Much of the land needed to create the new Washington was bought from the Lambton Estate.

Today's travellers to Washington would be well-advised to acquire a map of the new town as, although signposting is now much improved compared to its early days and there is much to see, visitors can find orientation difficult.

Included in the attractions are the Galleries shopping centre, with more than 200 shops and 3,000 car parking spaces. Concord also has several high street shops.

Other visitor attractions in the new town include the Arts Centre, a welcoming building converted from farm buildings and home to artists studios and to the award-winning Davy Lamp Folk Club.

Also well worth a visit is the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust Nature Reserve, the idea of Sir James Steel, chairman of the Washington Development Corporation, and Sir Peter Scott.

Originally called The Waterfowl Park, the centre was created from farmland, so none of the lakes and ponds there are natural and most of the woodland was planted in the Seventies. Within the Wetlands Centre is the Peter Scott Centre, with its discovery area, Waterside Cafe and an excellent shop.

Looking down on Washington is Penshaw Monument, a Greek-style temple built in 1844. Dedicated to John George Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham and 1st Governor of Canada, it stands 136 metres above sea level and is a half-sized replica of the renowned Temple of Hephaestus, in Athens.

It was designed by John and Benjamin Green, and built by Thomas Pratt, of Sunderland, on Penshaw Hill, donated by the Marquess of Londonderry.

It was around this hill that the legendary Lambton Worm, a monster or dragon, could allegedly wrap its tail ten times. Oddly enough, it was reportedly an earlier Lambton who slew this mythical beast.