THE NORTHERN ECHO is now officially in Paradise.

After 153 years in Priestgate, it has moved to a corner of Darlington town centre that used to be called Paradise.

The Echo’s new headquarters is in Coniscliffe House which is on the site of Paradise Chapel which was in Paradise Terrace which was part of Paradise Row which led to a mansion called Paradise.

This part of town really was heavenly!

The Northern Echo: Our new Coniscliffe House offices

The Echo's new home in Coniscliffe House in Paradise Terrace

Once upon a time, of course, it was all fields with a track leading from Blackwellgate out to the village of Coniscliffe. In 1811, on a field called Lamb Flatt, John Backhouse, from the Quaker banking family, built a large house which he called Lamb Flatt House.

As his house grew into a mansion, with an extension including a ballroom and specimen copper beech trees in the garden, he re-named it Paradise.

Perhaps it was to him.

The Northern Echo: Paradise in Darlington in 1825

Darlington in 1825, with the Paradise mansion in Paradise Row at the top of Blackwellgate. The Echo's new home is built on Lord Prudhoe's land 

In 1831, Francis Mewburn, the first railway solicitor, moved into the mansion.

But his friends laughed at him, pulling his leg. No solicitor, they said, will ever find himself in paradise.

He became so fed up with their jokes that he re-named Paradise Larchfield.

But the name stuck to the road outside. It remained Paradise Row.

In 1836, there was a bust-up among the Methodists worshipping in their 400-seat chapel in Bondgate, and a number of them broke away to form the Wesleyan Methodist Association. They needed a chapel of their own so the Duke of Northumberland’s estate kindly gave them a piece of land on Paradise Row and they instructed a Newcastle architect, John Green, to draw up some plans.

Green built the Newcastle Literary & Philosophical Society and helped his son, Benjamin, with Newcastle Theatre Royal, Grey’s Monument and the Penshaw Monument. More locally, John Green designed the Whorlton suspension bridge, Blackwell Bridge, St Edwin’s Church in High Coniscliffe, the Witham Hall in Barnard Castle and the remarkable, if rather spooky, Harewood Grove in the west end of Darlington.

The Northern Echo: Paradise Chapel in Paradise Row, now Coniscliffe Road, in December 1950

Paradise Chapel (above, in December 1950) looks to have been a powerful, if rather frightening, building. It opened in 1840. It seated 800 people and cost £2,700, and was extended out the back in 1890 with a Sunday school to hold 450 scholars.

But the 20th Century reshaped Paradise, bringing most of it crashing down.

The Northern Echo: Looking from Coniscliffe Road down Larchfield Street, then just a narrow lane, in the 1930s. The gateway to the Paradise, or Larchfield, mansion is on the left. PIcture courtesy of Darlington Centre for Local Studies

Looking down Larchfield Street in the 1930s, when it was just a narrow lane. The entrance to Larchfield, or Paradise, the mansion, is through the gate on the left. Picture courtesy of Darlington Centre for Local Studies

The Northern Echo: The corner of Larchfield Street and Coniscliffe Road on June 20, 1963. The mansion Paradise, also known as Larchfield, is through the big gate in the centre of the picture

The corner of Larchfield Street and Coniscliffe Road on June 20, 1963. The mansion Paradise, also known as Larchfield, is through the big gate in the centre of the picture

The mansion at Paradise was too large for an ordinary family so from 1920 to 1975 it was part of Carmel School. It was demolished in 1978 and the St Augustine’s community centre was built on its site.

At Paradise Chapel in the 1930s, services were attended by just six people – and that included the minister, organist and sidesman – but the Reverend Arnold West, a friend of Alf Common, the first £1,000 footballer, revived its fortunes by holding themed services for firemen, police officers, stage stars, sports players and railway employees.

The Northern Echo: Looking east down Coniscliffe Road in the 1960s with Paradise Chapel on the right. PIcture courtesy of Darlington Centre for Local Studies

Looking east down Coniscliffe Road in the 1960s with Paradise Chapel on the right. Picture courtesy of Darlington Centre for Local Studies

By the late 1960s, there were 80 in the congregation but the 120-year-old building required substantial repairs. In 1971, the congregation decided to re-unite with Bondgate and Paradise closed. It was demolished in 1973 and the Echo’s blissful new home was built on the site.

All signs of paradise have now been lost. Even Paradise Row has become boringly known as Coniscliffe Road, but perhaps it is for the best. If a solicitor will never be able to get a place in paradise, it is extremely unlikely that a bunch of journalists will ever find their way there.