What a marvellous mangle from the South Church mining community!

As Memories 635 told, that meant the terraces, the three pubs, the brewery, the miners’ institute, the working men’s club, Blacketts’ fish and chip shop, and the yards which had once contained little industries.

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In the 1950s, Derek Ward grew up in Foundry Yard which backed on to the River Gaunless in a two-up/two down with an outside toilet. He set up his car business, D Ward Automotive, in Bishop Auckland and then, many years ago, was alerted to a mangle that was about to go under the hammer in Edkins’ sale room.

Not any old mangle, but one that had the name of “T Dunn South Church” cast into its frame – perhaps even cast at the foundry near the Gaunless.

“As soon as I saw it, I had to have it, and I think I paid £30 for it,” says Derek, who has amassed an amazing collection of memorabilia over the years. “I stripped it down, removed every nut and bolt, had it sandblasted and got an artist to do all the work on it.”

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On the side of the mangle is a depiction called “Homeward”, which shows two miners walking away from a pitwheel: on the left is a young, clean shaven miner sucking on a pipe; on the right is an old, bushy-bearded miner with a pick over his shoulder.

It is remarkably similar to Going Home (above) which was painted by Ralph Hedley in 1888 and was subtitled “the pitman homeward plods his weary way”.

But Hedley’s image featured the old, bushy-bearded miner with a pipe on the left and the young ‘un on the right with the pick.

Hedley was born in Gilling West, near Richmond, and moved with his parents to Newcastle when he was 13. He became a very popular Tyneside artist producing prints that appealed to the industrial working classes. Going Home would have adorned the walls of many pitmen’s homes, although it was not quite as popular as his 1881 print called Blinking in the Sun (Cat in a Cottage Window) which shows a tabby snoozing in the warmth with its tails wrapped around its toes. To miners, this image was known as “Ralph’s Cat”.

It looks as if Mr Dunn with Homeward has copied Hedley’s Going Home and reversed the figures – perhaps in the hope of avoiding any copyright costs.

Nevertheless, it makes for a very fine mangle which, as Derek begins to slim down his collection, is currently for sale at the antiques barn at Bradley Burn, near Wolsingham.

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From Derek Ward's collection: the stone name of Crown Street in South Church, built in 1877 and cleared in the 1960s