THE spring special edition of Memories told stories of public parks and village greens (Mems 672), including the tale of how Hurworth village green may be the site of a plague pit, with anywhere up to 1,500 victims of a 17th Century pandemic buried beneath its gentle undulations.
READ FIRST: THE PLAGUE PIT BENEATH HURWORTH VILLAGE GREEN
At a recent Memories talk, a lady gave us this picture of a football team on the village green. They appear to be wearing Newcastle stripes but it is definitely Hurworth because you can see behind them the curious castellations of Dovercourt, a lovely house with a garden that drops down to the Tees.
In the darkness to the top right of the boys is Knell Gate, a lane which leads from the river and up which a boatmen carried bodies. It is said he rang a bell attached to Dovercourt to summon the gravediggers.
Perhaps because it has such an open expanse of grass at its heart, Hurworth has a proud tradition as a footballing village. It entered the 1882-83 Durham Challenge Cup and in 1892-93, they won through to the third qualifying round of the famous FA Cup.
However, they failed to field a team even though they were drawn at home. Their opponents, Darlington FC, went through with a walkover.
This history continues today because Hurworth Albion FC is thriving with its Under 17s and Under 13s winning their leagues.
Our team seem to come from the 1910s or 1920s, and an old Hurworthian once told us they were called the Salmon Tin Dribblers. This, apparently, is because they were connected to the village church of All Saints – the abbreviation of Saint is St, and so Salmon Tin.
If you can tell us anymore, we’d love to hear from you: Dovercourt has been called Dovercourt for at least a century. The only other Dovercourt that we can find in the country is a small seaside town in Essex which had a holiday park where, in the 1980s, the riotous sitcom Hi-de-Hi! Was filmed. There can’t be a connection, can there?
READ MORE: MAN ARRESTED IN AUCKLAND COLLIERY AFTER HORRIFIC MURDER OF HIS SISTER 150 YEARS AGO
THESE photos have recently been donated to Tim Brown of the Ferryhill History Society. The two black ones were taken by The Northern Echo, probably in 1946, and show thrashing day at Rushyford Farm, which is today next to the roundabout where the A167 meets the A689.
The seven horsepower machine was built in 1909 by Marshall & Sons of Lincolnshire. “By the time of the pictures, it belonged to the Young family at Bradbury,” says Tim.
“It is shown with the traction engine that took it around the local farms on thrashing days.
“The traction was eventually superseded by a Fordson tractor, and the thrashing engine itself would have fallen out of use when combined harvesters became affordable for farmers.
“The traction engine was sold in the 1960s to Fredie Greenwell, of Elstob Lane, Morden Southside, then in 1997 to John Severs who undertook refurbishment.”
The colour photograph shows Bill Etherington, an avid collector of historical farm machinery, demonstrating the thrasher at Sedgefield Show in the 1980s. It is believed that the thrasher is still in working order and is in Lincolnshire.
READ MORE: WRECKS, RESCUES AND GHOSTS: STORIES FROM OUR GLORIOUS LIGHTHOUSES
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