A WOMAN has travelled from the other side of the world to solve the mystery of a street name in Consett.

Patricia O'Sullivan, from Queensland, Australia, knew her father's family came from a street called Turn Coats Row, in the Blackhill area of the town.

In an attempt to find out more she made repeated appeals to the people of the area - but no one had ever heard of the street.

Eventually, the chairman of the Derwentdale History Society Tommy Moore attempted to solve the mystery on her behalf.

After weeks of research he was on the point of giving up when, by chance, he found the name of a long demolished street named Twin Coals Row in the 1881 census.

Mr Moore suspected that was the correct name of the street in an era when road names were often changed. He wrote to Mrs O'Sullivan, in Australia, who decided to come over - partly to make further investigations about her father, William Rodgers.

She said: "I planned to come to England anyway, as I was born in the Cambridge area.

"But when Tommy wrote to me, I thought I'd go to Blackhill where I still have family on my father's side. I found other records about Turn Coats Row which I'm taking home, but the really nice bit was Tommy found out I had some other long distance relatives here who I also met. It was absolutely wonderful."

Mr Moore said he enjoyed helping to solve the mystery and meeting Mrs O'Sullivan