HISTORY enthusiasts are being invited to take “A Walk Through the Upper Gaunless Valley 100 Years Ago” when an exhibition gets underway this month.
The display will be the first since the start of Covid-19 pandemic for the Upper Gaunless Valley History Society and will take place at Butterknowle Village Hall on August 20 and 21.
Society chairwoman Jeanette Newell said the idea for the theme of the exhibition came about while the group was looking at the businesses that once thrived in the area.
She added: “There were an incredible number of businesses.”
Treasurer David Wallace added: “Virtually every other house was a business and there was virtually every trade you can think of.”
They noted that Copley featured a clockmaker as well as a travelling jeweller. There were also blacksmiths, cobblers and even barrel making coopers.
Elsewhere in Butterknowle there was huge Co-op store.
Member Fred Atkin said: “They had everything from child care to funerals – the whole gamut of life. You could clothe yourself and get all the supplies you need.”
Mrs Newell added: “Other villages would have had smaller Co-ops and Butterknowle would have fed the others.”
The group believes Butterknowle was chosen as the central store because of the closeness of the Haggerlesases railway line as well as Cockfield Station.
The building was torn down in the 1960s and replaced with homes.
The society also has a photograph of Tallentire’s store when it served as a cinema.
Another interesting bit of information to emerge from the chairwoman’s research of a voters roll from the 1920s was the existence of Ivy Cottages.
She managed to narrow it down to Southside and remarkably, a woman from Australia, whose family once lived there, was able to provide a photograph.
They have since been demolished and replaced with a bungalow.
Among the many photographs the group has, there is one of a magnificent home being built in the 1920s, but they are stumped as to its location. They believe it might be in Copley and are hoping a visitor to the exhibition can help identify it.
The group plans to create long central display board through the middle of Butterknowle Village Hall showing ordnance survey maps of Butterknowle, Copley and Woodland from the 1920s. From these they plan to pin strings to photographs of the businesses they have found to show where they were located.
There will also be rolling projector presentation for people to enjoy during the exhibition.
The exhibition is free to all and runs from 11m to 4pm on both days.
People will be able to order any of the photographs the group has for a donation of £1. Other donations are also warmly received by the group to continue their work.
