Hoards of historical photographs and documents have gone online for the first time thanks to a new website produced by Evenwood, Ramshaw and District History Society. Reporter Martin Paul spoke to members about the new resource
HISTORICAL records, documents and photographs from the Gaunless Valley have gone online, making them accessible across the world.
The website, by the Evenwood, Ramshaw and District History Society, went live just before Christmas opening up a large part of the group’s archive to the public.
The website will run in tandem with the group’s I Came From Evenwood and Ramshaw Facebook page, which already enjoys an international following with members in Canada, America, Australia and other parts of the globe.
Brian Carter, of the group, said: “Instead of people coming down, having a sit and looking around at our archive and all the rest of it, we are putting as much of it as possible on the website.”
The site was made possible through new equipment the history group received through funding from Teesdale Action Partnership as well as the area’s county councillors.
The kit included a laptop computer, printer, scanners, projector and speakers.
Mr Carter said: “We have lots of photos on computer, but we don’t have as many documents on the computers and that is where those scanners are going to come in.
“We have a rates book from 1851 for Evenwood, Ramshaw, Toft Hill and Etherley which shows who lived where, who owned houses and who paid rates to the local authority at the time.”
Fellow member Kevin Richardson added that a summary of the rates book, including the main names from the area, had been added to the website, but over time the aim is to include all the names.
Mr Richardson said this would help a lot of people who might be researching their family tree.
Mr Carter said: “There is a lady who lives in Kent who has been coming in and transcribing from the rates book, basically for Toft Hill and Etherley because that is the area she is interested in.”
The website will ensure that people can have access to the rates book, and other documents held by the group, without having to travel to the archive which is currently based at Evenwood’s Randolph Community Centre.
Items gathered over time have come from across the world including photos showing conditions underground in the coal mines in 1897 which were obtained through a chance encounter between Mr Richardson and a woman from Canada.
He said: “I got these photographs from Elizabeth Byers in Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada – she was related to the Widdas and Snowden families who were the colliery managers of Gordon House Pit. Gordon House and Randolph were both worked by North Bitchburn Coal Company, and were both joined underground.
“She came up with these photographs that were all underground at Gordon House.
“The date is chalked on the timber above the hewers – 16 February 1897. I doubt if Randolph and Gordon House collieries would have been joined underground at this date.”
The cost of running and maintaining the website means that the history group now have to start considering ways of generating cash.
Again the new equipment will be of help.
Mr Carter said: “I am sure we will continue doing things without charging and doing only donations – one of the things we are thinking about doing is having an open day and just showing people what we have got. Where we would normally do an exhibition a year, we may have to do a couple of extra little things. Basically, now we have to earn about £250 a year to cover fixed costs – that’s insurance, the computer and the website costs.”
The new projector and speakers came into their own ahead of Remembrance Day when the group put on two viewings of its “In The Pink” documentary that covers Evenwood, Ramshaw and Evenwood Gate’s participation in the First World War. The speakers also came to the rescue ahead of Christmas when they were loaned to the Randolph Community Centre’s management who found themselves without an audio system from its inaugural pantomime.
Mr Carter said the group viewed the equipment as a “community resource” and could be shared by other groups as needs arise.
Mr Richardson worked closely with WordPress to design the website and has curated the archive under a variety of different topics to make it user friendly.
These include collieries, coke works, transport, railways, pubs, clubs, schools and events such as an annual carnival.
It also covers the village’s St Paul’s Church.
Mr Carter said: “It was built in 1867. Until that time we were under the parish of St Helens. It burned down in 1907 and was rebuilt and reopened in 1909.”
Rare photographs from late 1907 showing the church without its roof following the blaze have been placed on the website.
However, some items subject to copyright have not been included, but people interested can still view them in the physical archive.
Mr Richardson said: “That stuff came from when we had local history classes here. John Smith, who was our lecturer, brought stuff from the university and some of it is from Durham County Records and we are a bit conscious about using them. There is some stuff there that I would really like to use but we need to speak to them about it.”
The group describe the website as a work in progress with lots more still to upload and they are keen to hear people’s views and comments.
Mr Richardson said people could help by providing names for photographs or dates of when they were taken. He added: “Or if we get something wrong, we would rather have something right than wrong.”
People can access the online archive by visiting evenwoodramshawdistricthistorysociety.uk.
