Broompark infant school county durham uk
I remember the school well. All the upper levels were blocked off as it was only used for infants on the lower ground level.
Seems it was turned into apartments.??
More photos here ~~
https://plus.google.com/photos/113551962197260614126/albums/5533085008930261473/5533085199113131986?banner=pwa
Any other input ` Thanks.
Hi ron, i think it's made of two/three detached houses with the apartment block standing in front of them as you go in, clearly squashed as much as they could onto the land! I think these would have been built approx...2005? Ish? Trouble is...(perhaps others could advise) i think the school must have been knocked down may years prior to this as i don't remember anything being on that land? Or at least not the school. i'm sure i would have remembered. Ron, did the school look similar to the Ushaw Moor School? (recently also knocked down for housing). Matt
ReplyDeletebroompark school was a plumbers merchants for a long time i believe it was eric whitfields
ReplyDeleteI say i remember the school well, but really i dont and could be getting it mixed up with another school. i do remember that it was quite large but we only used a small section of it.
ReplyDeleteIt would not have been as big as the one at Ushaw Moor. Finding these photos made me curious as to whether the school or part of it had been restored as part of these apartments.
Jim Mcgar already advised me of the school being demolished around 1980,s.
Another thing i discovered is that Broompark was never a working coal mine. The main shaft was sunk to 600 ft and other shafts were being dug when a fire broke out in the shafts. The miners were able to escape through an escape tunnel they had previously made but then the coal company decided that they would only use Broompark colliery as a lay down area for coal to be brought from other sites and then transported by train and trucks from there. There were no pit workers or people working the coal in my time and it must have closed long before as i never even heard any stories of the coal workers. The name Wigham and Alderson were the only surnames i saw mentioned as working at the coal field in broompark. Mrs Alderson was a very old lady who lived on front street opposite the farm. Some said she was over 100.
Sorry, got that wrong. it was John McGarr that informed me that the old village was demolished in 1970 and the old school was knocked down in 2008. This means these apartments are built 2008 or later. Unless of course they were built on the school land before the school was demolished.
ReplyDeleteTerry, when i google old school Broompark i am getting ABC Scaffolding and hire.
ReplyDeleteAh right, makes sense. That means it must have still been there...shame i don't remember it! 2008 sounds right i suppose. I think the school must have completely gone for this development, they all look new. Although i do wonder if they modelled the front of the houses on the shape of the school? I can't find any pictures of the school though, i'm sure you will have been looking too ron. On the subject of Alderson, that is still a prominent name in Ushaw Moor (assuming it is the same Alderson?) Norman is the Funeral Director and his brother(s?) run the building services, both busineses on Whitehouse Lane. My mam actually lives in the house the Aldersons built in 1950 in Flass Avenue. There is also a garage with the name Alderson at Waterhouses futher into the valley...i wonder if that is the same Alderson? Anyway, i digress!
ReplyDeleteI doubt if you will find any pictures of anything of the old Broompark as it seems it was just demolished and no pictures taken. Dont know who demolished it even or i would have chased them up for photos. The only thing that sticks in my mind of that school was the upstairs rooms blocked off and i seem to recall the 2 doors up there with the ironwork balustrade facing the playground.
ReplyDeleteI often wondered who was checking in and helping Mrs Alderson. Some of us kids would stop by to say hello and often she would give us a penny or two to bring in some firewood or fill the coal bucket. Obviously some family must have been doing washing etc for her.