The Causey Arch
Much has been said about the Causey Arch, but I read
an  account by Edna Ibbetson in "The history of the Causey"
by Colin Boyd, and I beleieve it to be authentic.

The Causey Arch was built by local stonemason Ralp Wood.
He built the first arch of wood and it collapsed. He then
apparently designed and erected the second arch of stone
and is supposedly the first railway bridge in the world.

It has been suggested, that on completion, Ralph Wood,
took his own life. I have to date, found no evidence either
way, but I will ask my friends in the family history group
to check this out. The following is an itemised list of
payments for the construction of the arch in 1726

To R Wood who undertook the work              £1 1s 0d
Workmens wages 26,8.1725-5. 11.6. 1726     £ 907 0s 0d
Timber before 1.11.1726                                 £197 12s 10d
To Hugh Boag 9.7.1726-5.11.1726                  £747 18s 3 1/2d
For lime and loading of same                           £121 8s 0d
For rag from Charles Atkinson                         £207 5s 0d
For oak timber from Thos Surtees                    £121 5s 0 1/4d
To H Boag,Geo Airey, Mr Davison                 £21 0s 0d
Inspection and care of the bridge                      £10 0s 0d
To R Wood                                                       £15 15s 0d
The total cost was listed at  £1946 15s 1 3/4d
Other historians list it as £2,252 16s 1d which included
gratuities

Work on the bridge commenced in August 1725, but took
more than one year to complete, probaly in November 1726
according to the wages bill. Apart from Causey Arch, it
was also known as Tanfield Bridge, and, at times,
Dawson's Bridge. The cost was shared by-Bowes, Wortley
& Liddell. to carry the wagonway from the Tanfield
Collieries. The bridge has a span of 105 feet, and stands
80 feet above the stream. It is 22 feer 7 1/2 inches wide
 The bridge is now fully restored and has many visitors.

           The Day of the Long Shovel

One memory of my childhood days in Delacour Street still
brings a smile to my face. In our double tenement house
there two familes, five people downstairs, and seven upstairs.
There was only one outside toilet for all of us, and this was a
water closet type toilet.
One winter, when the water pipes were frozen making the
toilet unusable, a family friend allowed us to use her ash
midden  toilet. This type of toilet was known locally as
"The Netty".
This brick built building was in the yard next to the coalhouse.
with the outside wall facing the back street. Inside, was a
wooden, oblong shaped box  toilet. In the top of this box
was a round hole covered with a round wooden lid. The idea
was you would lift the lid and sit on the hole just like a normal
toilet. There was also a small candle, unlit, and a tin of white
powder, some sort of disinfectant or lime. 
The principle of an ash midden was that ashes from the fire
were tipped into the hole, thus covering the toilet deposits
for want of a better explanation. Few of these toilets had the
luxury of toilet paper, and the norm was to cut a newspaper
into squares and place it on a nail on the wall. This is where
most people learned of the news of the day. It was quite dark
in this toilet due to there being only a very small window, plus
the  light coming in through the air vent.
One day, when I was using this toilet, I was sitting there in
the semi dark, reading the paper, when all of a sudden, there
was a great rush of air up my backside. I jumped up off the
seat, my trousers arond my ankles, I turned to peer down into
the ash midden toilet. I saw before me, what I can onley
describe as a beam of sunlight shining upward through the hole
in the wooden toilet seat like a ray from heaven. Flying around
in this beam of light were many small flies
I peered down before me into the ash midden, and there before
me was a great long handled shovel. cleaning out the waste
from the midden, It was of course the council refuse man. They
came around once a week to remove the waste from the middens.
What an awful job,and what a fright.
                          Jack Hair