pel01
Curling
Pelaw, Curling Ponds
54.952831, -1.537485
Pelaw
Opened:
1840s
Closed:
Unknown
Redeveloped
Condition:
Home Teams/Clubs:
Last Updated:
9 May 2023
Newcastle and North Shields Curling Club
HER Description
NEHL - Two curling ponds are illustrated on the 1890s maps. This area was the ground zero for curling in the North East, having been used by the Newcastle and North Shields Curling Club from 1843.
The club was formed around 1843 after the introduction of Curling to the region a few years earlier. Mr Robert Heughan brought curling stones back from Dumfriesshire and after a days curling at Percy Main established a club at the Chirton hostelry.
A piece from the Newcastle Daily Chronicle of 17th February 1893, it alludes to the toast Mr James Telford in which he told members of previous ponds which were used, but alas they were not written down. In 1859 there was a membership of 32, 45 in 1869, and by 1893 there were 103 signifying the growing popularity of the sport.
The curling ponds are no longer extant due to railway expansion. They were still in place in the 1940s.
Ordnance Survey, 1890s
The two curling ponds were still extant at Pelaw before the railway was expanded. Source: Source Historic England Archive (RAF photography) Historic England Photograph: raf_3g_tud_uk_125_v_5047 flown 04/04/1946
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The curling ponds can be seen to the left of the railway at Pelaw.
Source: The Cooperative Wholesale Society Ltd Pelaw Works along Shields Road and environs, Pelaw, 1948. This image has been produced from a print marked by Aerofilms Ltd for photo editing. © Historic England. Aerofilms Collection Historic England Photograph: EAW016904 flown 30/06/1948
Historic Environment Records
Durham/Northumberland: Keys to the Past
Tyne and Wear: Sitelines
HER information as described above is reproduced under the basis the resource is free of charge for education use. It is not altered unless there are grammatical errors.
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