New Hartley
| New Hartley | |
| Northumberland | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Location: | 55°5’5"N, 1°31’12"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 2,286 |
| Post town: | Whitley Bay |
| Postcode: | NE25 |
| Dialling code: | 0191 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Northumberland |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Blyth Valley |
New Hartley is a village in south-eastern Northumberland, adjacent to Hartley, Seaton Delaval and Seaton Sluice. The village is to be found just off the A190 road about six miles north of Tynemouth and four miles south of Blyth.
History
The village is historically linked to nearby Hartley village. Records show that coal mining began in 1291. A number of pits were created and exhausted at Hartley, before a new pit called Hester was sunk at a site in between Seaton Sluice and Seaton Delaval. Soon after, families settled around the new mine, and the village of New Hartley was created.
Houses were built to the North and West of the pit, in a rough L shape, which included a Methodist chapel and an Inn, the "Hartley Hastings Arms" and New Hartley Workmens Club.
The New Hartley Pit Disaster occurred on 16 January 1862, it was during the change from the fore-shift to the back-shift when nearly all of the two shifts were still down the pit, that the beam of the pumping engine that kept the pit clear of water broke in two and 20 tons of cast iron plunged down the shaft stripping the brattices and rocks and blocking the one and only shaft. It took several days of heroic effort by rescue teams to reach the entombed men and boys - all to no avail all were dead. All in all 204 men and boys perished in the disaster. Either when the beam plummeted down the shaft or as a result of being entombed. A fitting Memorial to all of them is at St. Albans Church, Earsdon. Additionally the everlasting memorial is that Parliament quickly passed a law ensuring that all future pits opened must have two shafts.
The BBC Television presenter Kate Humble was reduced to tears during the making of the BBC programme Who Do You Think You Are? when she discovered her family history was linked to the disaster: her great, great, great-grandfather, Joseph Humble, was the manager of the New Hartley Hester Colliery when the tragedy claimed the life of his 27-year-old nephew, also called Joseph Humble.
About the village
There are many quiet and pretty walks in the local area, with the many tracks and lanes being a testament to the village's proud but never forgotten mining history.
The village boasts a friendly local pub called the Hartley Hastings (known locally as The Haggans after former licensees Isaac and Jane Haggan ran the pub in 1950-1960's) and also a large Working Men's Club. It also has a small range of local shops, including a Post Office and convenience shop.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about New Hartley) |
