!['Lot's Wife' sea-stack, Marsden Bay - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/%27Lot%27s_Wife%27_sea-stack%2C_Marsden_Bay_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1637633.jpg)
Marsden is located on the outskirts of the seaside town
South Shields,
North East England, located on the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...
coast. It lies within
historic
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
County Durham.
Background
Marsden was originally a small village, consisting of farms, a few cottages and a
lighthouse at
Souter Point. Local industry consisted of a small
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
quarry.
[
The nearby Marsden Bay includes the Marsden Rock sea stack. The Leas, located to the north, is an important ]seabird
Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same enviro ...
sanctuary. This land, along with Souter Lighthouse
Souter Lighthouse is a lighthouse located in the village of Whitburn, Tyne and Wear, England. (It was generally known as Souter Point Lighthouse when in service). Souter Point was the first lighthouse in the world to be actually designed and bu ...
(the first lighthouse in the world to be powered by alternating current
Alternating current (AC) is an electric current which periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time in contrast to direct current (DC) which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in whic ...
), is now owned by the National Trust
The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
. Marsden is best known for its beaches including Marsden Beach, with the famous Marsden Rock and pub, the Marsden Grotto. The beaches stretch along to the beach known locally as Boatie's Bay.
Whitburn Colliery
In the 1870s, the Whitburn Coal Company bought the five local quarries, two of which were developed as the Lighthouse (Marsden) Quarries.[ An attempt to develop a shaft into the ]Northumberland Coalfield
The Northumberland Coalfield is a coalfield in north-east England. It is continuous with the Durham Coalfield to its south. It extends from Shilbottle in the north to the boundary with County Durham along the River Tyne in the south, beyond which ...
failed in 1874 because of water ingress, but in 1877 a second development using the Kind-Chaudron process, created access to the Bensham seam through two diameter shafts. No.1 shaft had a depth of and No.2, a depth of .
The company built the twin-track South Shields, Marsden, and Whitburn Colliery Railway, leaving the North Eastern Railway line at , South Shields and travelling to Marsden via two intermediate stations.[ Built to serve the colliery and opened in May 1879, the line served the Lighthouse limestone quarry, a paper manufactory, and local farms. On 19 March 1888, the line opened to the public.]
Marsden village
The industrial development of the area required additional workers. The company built a new Marsden village, located between the Lighthouse Quarries and Whitburn Colliery. Designed to house more than 700 people, there were 135 houses across nine streets, a church and Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...
chapel, Co-op
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...
store, Post Office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...
, school, and a Miners Institute. Located directly on the cliff top, resulting in an exposed and often weather-beaten experience, many wives refused to move to the village, meaning that most miners lived in South Shields and commuted daily using the newly constructed railway.[
The village gave its name to the "Marsden Rattler", a passenger train which ran on the railway via the North Eastern Railway main line to .
By the time of nationalisation in 1945 into the ]National Coal Board
The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "ve ...
, the site employed just under 1,500 miners.[ The railway line itself became the first nationalised passenger line on 1 January 1947. Passenger service was officially withdrawn on 14 November 1953, but trains ran until 23 November.][
Marsden boasts two well-known pubs, the Marsden Grotto and the Marsden Inn. The Inn is located on Marsden Lane while the Grotto is hewn in the cliffs facing Marsden Rock. There are a few shops including a reptile shop and several post offices up towards Cleadon Hills. Marsden Lane is the main street leading up to Lizard Lane, Marsden Lane begins at the bottom of Horsley Hill Square before stretching up.
]
References
3 Marsden Villag
www.marsdenbannergroup.btck.co.uk
External links
Whitburn Colliery
Marsden Colliery
Souter Lighthouse at The National Trust
BBC Online: Marsden, the village that vanished
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Suburbs of South Shields
Populated coastal places in Tyne and Wear