An unusual 'before & after' taken from Javel Groupe, Newcastle. The photo at right with the couple is held in Newcastle Libraries archive, & I obtained the one at left earlier this year. The lady was sitting on the barrel. Taken minutes apart by W & D Downey of 9 Eldon Square.

Lynemouth Colliery, Northumberland in 1948. The office of pit manager Mr Davidson.

Cabinet photo of the Royal Mining Engineering Jubilee Exhibition of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1887 which is better known as the Newcastle Exhibition of 1887. It lasted from May to October 1887 & attracted 2 million visitors. Only the cast iron band stand at Exhibition Park remains today.

Seaton Lodge of 1670, a notable Jacobean house originally had a thatched roof & was the largest thatched house in England when built. The cottages at left are all that remains & were built as servants accommodation for the Lodge. Illustrious guests who stopped at the house include Scottish inventor James Watt & Samuel Pepys.

Newcastle upon Tyne coal weigh bill dated 14th September 1846 for coal shipped on board the 'Odeona' Hastings Hartley Main Coals, wrought & gotten out of Seaton Delaval Colliery at 8 shillings a ton.

The famous Marsden Grotto Inn, South Shields as it looked in 1909.

Backworth Lane NCB crossing between Seghill & Backworth on 17th February 1969 with the A19 under construction in the background. An underpass had to be made under the road to take the line to Weetslade & Burradon Colliery.

Tynemouth Priory ruins, the 1775 lighthouse & garrison buildings. Undated but the north pier is at a very early stage in construction. Many of the garrison buildings survived into the 1960's when the site was almost totally cleared.

King George V & Queen Mary standing on the steps of the South African War Memorial at Newcastle Haymarket in June 1917 during their visit to armaments works & shipyards in the area, including Sunderland. Northumberland Street is over at left.

A roadway underground at Woodhorn Colliery, Northumberland (1894-1981) in April 1960. The pit broke its production record on the day of closure - 28th February 1981.

An air race at Gosforth Park, Newcastle on July 24th 1911 with a Bleriot type monoplane fitted with a rotary engine. This meant the entire engine rotated with the propeller.

Inside the winder house built 1946 of the former Fenwick pit between Backworth & Earsdon including an indicator that records when the pit cage is on bank (surface) The big concrete void is where the winder drum once sat.

A Saturday morning in 1908 outside the Fruit Palace on Clayton Street, (part of the Green Market) Newcastle upon Tyne.