An odd memento of Zeppelin raid on Shields
By JANIS BLOWER
Published on Friday 22 April 2011 10:24
YOUNG boys collected shrapnel during the Second World War.
But the First World War also turns out to have had its juvenile trophy-hunting.
Admittedly, you might not know what this was at first glance. But it actually recalls both a dramatic wartime episode and a lost coastal feature of Shields.
This goes back to a note, recently, on the Zeppelin raid over Jarrow during the Great War.
I was subsequently intrigued to hear from South Shields Museum that they have their own memento of a Zeppelin raid in the summer of 1916.
Seen here held by museum volunteer Dorothy Fleet, it’s a fragment of glass which the Zeppelin blew out of a window at Salmon’s Hall, the house, also known as Marsden Cottage, which used to stand above Manhaven.
It was donated to the museum by the son of John Westoby who grew-up in South Shields and collected it as a trophy during the First World War, when he was about 14. A piece of paper behind the glass tells its story.
Interestingly, Dorothy has researched the history of Salmon’s Hall, which could be traced back to at least 1809.
A description of it when it was sold in 1830 paints a picture of a rather sumptuous residence, with a coach house, stables and outbuildings, and 27 acres of grassland attached.
The name derived from Thomas Salmon, South Shields’s first Town Clerk, who enjoyed coble sailing from the coast there – though the hall itself predated his ownership.
It was later leased by the Harton Coal company, as cottages for its workmen.
The last to live there, leaving in 1937, were a couple called Miller, Mr Miller having worked at Whitburn Colliery for 40 years. The Gazette noted at the time that they were leaving their oil lamps for a home with electricity...
Great to see continued interest in Zeppelin raids following my earlier article on the 15 June 1915 raid "The night a Zeppelin brought death to Jarrow" published on 16 Mar 2011 under Janis Blower's byline.
ReplyDeleteI think the South Shields Museum's date of "the summer of 1916" for their raid... "An odd memento of Zeppelin raid on Shields", could be wrong.
The only event I know which is close to the summer of 1916 for a Tyneside raid, was the L11 Zeppelin dropping bombs on nearby Whitley Bay on 8 Aug 1916. No references show this raid extending to South Shields. In 1916, the Zeppelins were more occupied in naval battles and raids on London than worrying about Tyneside.
Is it more likely that the Museum's glass from the blow-out window came from the 15 Jun 1915 raid. There were 3 high explosive bombs dropped in the 1915 raid... one in the River Tyne near the Harton colliery staithes, one on the adjacent fairground, and the last on the coastal side of South Shields, next to Bent House Lane and facing Sea View Terrace. In the last area there would have been room for Salmon's Hall's "sumptuous residence... with 27 acres of grassland attached… which would be a “coastal feature of Shields” referred to in the article. There is a Sandhaven beach near here… is this the “Mandhaven” referred to in the article?
See the address of my map of the 1915 raid here:
www.strong-family.org/lane/palmers.html#zepp3
Philip Strong
(from Australia).
Well... I found "Salmon's Hall also known as Marsden Cottage" when I looked for Marsden Cottage. It is some distance SE from the 15 June 1915 bomb. Did not have scale on the map to calculate the distance. The bomb might have rattled its windows, but would not have broken them!
ReplyDeleteIf you travel along the A183 from South Shields CBD, Ocean Rd takes you to the coastal area, then turns SE along Sea Rd which passes Bent Park where the bomb was dropped. Sea Rd then joins Coast Rd (still the A183). After you pass Prince Edward Rd on the right, you would be in what was the old Salmon's / Marsden Hall property. Marsden Hall is found in Lizard Lane and sold for one million pounds in May 2005!
All a bit of a puzzle!
Philip Strong
(from Australia)