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In July 2005 Royal Mail chose an image of English Nature's Moorhouse National Nature Reserve, Upper Teesdale, to feature in their English Landscapes series.
This Webpage is dedicated to John Robinson 1919 to 1999.
We were aware of the books existence, through Denis Kidd of York and member of the Barnard Castle & District History Society, but were unable to source a copy at the time. Denis provided some photocopies of the Harwood Post Office etc. (He also provided many details on his grandfather John Walker who's name appears on the Roll of Honour.)
Many thanks to Jim McTaggart for making this copy available . As a result, this webpage has been dedicated to John Robinson's memory as there are many splendid references to Royal Mail's heritage in Upper Teesdale!
Incidentallly, Martin Robinson, Delivery Office Managers (DOM) Support recalls John Robinson being the Sunday School teacher at Egglesburn and "he was a lovely bloke"!
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* The nearest house to the road in Raby Terrace was the Harwood Post Office.
Thomas Anderson - Manager Harwood Post Office.
As Harwood Post Office was a managed site it would suggest that Tom and Dinah were not afforded the position of Sub Postmaster (this makes Harwood the fore-runner of todays Community Post Office).
Tom and his mates ensuring the mail gets through!
Red-wing, Midgeholme and Unthank appear as delivery points on the Barnard Castle Delivery list of January 1846 (as seen on the History page).
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Raby Terrace consisted of 4 wooden houses built in the early 1870's for the Green Hurth Mining Company.
More details of the '1947 Storm' can be found in the newspaper cuttings pasted to the Scrapbook page.
(A similar photo, courtesy of Trevor Ireland, showing a 'Postie' with a bag over his shoulder, can be seen on the Home Page.)
'Digging out' the road to Harwood so the mail can get 'through'.
Bill Penn was Darlington Head Postmaster from 1976 to 1986. He found this 1929 newspaper cutting / photo in his office at the Head Post Office in Darlington. Thanks to Trevor Ireland, Tommy's grandson, we have a scan of the original print on our Home Page! However, thanks to John Robinson's book we're now able to put names to those pictured!
Postman John Dowson delivering mail to the Airey family at Birkdale.
John Dixon Dowson was a part-time Postman. His Walk consisted of delivering, on foot, to 2 farms from Peg Horn Lodge to Birkdale. More details can be found in the Scrapbook page.
Further up the Dale from Harwood is Birkdale. Although delivered from Barnard Castle it is situated over the Cumbrian border in the constituency of Penrith and the Borders. [Watch out for the new BC2 Ford Ranger 4x4 official motor vehicle (OMV) due delivery in March 2008.]
Local History
Harwood in Teesdale (County Durham)
Harwood-in-Teesdale lies high in the North Pennines at the western end of Teesdale. Although the land around the river is used for farming, much of the rougher surrounding moorland is now only used for grazing sheep. However, although the area now a peaceful rural area it was once a hive of industry. Like much of the North Pennines, in the 18th and 19th century, lead mining was the major employer. The remains of a series of lead mines, mainly owned by the London Lead Company can still be seen in the area. Close to the main road are the remains of the Ashgill mine - the course of the road has been slightly changed preserving a 19th century stone bridge, probably also built by the London Lead Company. Just to the north can be the ruined remains of a level and a colliery building; nearby is a mine shop. In the surrounding area are traces of many hushes and levels. Similar remains can also be seen at Cow Green. There are also traces of lead ore smelting. Although the smelting furnaces are no longer preserves, the remains of other stages of the process are still visible. For example, at Green Hurth the foundations of a 19th century water wheel can be seen. This is probably of mid-19th century date. At Backside the foundations of another water wheel can be seen. These water wheels were used to drive machinery which crushed the lead ore into a powder which could more easily processed. At Backside the remains of other parts of the processing industry, such as a washing floor and some circular buddles can also be seen.
However, even in the 19th century, lead mining was not the only industry. The landscape is scarred by the remains of many stone quarries. Some of this stone was limestone, which was burnt to make lime, but the stone was also used for building, particularly of roads. Despite all these industrial remains farming was always important. Many miners owned smallholdings and grew vegetable and kept a few animals. However, most of the land was owned by two main landowners, Greenwich Hospital and the Duke of Cleveland - a series of boundary stones which marked the boundary between their lands are still visible.
Key to The Past Reference number: D6814
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The above four screen grabs are taken from Royal Mail's 'Pegasus' system and show the Upper Teesdale area delivered by Harwood Rural Post.
