Former Cottage Homes and Student Accommodation

Image: © Les Hull Taken: 22 Jan 2021

These are the former Cottage Homes that were built in 1903 and closed in 1959. The Cottage Homes were made up of around 14 large semi-detached cottages which together could house around 300 children at a time. There were workshops on site which would have been used for general upkeep and maintenance in the homes and also for training the boys in specific skills. http://www.formerchildrenshomes.org.uk/ponteland_cottage_homes.html http://www.workhouses.org.uk/NewcastleUponTyne/ From 1964 – 1981 it became The Northumberland Teacher Training College and most of the cottages became student accommodation. Five blocks of flats were built as well as lecture blocks and staff accommodation. In 1981 it became the HQ for Northumbria Police although all the buildings weren’t used most of the cottage homes were vacated apart from one used by the Chief Constable and for administration. The site was vacated for a new HQ in Wallsend in 2016 and a newly built Training and Communication Centre where the tennis courts used to be. “The former Northumbria Police headquarters site, including the listed buildings, was bought by Bellway in 2018 for £21 million, and this money has been reinvested into local policing in the area.” Chronicle Nov 2020. https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/property-news/see-inside-former-northumbria-police-19268461 I have a long association with this site since my Grandmother was a foster parent at the Cottage Homes until it closed in 1959. I spent many a school holiday there and Christmas was especially memorable and we all gathered in the Old School and waited for Santa to arrive --- he always did. I returned in 1965 – 68 to train as a teacher although the first year was at The Hydro in Hexham. I returned full time from 1975 – 76 to study for a B Ed having completed eighteen months part time study.

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