IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Byerley Road, SHILDON, DL4 1JE

In Byerley Road Shildon County Durham

Fine whinstone setts, almost as good as the day they were laid. They could well have come from the quarry on cockfield Fell: Image The drain cover came from just up the road in Bishop Auckland.

Standing at the junction of Byerley Road and Main Street this boarded up building is believed to be Shildon's first purpose built railway passenger terminus. Originally it had front and back arches which have since been blocked up. Daniel Adamson was the occupant of the Grey Horse Inn (just off camera to the left) and he operated a horse drawn railway coach on the new railway from New Shildon to Stockton. When the Surtees Railway was built in 1832 it is believed he moved the terminus to this building. In 1833 the service was brought out by the Stockton & Darlington Railway. Later the building was used as a farmhouse.

Until the mid 20th century this path was a railway track which carried coal etc from the mines of south Durham to the coast.

The historic Daniel Adamson's Coach House with its access arches now in-filled.

Known as "Daniel Adamson's coach house", this is claimed to be the world's first purpose built passenger railway terminus. The arches for the passenger shed can still be clearly made out, although now infilled. A single railway track ran into the building from the far side. It was a small scale and short lived service dating to c.1832-3. Daniel Adamson ran a private horse-drawn coach along the Surtees railway (now a footpath), which ran onto the Stockton and Darlington Railway near the current Shildon station. However, the S&DR soon took over the running of all services using conventional steam-hauled trains, and this passenger service was abandoned.

Traffic is controlled at this T-junction with a 'fried-egg' roundabout. The public house opposite is named after local hero Timothy Hackworth. He was a famous locomotive designer/engineer who lived and worked in the town from 1825 to 1850. The historic Grey Horse pub on the left has its own Geograph with comments, here : http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1109270

This old Inn was the home of Daniel Adamson who operated a passenger service using a converted stagecoach on the tracks of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. This, the first public railroad in the world opened in 1825, but Daniel's involvement in what was to become the family 'travel agency' was short-lived as he died in 1832. He and his wife Nanny Gibson had sixteen children. The thirteenth child, Daniel III, who was a Civil and Mechanical engineer was the leading promoter of the Manchester Ship Canal Bill which gained Royal Assent in 1885. From the early days of the S&DR a branch known as the Surtees line passed the front door of the pub until the mid-20th century. On the day of the snapshot the photographer enjoyed the hospitality of the pub's B & B facilities. The pub has had several names. In the 1841 Census it seems to have been known as Shildon Lodge, which was also the name of the coal-mine at the end of the back yard. Link: https://www.g4fas.net/fmmmf.html