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Church Bank, NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, NE15 8LT

The burial place of Thomas & Elizabeth Callender of Newburn. The stone took my eye because of the symbolism in its upper part. Several other gravestones in the churchyard also have the Three Castles motif of the Corporation of Newcastle upon Tyne. The spelling of the inscription is quite quirky as several letters were originally missed from the names and subsequently added. The mason had run out of space for the place name 'Newburn', adding the final two letters above the others. At the bottom is the worn inscription, now only partly readable: 'Remember man as thou pass by / so art thou so once was I / [so I am now so must thou be / prepare thyself to follow me.]'

The obelisk is shown here Image Erected by Robert and William Hawthorn in memory of their parents, Alice and Robert. Inscriptions on the other two sides in memory of the sons and their families. Robert Hawthorn Jnr. (1796-1867) founded a shipbuilding and marine engineering concern in Newcastle-upon-Tyne during 1817. In 1818, his brother William joined the works as an assistant and working foreman, and in 1820 became a partner of R & W Hawthorn Ltd http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R_and_W_Hawthorn In 1831, the first railway locomotive emerged from the Forth Bank Works. By 1870, the plant was entirely devoted to railway work, all marine activities being transferred to a new site on the north bank of the Tyne. In 1886, R & W Hawthorn combined with A. Leslie and Co. (Shipbuilders) of Hebburn, and the new company of R & W Hawthorn Leslie was founded http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthorn_Leslie_and_Company Marine work now became the main business although the original Forth Bank Works was kept exclusively for locomotive building. During the mid-1930s, when locomotive work was falling off throughout the country, the railway side of the business was sold to Robert Stephenson & Co. Ltd of Darlington, and in June 1937 Robert Stephenson & Hawthorn (RSH) was formed. Both factories were retained, building designs from their former separate ownership until RSH designs were evolved. In 1943 RSH became a subsidiary of the Vulcan Foundry who themselves were taken over by English Electric. Despite this the RSH name remained. 1960 saw an even further drop in the locomotive trade and the Newcastle works was closed, all works being concentrated at Darlington. Later on in the 1960s all reference to RSH was dropped and the English Electric name was used. English Electric closed down the Darlington works as well and all locomotive building was transferred to the Vulcan Foundry plant. http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Robert_Hawthorn

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Warkworth House and the nearby Warkworth Crescent in Newburn are not named for the Northumberland town of that name. Newburn manor, with all its regalities, was given by King John to Robert, son of Roger de Clavering, Baron of Warkworth. John, the last Lord Clavering, granted the reversion of it to the crown, and Edward III gave it to Henry Lord Percy, from whom it has descended to the present proprietor.

The three gravestones at the rear are those of the Hedley family Image William Hedley (1779 – 1843) was another railway pioneer and was born in Newburn http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=304347&resourceID=5 Two of his famous creations were 'Puffing Billy' Image and 'Wylam Dilly' Image http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hedley The connection with railway pioneers was complete when George Stephenson married Frances (Fanny) Henderson on 28 November 1802 and, after her death in 1806, remarried Betty Hindmarsh on 29 March 1820, both at Newburn Church http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Stephenson

There is a wider view here Image William Hedley (13 July 1779 – 9 January 1843) was born in Newburn, near Newcastle upon Tyne. He was one of the leading industrial engineers of the early 19th century, and was instrumental in several major innovations in early railway development. While working as a 'viewer' or manager at Wylam's Colliery near Newcastle upon Tyne, he built the first practical steam locomotive which relied simply on the adhesion of iron wheels on iron rails. Hedley felt that if the pairs of wheels were connected, as with Richard Trevithick's engines, if one pair began to slip, it would be counteracted by the other. The mine owner, Christopher Blackett had just replaced the wooden waggonway from Wylam to Lemington with iron flanged 'L' section plate rails. Hedley constructed a test carriage operated by manpower in 1811, to test the adhesion under various loads. A small scale model is in the Science Museum. He then used it as the chassis for a locomotive constructed to Trevithick's pattern with a single cylinder and a simple straight through fire tube to the boiler. Called the 'Grasshopper', the engine was not satisfactory. Its motion was erratic, because of the single cylinder, and it produced insufficient steam. He built a second engine, with the assistance of Timothy Hackworth, his foreman blacksmith, and his principal engine-wright, Jonathan Forster, using the 1812 twin cylinder plan of John Blenkinsop and Matthew Murray with a return-flue boiler. This was the famous steam locomotive, 'Puffing Billy' which first ran in 1813 and is now preserved at the Science Museum in London. There is a modern replica at Beamish Image Its success encouraged them to build a second engine 'Wylam Dilly', which is now in the Royal Museum in Edinburgh Image In the same year, his system for using a coupling between the wheels was patented. Both locomotives remained in active service until 1862. William Hedley died in 1843 at Burnhopeside Hall, near Lanchester Image and was buried at Newburn parish church Image Four sons survived him, and his descendants remained heavily involved in the coal-mining industry until nationalisation in the 1940s. In 1971, a charitable foundation was set up in the Hedley name, with assets based on the compensation from nationalisation. It supports young people, the disabled and the terminally ill http://www.hedleyfoundation.org.uk/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hedley

The obelisk in the foreground marks the family grave of railway pioneer, Robert Hawthorn (1796-1867) http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?resourceID=5&uid=1299396 The locomotive works of R and W Hawthorn were at St.Peter's in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1886 and later became Hawthorn and Leslie. The locomotive business was eventually taken over by Robert Stephenson's company in 1937 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthorn_Leslie_and_Company A devastating fire in the church in March 2006 damaged six bells, many stained glass windows and wrecked half the roof. Medieval grave slabs dated to the 12th or 13th Century were discovered during restoration work built into the parapet of the church tower. http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/north-east-news/evening-chronicle-news/tm_headline=surprise-find-in-blaze-hit-church&method=full&objectid=18880379&siteid=50081-name_page.html