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445:'tin tabernacle', the Church of the Good Shepherd stood in the centre of the village from 1886 to 1979. Two successive miners' institutes were on adjacent land, the last being demolished in the early 1990s. The village school educated children from ages 5-14 between 1898 to 1962. A community association took over the running of the building in 1967, establishing it as a volunteer-run community centre and village hall.
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Clara Vale has very little in the way of modern development. A bungalow was built on the site of the former village shop in 1984 and in 1997 a short terraced street was built, more in the traditional style of the village. The former Co-Op building (dating from around 1900) stood empty for decades but
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Clara Vale was purpose built as a colliery community by the Stella Coal
Company around the time the coal mine was opened in July 1893. The colliery and settlement were named after the wife of colliery owner John Bell Simpson, Clara was Atkinson (née Draper). There are early references to Claraville
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Ryton Golf Club, to the north edge of the village, was established in 1891 (on riverside land known as
Doctors Stanners), expanding in 1982 to use the former sites of allotment gardens and colliery railway works. Tyneside Golf Club is based in Ryton but its course borders Clara Vale's eastern edge.
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Many derelict colliery buildings remained until demolition in the 1980s, though the original ambulance shed remains. The former pithead baths building was repurposed for use by a succession of light industrial companies, and was a sound recording studio for some years. It was damaged and ultimately
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Before the colliery and village were developed, a water-driven corn mill called
Crawcrook Mill stood near the centre of the current village, with two small stone cottages and a mill dam apparently fed from Edington Well. This 'pot-pie' well is damaged but still stands near the road to the south of
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The village hall benefited from some refurbishment in the early 21st century and offers a range of activities and amenities including room hire for sports and events, various groups and classes, community meals and occasional music and theatre events. In the 2010s, part of the village hall was
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Clara Vale has no shops, having over recent years been served by a mobile greengrocer, butcher, fishmonger and wholefoods supplier. Nearby
Crawcrook, Ryton and Wylam offer a range of shops and services within walking distance; so whilst Clara Vale remains secluded, it is by no means isolated.
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The village recreation ground was originally provided by the pit owners for the miners' welfare, originally including a bowling green and tennis courts. These became derelict and were subsumed by the local nature reserve, but the
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A peak of 1221 employees were recorded at the colliery in 1925, declining to 562 in 1965, shortly before closure in
February 1966 (around the same time as many other nearby pits such as Emma, Greenside and Stargate).
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Like many former pit communities, Clara Vale was then given 'Category D' status by Durham County
Council, meaning capital investment was discouraged and the settlement was expected to decline over time.
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Bridge End
Cricket Club playing on some Sundays and Merz and McLellan Cricket Club on some Wednesday evenings. Ryton and Crawcrook Albion (Youth) Football Club also use the football pitch.
684:"View map: One-inch New Popular Edition, England and Wales: Sheet 78 - Newcastle upon Tyne - Ordnance Survey One-inch to the mile maps of England and Wales, New Popular Edition, 1945-1947"
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was converted to flats in the mid 2010s. Also around that time, the
Methodist chapel was converted to a private residence and the adjacent Sunday school was converted to an
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Stannerford Road is the only vehicular route into Clara Vale, named after a former ford across the River Tyne which it led to, linking
Crawcrook to the south and
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Maps from 1850 show a farmhouse called
Stanner (or Stannar) House, which was later divided into two dwellings and demolished in the mid 1960s.
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396:, Clara Vale is located in the 'Crawcrook, Greenside ward' of Gateshead Council. The ward is at the far west of Gateshead and borders part of
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on the site of the old colliery, actively managed by the volunteers of Clara Vale Conservation Group to promote biodiversity.
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pitch and pavilion remain in active use. Clara Vale Cricket Club play matches there on Saturdays during the Summer, with
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to the west. It is notable for being the first settlement in Tyne and Wear that the river Tyne passes after leaving
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converted to small office units which are leased out, providing regular income to maintain the whole building.
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https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.0&lat=54.98004&lon=-1.79210&layers=168&b=1&o=100
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https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16.0&lat=54.98132&lon=-1.79204&layers=10&b=1&o=100
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A website giving information on the former pit villages of County Durham, this section concerns Clara Vale.
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it became incorporated into the new metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear in 1974 as part of the
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http://www.ukcensusdata.com/crawcrook-and-greenside-e05001072#sthash.tJP7Wdz9.wxzrfJR4.dpbs
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658:"Forgotten Books :: 1,000,000+ Free Books, World's Largest Online eBook Library"
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400:. The ward is served by three councillors (three Labour). Gateshead Council is
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Clara Vale is made up of 1 output area in the Crawcrook and Greenside ward
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https://mattjamessmith.com/blog/the-category-d-villages-of-durham
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Clara Vale is located within the parliamentary constituency of
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is a village situated on the south bank of the River Tyne in
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experienced by nearby towns and villages such as Crawcrook,
645:"Durham Mining Museum - John Bell Simpson, J.P., D.C.L."
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An aerial view of the village, provided by Google Maps.
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Close House golf club is to the north, over the river.
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borders the hamlet to the south. Across the river (in
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and some old maps refer to the village as Claravale.
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874:https://www.racayouthfc.co.uk/clubinfo/Facilities
926:Clara Vale cricketer in club v country dilemma
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885:https://www.rytongolfclub.co.uk/club-history
723:"Durham Mining Museum - Clara Vale Colliery"
622:https://sitelines.newcastle.gov.uk/SMR/12054
831:. Ryton, Gateshead: Ryton History Society.
806:. Ryton, Gateshead: Ryton History Society.
701:. Ryton, Gateshead: Ryton History Society.
360:Clara Vale stands on the south bank of the
863:https://www.claravale.org.uk/office-units/
344:, England. Once an independent village in
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600:https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2213577
931:The website for Clara Vale Football Club
772:. Local Nature Reserves. Natural England
750:. Local Nature Reserves. Natural England
364:in a low-lying and quite secluded spot.
921:The website for Clara Vale Cricket Club
829:Clara Vale - The Story of a pit village
804:Clara Vale - The Story of a pit village
699:Clara Vale - The Story of a pit village
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535:, a national nature reserve located in
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956:Local Nature Reserves in Tyne and Wear
852:https://www.claravale.org.uk/about-us/
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633:https://cvcg.org.uk/2018/02/01/1496/
570:"Crawcrook and Greenside Ward map"
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791:https://cvcg.org.uk/overviewtext/
457:destroyed by fires in the 2010s.
350:Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead
376:to the north and the village of
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936:Clara Vale online via Facebook
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411:. Its current MP is Labour's
91:OS grid reference
18:Human settlement in England
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951:Villages in Tyne and Wear
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107:Metropolitan borough
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125:Metropolitan county
827:Watson, Harry (2023).
802:Watson, Harry (2023).
697:Watson, Harry (2023).
195:Postcode district
461:Modern-day Clara Vale
961:Ryton, Tyne and Wear
479:Local Nature Reserve
175:Sovereign state
770:"Map of Clara Vale"
664:on 20 December 2014
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320:54.978°N 1.792°W
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748:"Clara Vale"
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668:20 December
374:Close House
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226:Northumbria
83:2011 census
945:Categories
544:References
539:, Ireland.
362:River Tyne
338:Clara Vale
308:54°58′41″N
250:North East
151:North East
81:313 (
78:Population
60:Clara Vale
24:Clara Vale
471:Greenside
413:Liz Twist
366:Crawcrook
311:1°47′31″W
245:Ambulance
185:Post town
115:Gateshead
776:4 August
754:4 August
526:See also
516:Ovingham
508:football
443:Anglican
388:Politics
356:Location
98:NZ133649
512:cricket
510:pitch,
419:History
409:Blaydon
292:England
269:Blaydon
167:England
161:Country
835:
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487:Airbnb
402:Labour
372:) are
221:Police
143:Region
573:(PDF)
501:Sport
475:Ryton
384:.
378:Wylam
189:RYTON
833:ISBN
808:ISBN
778:2013
756:2013
703:ISBN
670:2014
531:The
473:and
233:Fire
211:0191
200:NE40
441:An
392:In
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287:UK
841:.
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85:)
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
