Norman Dunn's 'Hebburn and our Neighbours Forum'

Norman Dunn's 'Hebburn and our Neighbours Forum'
[ Norman Dunn's 'Hebburn and our Neighbours Forum' ]

Rules! No Bad language or derogatory remarks Please or we will delete. Anyone sharing our content on Face Book must credit 'Hebburn and our Neighbours'.

Monkton Coke Works 1936 to 1990

Posted by Norman on 13/7/2026, 1:12 pm

After the heroic 'Jarrow Marcher's did that amazing 280 mile walk to Downing St to plead to the Government for work, Monkton Coke Works was one of the outcomes when the Bowes Coal Company opened it in 1936 away from the nearest residential properties in Hebburn.
Then in the 1950s newly built Council housing crept closer & closer to the Coke Works.
A campaign was eventually started to close Monkton Coke Works led by a Councillor that lived in a new Council House close to them, which was successful & she is now portrayed as a hero on a Frieze along with Mr Reyrolle (a real hero who brought 12000 plus jobs to our area).
Why did the council build new houses so close to the Coke Works??

Re: Monkton Coke Works 1936 to 1990

Posted by Sheila on 13/7/2026, 2:22 pm, in reply to "Monkton Coke Works 1936 to 1990"

I remember reading about her at the time. I wonder how many people lost their jobs. I thinks it’s offensive to portray her as a hero.

Re: Monkton Coke Works 1936 to 1990

Posted by Norman on 13/7/2026, 4:13 pm, in reply to "Re: Monkton Coke Works 1936 to 1990"

Thanks Sheila, lovely to see your name on the board. I think exactly the same.
I lived between the Slag Heap & the Coke Works and had no problems with the Coke Works.
Here is a similar 'moan' from someone who moved into a house next to the 'Albert Hotel' (now Wardles) in Hebburn & then complained about hearing a bit noise even though it had been there 90 years.

Re: Monkton Coke Works 1936 to 1990

Posted by Sheila on 13/7/2026, 4:39 pm, in reply to "Re: Monkton Coke Works 1936 to 1990"

Norman, it’s the same when people from a towns or city move into a village and object to church bells. Where my daughter lived in a village a family from London complained about the bell ringers practicing for one hour once a week.

Re: Monkton Coke Works 1936 to 1990

Posted by Ray Forster on 13/7/2026, 8:50 pm, in reply to "Re: Monkton Coke Works 1936 to 1990"

I agree it is offensive to call her a hero.

I would say she was a heroine, and wonder how many lives she saved and made it a healthier area to live in, considering the number of people with ill health relying on oxygen due to the cokies.

Are would you rather return to the old days with the sentch of the bone yard too?

Re: Monkton Coke Works 1936 to 1990

Posted by Ray Forster on 13/7/2026, 8:56 pm, in reply to "Re: Monkton Coke Works 1936 to 1990"

Try this link:

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/history/hebburn-housewife-who-battled-decades-25145209

Re: Monkton Coke Works 1936 to 1990

Posted by Sheila on 14/7/2026, 8:11 am, in reply to "Re: Monkton Coke Works 1936 to 1990"

Keep up Ray Forster, in this politically correct world the we have to use the word Hero not a female version, ie: all men and women are now actors! I think it’s good that miners don't have to go down mines any more, but I doubt the families in the mining villages without work would agree.

Re: Monkton Coke Works 1936 to 1990

Posted by Norman on 14/7/2026, 9:58 am, in reply to "Re: Monkton Coke Works 1936 to 1990"

She saved no lives whatsoever!
Hexham Ave houses should never have been built so close to the Coke Works and that was the Council's fault & she was a Councillor.

Her grouse was that washing on the clothes lines was getting dirt on it from the Coke works.
Maybe that was because their back gardens were nearly inside the Coke Works.

Re: Monkton Coke Works 1936 to 1990

Posted by Peter on 14/7/2026, 12:34 pm, in reply to "Re: Monkton Coke Works 1936 to 1990"

I totally agree Norman. The houses should never have been built so close to the works, and it was the council's fault for doing this.

Re: Monkton Coke Works 1936 to 1990

Posted by Malcolm on 14/7/2026, 6:00 pm, in reply to "Re: Monkton Coke Works 1936 to 1990"

But what a daft situation: 1930's they build the "coke ovens" as we knew them, to help solve the massive unemployment in the area (hence the Jarrow March)
Then we build houses right next to the coke ovens, and then complain about the smell, etc.
So they shut down the coke ovens, creating more unemployment.

You just couldn't make it up !!!!!

Re: Monkton Coke Works 1936 to 1990

Posted by Norman on 14/7/2026, 9:06 pm, in reply to "Re: Monkton Coke Works 1936 to 1990"

And it gets worse when we know the leading protester was a Councillor who willingly moved into her new Council House yards from the Coke works.
She is being classed as a hero when her relative wrote a book to tell us what she did for our Town.

.

[ Norman Dunn's 'Hebburn and our Neighbours Forum' ]

Rules! No bad language or derogatory remarks or we will delete. Anyone sharing our content on Face Book must credit 'Hebburn and our Neighbours'.