Did You Know?

How often do you hear a tale or fact about the village or town you live in and think 'I didn't know that'? Or see a photograph of the place where you live and not be able to recognise it because it has changed so much over the years? Or maybe it hasn't changed at all and you can recount memories of how life was when you were growing up!

Did you know that Burnopfield St John Ambulance Brigade was the first Division to register in County Durham on 16 February 1907 and the Burnopfield Ambulance Station was the first of its kind in the north of England when it opened in 1909? The origins of the Brigade follow on from an accident at South Garesfield Colliery in 1903. Angered by the lack of first aid and inappropriate care of an injured colleague the miners decided to learn first aid for themselves under the tuition of the local doctor, H F W Boland.

Source: St John Ambulance Burnopfield, 1907 - 2007 , A Centenary Souvenir - Compiled by Sheila Thorpe and Dorothy Rand.

Did you know that the village of Annfield Plain was originally just called 'Annfield'? Following the building of the railway on the plane between Annfield, Oxhill and Stanley the name was changed to Annfield Plane. By 1856, when colliery houses started to emerge, the spelling was changed to 'Plain'.

Did you know that the Anglo Saxon village of School Aycliffe got its name, not because there was a school there but from the name of a Viking - Scula? This may be the same man who is recorded as being given land in Durham around AD 920.

Source: Keys to the Past local histories.

This section will be used to post interesting, and possibly quirky, facts, customs, and traditions relating to local cultural heritage so please pass on anything you think would be interesting to others so that it can be included here.

If you have come across an unusual artefact and would like to find out more about it why not take a photograph and post it on this page? It could become a future topic for the discussion forum.