It is probable that the steep sided valley we know as Jesmond Dene has always been wooded, but gradually, industries crept in and by the 19th century the Dene was home to watermills, various quarries and pits and an iron foundry. Prior to the mid 1800s the woodland was probably more straggly than today and interspersed with a heavy undergrowth of gorse, brambles and the like.

In the 1850s William George Armstrong (later Lord Armstrong) the armament manufacturer, (later Lord Armstrong of Cragside, Northumberland) bought up large areas of the valley. With his wife, he enclosed the land and transformed it into the landscaped parkland that we know today. With his fascination for water it is no surprise that he altered the river. A large waterfall, weirs and rock islands were created near to the mill, along with several bridges including the one from which to view the waterfall, and a network of footpaths. The waterfall is the biggest alteration to the river and was a result of blasting out the river bed downstream, while building up the area upstream. He also had a bridge installed to enable viewing of the waterfall. They additionally introduced exotic non-native species of trees and shrubs such as cedars, junipers, Californian Redwoods and the rhododendron.

In the 1850s, William George Armstrong (later Lord Armstrong) the armament manufacturer, acquired at various times the land which now forms Jesmond Dene. He enclosed the land and planted it with exotic trees and shrubs, laid paths and built bridges. Lord Armstrong used the Dene as his own private parkland but allowed access to it by the public twice weekly, on payment of a small entrance fee which went to the local hospital.

In 1883 Lord Armstrong presented the main area of Jesmond Dene to the Corporation of Newcastle upon Tyne for the benefit of its citizens and in 1884, the park was formally opened by the Prince and Princess of Wales. To commemorate the occasion, the Princess planted a turkey Oak near the Banqueting Hall. This tree, now mature, can still be seen adjacent to the South end of the Banqueting Hall, near to a second tree planted by Alderman H Benson in 1933 to mark the 50th anniversary of the occasion. Since then, the Dene has remained a popular resort for the citizens of Newcastle and, despite heavy pressures put upon it, still retains a particular charm of its own.

More history of Jesmond Dene and a history walking trail can be found on the following link:

History of The Dene

We enjoyed our brief visit to Jesmond Dene and hope to return soon to further explore the tranquil delight.

In the 1850s, William Armstrong acquired the land which is now known as Jesmond Dene:

It is probable that the area we know as Jesmond Dene has always been wooded but, prior to the mid 1800s the wood was probably straggly and interspersed with a heavy undergrowth of gorse, brambles and the like. The trees present were mostly oak, ash, holly and hazel, all indigenous to this country, and this tree selection can still be seen near Castles Farm Bridge at the North end of the Dene.

In the 1850s, William George Armstrong (later Lord Armstrong) the armament manufacturer, acquired at various times the land which now forms Jesmond Dene. He enclosed the land and planted it with exotic trees and shrubs, laid paths and built bridges. Lord Armstrong used the Dene as his own private parkland but allowed access to it by the public twice weekly, on payment of a small entrance fee which went to the local hospital.

In 1883 Lord Armstrong presented the main area of Jesmond Dene to the Corporation of Newcastle upon Tyne for the benefit of its citizens and in 1884, the park was formally opened by the Prince and Princess of Wales. To commemorate the occasion, the Princess planted a turkey Oak near the Banqueting Hall.

This tree, now mature, can still be seen adjacent to the South end of the Banqueting Hall, near to a second tree planted by Alderman H Benson in 1933 to mark the 50th anniversary of the occasion. Since then, the Dene has remained a popular resort for the citizens of Newcastle and, despite heavy pressures put upon it, still retains a particular charm of its own.

After experiencing two days of toast arriving after my cooked breakfast was served I had a cunning plan. I ordered a piece of toast to come with my cooked selections. On this occasion the table toast arrived before my breakfast so I need not have ordered a piece to come with my breakfast!

When we had eaten we headed off to Cragside. I wasn’t completely convinced of the choice, I knew the pleasure drive, one of my favourite aspects of Cragside was closed due to fallen and hanging trees. It might just have been open if we left it a couple of days… Despite this I went along with the plan, the Dahlia beds in the formal garden are always spectacular at this time of year.

On arrival at Cragside, more parts of the estate were closed than we expected. As always we chose to visit the formal garden first so that we could enjoy the garden in relative quiet before other visitors make their way there.

We had been informed by a National Trust volunteer and colleague of Mr C that there were new visitor arrangements for non National Trust members. National Trust members had complained that they had to queue whilst non-members were paying at the gate. The new arrangements for non-members is to direct them to the formal garden carpark to buy tickets or join the National Trust.

On entering the car park we found that the new arrangement had left no spaces for garden visitors to park. As it was a quiet day we ignored the restrictions, in any case there was an absence of volunteers in the car park to sign up new members. The new system clearly isn’t working; when we arrived we joined the members queue and the non members queue was empty. I think the Cragside team could learn a lesson from the entry system to Stonehenge, it is much more efficient.

When I entered the garden I was disappointed, the dahlia display that I had been looking forward to was not present. The formal flower beds had been planted with other things that were bland and nondescript in comparison.

On the upper lawn in front of the glasshouse there was an installation of sunflowers, one of several installations at Cragside that are part of the National Trust ‘Women & Power’ exhibitions celebrating the anniversary of female suffrage in 2018. 4000 sunflowers were planted to represent the women that worked at Cragside and Armstrong’s munitions factories in Elswick. On the lawn there was another artwork of a giant pelvis…

Inside the house we found that the flow of visitor access had changed and that it was now a two way flow around the house. For me this didn’t work as it seemed to cause bottlenecks. The upper floor of the house was however an unexpected delight, new rooms had been opened you could enter into some of the other rooms rather than stand behind a rope as was previously the case.

We decided to have lunch in Rothbury rather than at Cragside, but before we left we had a quick look around the National Trust shop. We had intended to have lunch in a Rothbury tea shop but as we were parking I noticed a bakery directly in front of us. I suggested an ‘in car’ picnic. Mr C loved the idea so we purchased freshly made rolls, cake and a drink which, after travelling a short distance, we enjoyed with spectacular views over the Simonside Hills and the local golf course.

After lunch we visited Rothbury All Saints Church. During our visit we were treated to organ music and learned from the organist that he was practicing ‘difficult’ music for a wedding the next day. We then made our way to the graveyard in search of Lord Armstrong’s grave. The location wasn’t immediately obvious, but after retracing our steps we found it.

We still had some to spare so we headed to Flodden Field in search of the ‘Cherry Pie Tree’ that I photographed several years ago, inspiring JD to turn it into a painting. We failed to locate the tree.

Instead we encountered a tractor with a broken wheel and cows very slowly crossing the road to their pasture…

Those slow cows led to us running out of time so we headed back to the hotel to freshen up before our evening meal in a nearby local pub just over the border in Scotland. We found that the pub was really geared up to locals having a drink at the bar. The experience was a little quirky but my meal was delicious.

Our hotel duty manager had ordered us a taxi and it became apparent as we were chauffeured to the pub (due to listening to the driver on the phone) that we would need to arrange a return time with him. He had one timeslot where he was able to fit us in for a return journey to our hotel. Obviously we accepted his offer!

My previous post on the house at Cragside can be viewed here.

William George Armstrong was one of the leading and most successful of Great Britain’s nineteenth century engineers. At Elswick he began a career in mechanical and civil engineering, moving into armaments, and then on to naval and, at Walker, mercantile shipbuilding.  In the later decades of the Victorian age his company was the only British firm comparable in size and range to Krupp of Essen, and by the end of his life Armstrong Whitworth was probably the largest industrial concern in Britain.

Armstrong possessed exceptional powers for concentrating on practical problems, and invaluable asset which he is said to have once summed up in the homely words: ‘Perseverance usually pays.”  It brought him a distinguished reputation, high honours and great wealth.  the last was used in large part to build a revolutionary house and estate, Cragside, set in magnificent gardens near Rothbury, in his native Northumberland.  Cragside was the first house in the world to be powered by hydroelectricity.  It is now part of the National Trust.  To contemporaries his long career was a wonderful story of success.  Even now his achievement seems exceptional, but whether it was good now looks much less obvious.  Today we are disturbed by the contrasts between the peace and splendors of Cragside and the often blighted lives of his workers and their families in the drab terraced rows which once covered the slopes above Scotswood Road.  Above all we are troubled by what, even during his lifetime, and still more shortly afterwards, resulted from the labours of this designer and manufacturer of weapons of war.  This book explores these issues in the life of a fascinating but puzzling man.

Review:

For a long time I have been interested in the wide and varied engineering feats of Lord Armstrong.  I am interested in the history of the armaments side of his inventions, but I felt the book was too focused on that side of his achievements and gives the impression that he promoted war.

I think that Armstrong’s developments of armaments would have been better portrayed if they were viewed in the perspective of how people thought in that era rather than putting modern day perspectives and retrospective thoughts/knowledge onto his achievements. He did not know about the wars that were shortly to follow his engineering feats.

All other sources I have read state that Armstrong was an advocate of peace and he developed the armaments to preserve that peace.

The book mentions the drab houses of the workers in comparison to the luxury of the Armstrong lifestyle, giving the impression that Armstrong should have done something better for his workforce. I find that train of thought rather naive, hard living (for the workers) was the reality of the times in those days and Armstrong had been thoughtful enough to provide adequate housing for his workers.  He also developed labour saving devices for those who worked in his household.

I feel that the book glosses over the other amazing engineering achievements that Armstrong developed, including those labour saving devices for for the people who worked in his household.  Armstrong was a many faceted man and in my opinion this book does not reflect that.

I did however find the book thought provoking!

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I invite you to join me at Vision & Verb to read my very brief history of Lord William Armstrong who was an inspiring scientist, innovator and philanthropist.