Photos by: Geoff Kitson
By: George Oliver
AN imaginative information board, erected on the site of a 19th century Durham mining village which disappeared after150 years, offers a glimpse back through time from the quiet rural setting where the community once flourished.
The first seeds of Middle Rainton were sown in 1820 when it was earmarked – the result of a sale of land between the existing villages of West and East Rainton – as the site of a new deep coal mine along with provision for homes for its workforce.
The colliery closed in 1951 but by the summer of 1970 all trace of the village was gone, the product of Durham County Council’s “Category D” plan launched twenty years earlier to restrict investment and development in 121 communities across the county.
The majority of those initially listed successfully contested the proposals but Middle Rainton, once home to more than 800 souls, accepted its inevitable fate with the last remnants cleared to make way for the A690 dual carriageway.
Today it’s designated a special countryside site owned by the county council, managed in partnership with West Rainton Green Group and allied to the West Rainton and Leamside Village Partnership.
Three years ago a community orchard was created on part of the site – an initiative suggested by the Green Group. Backed by a gift from the Northumbrian Water Authority apple, cherry, nut, pear and plum trees have since been planted.
The illustrated information board of the village, produced by the council, the Green Group and supported with a £1,250 donation from Durham City Freemen, is the first of two to be unveiled.
It offers an outline street map giving observers the opportunity to conjure up, “in poignant detail,” the once vibrant community with its 190 homes, Methodist Chapel, Salvation Army Citadel, four pubs and its own village bobby might have looked like.
“Our hope is the ingredients the board provides will, with a little imagination, help bring history to life in images rather than words,” said Jeff Dean, a founding member of the Green Group who played a part in its creation.
“The freemen’s support was crucial, without it this project would not have been able to go ahead,” he added.
Plans are well advanced for a second information board which will reflect the wildlife and flowers of the site.