Title: Foot of Whitewell Lane, Ryton
Photographer: Cocks, W.A.
Date: Date Unknown
Reference Number: 13_08
Item Description: According to the 19th century local historian William Bourn, Whitewell Lane got its name from a well on the west side of the street which was usually whitewashed on the outside. This photograph shows The Mansion House at the foot of the lane which still stands today. Bourn dates the house to as early as the 17th century when it was the home of Robert Surtees, an extensive landowner in Ryton, Crawcrook, Hedgefield and Whickham.
The image is taken from one of a number of glass plate negatives collected by W.A. Cocks of Ryton. W.A. Cocks was a keen local historian, archaeologist and an inveterate collector. He not only collected and played pipes, but also made them. He helped to produce the first ever book of plans for making Northumbrian pipes and researched extensively into the history of the pipes in the region. His collection of glass plates date from the late 1890s to the 1950s. Many of the early images were taken by J.P. Dalton, Surveyor to Ryton Urban District Council between 1898 and 1905. The plates are numbered and an annotated notebook in Cock's hand accompanies the collection from which title and date information is taken.
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