Low Fell
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| Low Fell | |
  Low Fell shown within Tyne and Wear |
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| OS grid reference | |
|---|---|
| District | Gateshead |
| Shire county | Tyne and Wear |
| Region | North East |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | GATESHEAD |
| Postcode district | NE9 |
| Dialling code | 0191 |
| Police | Northumbria |
| Fire | Tyne and Wear |
| Ambulance | North East |
| European Parliament | North East England |
| UK Parliament | Gateshead East and Washington West |
| List of places: UK • England • Tyne and Wear | |
Low Fell is former village, which is now a suburb of Gateshead, England. Its approach from the south is "guarded" by the Angel of the North. It is located close to the A1 giving easy to the motorway network. The area is very popular for young couples starting families, and has a large percentage of elderly people.
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[edit] History of Low Fell
Originally referred to as Gateshead Fell, after the Enclosure Act of 1809, it was separated into High Fell and Low Fell. Until 1790 Low Fell was only populated by vagrants, tinkers and cloggers. Rent was cheap, in some cases even free; most lived in poverty. The first road was named Sodhouse Bank, as the houses on it were roofed with turf. New roads gradually began to appear - Lamesley Road which later became Kells Lane and Low Fell Road which became Beaconsfield Road and Belle Vue Bank. In the 1880s there was a decade of intensive building and the population soared. The name Low Fell derives from the meaning of 'village through the fields'
Until 1824 there was still about a mile of farmland between Gateshead and Low Fell. Plans were drawn and a road was built through this farmland in 1826. The first mail coach travelled on the new road, today known as Durham Road on the 17 June 1826. Thomas Wilson used to call this road 'the road through the fields'. This was still accurate until the early 1900s.
[edit] Notable buildings
[edit] Underhill
This house is situated on Kells Lane and was for many years the home of Joseph Wilson Swan. Underhill was the first house in the world to be lit by electric light.
[edit] Whinney House
The land on which Whinney House was built was bought in 1864 by brothers John and Edward Joicey. The house was finished in 1867. Later that year John Joicey gave his share to his brother Edward as a token of the love and affection he bore for his brother. Edward lived in the house until his death in 1879. His wife lived in the house until her death in 1906. It was bought by Gateshead Corporation in 1921 and subsequently turned into a hospital.
[edit] Tram station
Trams ran to Low Fell from Newcastle from the early 1900s until the late 1950s. The building which used to be the tram waiting room still exists. It is situated on the east side of Low Fell at the junction of Kells Lane and Durham Road, and is now a locksmiths.
[edit] Beaconsfield Hotel
Formerly called the Buck Inn this name changed around 1895 along with the road which was formerly Buck Lane. The roads now called Beaconsfield Road and Belle Vue Bank used to be the 'Low Fell Road'.
[edit] Notable residents
[edit] Thomas Wilson
Poet, teacher, business man and native of Low Fell, Thomas Wilson was born in 1774. He learned to read and write during his brief schooling before going to work in the pit at the age of eight. He worked as a miner until the age of nineteen, when he became a teacher. He later joined a Newcastle firm as a clerk and became a prosperous business man.Toward the end of his life he was dedicated to helping children gain a better education with less difficulty than he had. He opened a reading room and school room for local children in Low Fell in 1841. Thomas Wilson died in 1858 aged 84.
[edit] Joseph Swan
Joseph Swan invented the carbon filament lightbulb, the predecessor of our present day light bulbs. He moved here in 1869 after the death of his first wife. He left Low Fell in 1883 to live in London where he lived until his death in 1914.
A comprehensive school in Low Fell has been named after Joseph Swan.
