Does anyone have any photographs of the dam head,filterbeds and west mills.
i,ve seen the usual ones in barbara,s books but these seem to be the only ones around.
for many years i have listened intently to the fishermans tales of this great river but i am struggling to build a mental picture of the dam head area.
I hope somebody out there can help.

Hi djlk,
Not sure what pics you have seen but there is a good one one on the Shildon website at the bottom of the page [www.shildon4u.org.uk]

I actually lived down the dam as a child in a cottage down there' not a lot of people know of the cottages that were there they were where the large green picnic area is now.
Everytime I visit my dad who was a miner and worked accross the viaduct down the mines that was there I always go to the dam'or as we alway's said ( going down the dam ).
I was there when they blew the dam up and it was such an upsetting time as we were down there every day in summer sliding down the concrete dam and diving into the water or simply walking from one side to the other side when the water was calm.
I think they were blown up to help the fish get up the river as I always remember standing there and you could simply just catch the fish as they jumped up the salmon box's and there was alway's 2 or three bailiffs there to keep an eye on you.One of them I seem to remember lived underneath the viaduct and I knew the family there I am sure there surname was ( Fitsgerald )???
Happy day's
Steve. (Hodder)
I have added 2 photo's of the dam head on ( contact ) and then image blog hope it brings back those memories back to how it was in the 70's.
I have 4 photo's of the dam head 4 u all to see.



Edited 4 times. Last edit at 06/15/10 06:06PM by hodder.

i can remember as if it was yesterday.iswam ther many of times in the early 60s.with lads from bishop and woodhouse.we allways had a camp fire going.keeping us warm.i will try and discibe how it looked,first you had a gate near to the dam comeing from the bats side then you had the turnweel on walking over this you came to a high area with a metal fence arround onlooking down you had slopeing area aprox 10m2 wide then the salmon boxes about 4 of them the lowest turning into the dam.then the dam about 50m2 wide you could walk over the top of the dam to sandy bay.

I also swam in the dam and up stream,if I remember correctly there was a tail race of from the dam the went and turned power stations generator. Over the years there was a few deaths where people had been swimming to close to the gate and had been sunk down.
Can remember as a kid with my net and jam jar and catching fish below the dam in the shallows taking them home only to have them die three days later.
Hi David did you live in Crawford Close in the 60s?

I have 2 possibly 3 photos from the damhead for people to see on hear but not sure how to get them on the site......Steve

I have added them .....if u go to CONTACT and then IMAGE BLOG go on there and you will find where I have added them hope it brings back those memories...Steve

got the photos ...many thanks