This wonderful juxtaposition of old and new South Shields in one image has been created by photographer and local historian MICK RAY.
We see the town's main retail thoroughfare King Street as it was in the 1930s and the Market Place as it is today blended into one striking image, giving us a deeper understanding of the physical location - what was once there, and what's there now. Here in his own words, Mick tells the fascinating but also tragic story of the area over time.
Most of the buildings in the old part of the image either don’t exist now, or have been virtually rebuilt due to damage sustained in a World War II air raid - but more on that later. Centre stage is the Old Town Hall, in the middle of the Market Place. The Dean and Chapter of Durham (who ran the town for centuries) were responsible for the creation of the Market Place.
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They realised the narrow streets of the town were unsuitable for the ever increasing number of market stalls, which were caused by a heavy population surge. This surge was a result of a large increase in industrial businesses such as fishing, shipping, glass making, salt panning, and the coal industry.
The Market Place opened in 1770, with the centre piece being what we now call the Old Town Hall - originally an administrative building for the Durham church priors called the Town House. The arched area under the Old Town Hall was designed as a corn market. It did not become the Town Hall until purchased by the corporation in 1855. It fulfilled that role until the workload required larger premises, and the current Town Hall on Westoe Road was built in 1910 to replace it.
The buildings on the right of the image were heavily damaged in the air raid mentioned earlier. Prominent in the image is Crofton’s department store on the corner, with Woolworth’s slightly closer. Although the town suffered many air attacks during the war, the one that caused the most damage was the sustained bombing on the night of October 2, 1941.
The first bombs fell at random across the town, with no obvious targets. Around 9.20pm, the attacks concentrated on the town centre, with devastating effect on the Market Place and surrounding streets. Many shops were destroyed including Woolworth's, Crofton’s, and Dunn’s paint shop with exploding tins of paint from the latter flying through the air, causing extensive fires in other buildings, adding to the damage from the bombs. Worst of all, the entrances to the two air raid shelters were hit, resulting in tragic loss of life to people taking cover inside.
Contrary to perceptions, there were fewer people in the shelters than many stories will have you believe. These stories usually quote the total tragic death toll that evening, and give the impression that they were all sustained in the Market Place shelters. In fact, 17 people were sheltering from the raid that night, and 12 lost their lives, with 5 being rescued. Another myth is that many bodies were not recovered afterwards and that the craters were just filled in with no attempt to find victims. Once again this is not true. Everyone was recovered and accounted for.
Adding to the mayhem, a ruptured gas main caught fire nearby, which burned for hours after the raid as the stop valve was unreachable, buried under the rubble. The water mains were also hit, so initially no water was available to dowse the flames. It had to be manually brought from the ferry landing.
The attacks carried on all over the area, with many more tragic deaths, injuries, and destroyed buildings. The last bomb fell in St Stephen’s churchyard in Mile End Road just before 10.30 – leaving a final count of 68 lives lost, 117 serious injuries, hundreds of minor injuries, 2,000 homeless, and devastation to buildings all over the town. It can be seen that a lot more people died across the town than in the shelters – showing how random the attacks and deaths were.
Mick Ray runs the popular Facebook group Old Photos of South Shields and the North East . You can find many more examples of his work there.
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