The story of the 1936 Jarrow Crusade, and the widespread unemployment and subsequent poverty and hardship that sparked the famous protest march to London, understandably paints a somewhat grim picture of the town at the time.
The inter-war years weren't all doom and gloom however, and here - as elsewhere around the country - a massive programme of housebuilding was underway. To the south of Jarrow, a huge new municipal estate called Primrose was built on former fields. The functional but comfortable semis, complete with 1920s mod cons and front and back gardens, were a far cry from the dingy old terraces of the town centre.
Meanwhile, a residential road that remains one of South Tyneside’s premier thoroughfares was given a royal opening by the father and mother of the late Queen Elizabeth II in 1928. Our archive photograph, courtesy of local historian and photographer Paul Perry, shows newly-completed York Avenue two years earlier, stretching across former farmland as the town of Jarrow expanded.
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The dual carriageway would soon be lined along both sides by privately-constructed semi-detached and detached houses built for the professional classes away from the noise and grime of industry on the River Tyne. The street in 2022 remains a desirable location with its smart homes, tree-lined central reservation, and fine nearby public parks through which the ancient Monkton Burn meanders.
A new house on the prime street would have cost around £550 in 1928 - expensive for the time, when the average UK weekly wage for a man was £5. To illustrate how house prices have rocketed way beyond inflation, £550 in today’s money equates to around £24,000. Semi-detached properties on the street now tend to go for around £300,000.
The street takes its name from the Duke and Duchess of York who performed the official opening on July 17, 1928. It was one of a number of Tyneside engagements carried out by the future King George VI and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother who were staying at Lumley Castle. On the same day, at Palmer’s shipyard in the heart of industrial Jarrow, they launched the battle cruiser HMS York.
The Evening Chronicle reported how the new arterial road had cost £30,000 to build and provided a direct means of access from the south. Cutting a ribbon across York Avenue with a pair of golden scissors, the Duke of York declared the road open. Back in the royal car, with the couple heading towards the Tyne for the ship launch, the streets of the town were "gaily decorated" with flags, while a banner scrolled across one road read "God bless you and your bonny bairn", a reference to the future Queen, two-year-old Princess Elizabeth.
Just five years later in 1933, the closure of Palmer’s was the catalyst for the 1936 Jarrow Crusade, while in 1941 HMS York was put out of action in Crete during World War II. Thanks to local historian and photographer Paul Perry who provided both the 1926 and 2022 York Avenue images.
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