Place

Type: War Memorial

The Dawdon Miner’s Welfare Hall was built in 1910 on Mount Stewart Street, Dawdon. It first appeared on the third edition Ordnance Survey map.

Also known as the Dawdon Miner’s Lodge, the structure was hired by the military sporadically, as billets, during the First World War. The Urban District Council of Seaham Harbour noted that the Lodge was not used at all by November 1915, and the rental agreement terminated in the winter of 1916. This was why the Lodge was proposed to be a temporary school for displaced schoolchildren, as the 4th Battalion Durham Light Infantry (DLI) occupied most of the local schools there.

Dawdon Miner’s Lodge during wartime remained politically active, with frequent correspondences between the organization and the Urban District Council. They often advocated for the protection of Army and Navy servicemen by setting up a local committee to handle pensions. They also applied for the setting up of a late tram from Sunderland to Seaham, that would connect with late trains transporting returning soldiers from overseas fronts. While that application was not successful, a military wagon for the same purpose was arranged nightly, which was considered a success nonetheless.

The Miner’s Lodge also pushed for the enactment of Education (Provision of Meals) Act 1906, which introduced free school meals for schoolchildren, in the local community. The Urban District Council, in turn, required the Lodge to provide three candidates for the Food Control Committee. It was obvious that the Miner’s Lodge played a major role in representing the welfare of the local population and had a symbiotic relationship with the Urban District Council throughout the First World War.

A memorial service was held for the soldiers who once belonged to Dawdon Miner’s Lodge, and were killed in action in the First World War. The service was held on 2 December 1917, and featured the unveiling of memorial windows dedicated to the late Lord Londonderry.

Two war memorials were known to have been erected in the Lodge. They may have been:

A war memorial screen with the inscription: “To the glory of God and in memory of those from this Parish who gave their lives for their country in the Great War, 1914-1918”; and

A memorial window with the inscription: “A.M.D.G. and in memory of Joseph Winter, aged 20, who was Killed in the Great War on 26th July 1917. This window was erected by his loving parents. R.I.P.”;

It was likely that these memorials were erected in either the Lodge or the Parish Church of St. Hild and St. Helen, who arranged the memorial service for the fallen soldiers who belonged to the Dawdon Miner’s Lodge. The location of the two memorials are currently unknown.

The Lodge and its associated mines remained in operation though to the 1940s, where there were frequent correspondences between the Lodge and Lord Londonderry regarding the payment of wages and possibility of strike action.

Now a social welfare club, the Dawdon Miners’ Lodge remains standing today, used often for events such as birthday parties and weddings. The building exists today as a red-brick building with a central protruding section on the front elevation bearing a stone arch entrance on the lower floor and a pointed decorative roof. A name plaque above the door is fixed underneath the second storey window, whilst the name ‘Dawdon’ and a date plaque of 1910 are attached to white bands that cross the front of the building.

The building was once featured in the film Billy Elliot as the working men’s club, in which Billy’s father announced that he passed his audition. Nearby Embleton Street was the location of Billy’s home in the same film.

Sources cited:
UD/Sea 63
Urban District Council Records of Seaham Harbour (1913-1916)

UD/Sea 64
Urban District Council Records of Seaham Harbour (1916-1920)

EP/Daw 2/15
Order of service in memory of the members, and sons of members, of the Dawdon Lodge of the Durham Miners ‘ Association, killed during the war, 2 December 1917 Includes: a list of names, 1914 – 1917

EP/Daw 2/16

D/DMA 306
Copy letters from the Secretary to Dawdon, Vane-Tempest and Seaham Lodges, also to Malcolm Dillon and Lord Londonderry, mostly re time of payment of wages, provision of poor quality fire-coal, employment of non-union men and possibility of strike action, 1934 – 1937

Relevant Sources:
D/X989
Visitor records of Dawdon Miners’ Lodge

D/X 989/1

D/X 989/2
Compensation registers, 12 September 1931-November 1948

D/X 411/305
Table of information about Vane Tempest, Seaham, Dawdon, Murton, South Hetton, Eppleton, Elemore, Hawthorn (combined mine) collieries and a list of collieries abandoned, with the reasons for abandonment, 22 February 1966

NEWMP
http://www.newmp.org.uk/detail.php?contentId=6988
http://www.newmp.org.uk/detail.php?contentId=6989

Keys to the Past
http://www.keystothepast.info/article/10339/Site-Details?PRN=D49124

Plans and Images:
D/Ph 419/10
Copy of a photograph, captioned Dawdon Lodge Silver Prize Band, July 1948 Photograph by W. Oughred – Seaham 

E/Da/G 501/3/4

E/Da/G 501/3/5
Photograph of banner of the National Union of minerworkers in Elvet, Durham Miner’s Gala 1993

D/Lo Acc 1251(D) Plans 314-326
Plans of proposed Miners Hall in Dawdon

Civil Parish: Dawdon

Contributed by Tullia Fraser | Durham County Council Archaeology Section