Black Row

Black Row was a small community located to the south-west of Bournmoor and consisted of a farmhouse and a small row of buildings located close to Lumley Thicks on the opposite side of what is today the B1284 road. The old maps below show the layout of the buildings and the census returns (below) list the names of those who resided there.

Black Row was located at approximately the highest point of today’s B1284 road between Castle Dene and Lumley 6^th Pit. It should be remembered however that today’s B1284 between Castle Dene and 6^th Pit follows the line of the old Lambton Railway (Lumley Branch) - ie it was not originally a roadway. The road from Castle Dene to Lumley Thicks followed a more direct line as shown on the old maps. Travelling from Castle Dene towards Fence Houses, the waggonway ascended the attractively-named Nickey Nack Bank (named after a long-gone pit in the area) to Black Row before descending towards 6^th Pit via Black Row Bank.

Marked on the map of 1862 is Black Row Engine. This was a stationary engine which straddled the waggonway and would have hauled coal waggons up both the Nickey Nacky Bank and Black Row Bank inclines as it stood at the highest point on this stretch of line. The renowned mining engineer John Buddle (1773-1843) called this engine the Lumley 2^nd Pit Engine due to the fact that it was located close, and directly connected to, the 2^nd Pit.

No trace of Black Row (or Engine) remains today and no photographs or pictures are known to exist, other than the single black and white photograph reproduced below.

Census:

Below are the surnames of the people who resided at Black Row in the census returns of 1841 - 1911. The returns have been transcribed. For further information on any of the names listed, please contact the Webmaster via the email address on the Home Page of this website.

1841:

Franklin

Hutchinson

Jackson

Pickering

1851:

Cowl

Fenwick

Jackson

Swanston

1861:

Best