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Primrose Hill House is located just to the south-east of The Dunn Cow public house and is set back from the main road at the end of a driveway. It is located here:
Not much is known of the house in its early days and the webmaster would be pleased to receive information for inclusion here - contact email address is on the Home page of this website. It is therefore not clear when the house was constructed, but it is believed to date from the early 19th century. It appears on early maps of the area, such as the 1856 first edition OS map:
Above: 1895 OS map
Primrose Hill House is first mentioned by this name in the electoral registers in 1910, although it is of course much older. In 1910 the inhabitant was named as Mr John Whitefield Renwick. He was born in Acomb, Northumberland in 1873 and by 1910 was manager at Lumley Sixth Pit. The registers place him there until 1915, after which he left Primrose Hill House and moved to Manor House, Lumley Park. There were no electoral records during 1916 and ’17 due to the war. Mr Renwick was a very prominent member of local society, a Freemason and also a member of numerous local organisations and charities. His ‘obituary’ in 1944 reads as follows:
Newcastle Evening Chronicle, 09 February 1944
Cremation of Mr J.W. Renwick
Canon C.R. Appleton, a fellow Rotarian, of Chester-le-Street, officiated at the cremation in Newcastle today of Mr J.W. Renwick, of Manor House, Lumley Park, Fence Houses, who died on Sunday at the age of 71. Before his retirement, a prominent mining engineer and 22 years manager of Lumley Sixth Pit, he was a member of Chester-le-Street Rural Council, a keen golfer and sportsman and a prominent member of the Earl of Durham Lodge of Freemasons with Provincial honours. Chief mourners were: Mrs J.W. Renwick (widow); Miss D. Renwick (daughter); Mr and Mrs T.S. Renwick (son and daughter-in-law); Mr and Mrs G. Renwick (son and daughter-in-law); Mrs J.W. Renwick (daughter-in-law); Mr and Mrs W.S. Renwick (son and daughter-in-law). Others present were: Mr R. Hall (nephew), Mr W. Hall (brother-in-law), Messrs George Laybourn, A. Oliver, F. Bolam, William Chrystal, J. Thornton, C.F. Betts, A. Kirkup, C. Fennell, J.A. Atkinson, F.J. Ryle, C.H. Grove, R. McLaren, E. Redhead, H.L. Gradon, R.I.R., H. Pledger, H. Grey, J. Aunger, A.D.W. Frazer, J.S. Smith, B. Proud, J.A. Rodwell, R. Henderson, T. Bramwell, H. Jackson, W. Gay, W. Combey, R.F. Dow, R. Charleson, G.B. Brown, M. Wilson, J. Sanderson, A. Vardy. Mrs G.R. Strong, Miss A.L. Armstrong, Mrs A.E. Renwick, Miss D. Renwick, Mr A.J. Gray (brother-in-law) and Mrs Gray and Coun T. Hedley.
By 1918 and until 1931 the Lishman family had moved in to Primrose Hill House – Dr George Percy Lishman and Alice Lishman. Dr Lishman was well known for his work with the local Nursing Associations and was also manager of the coke works at New Lambton until his retirement in 1936 after 30 years in the role. The 1939 register places him, aged 74, at Glebe Farm, Houghton-le-Spring. He became a magistrate at the Police Court there. He died in 1964, aged 90.
The 1939 register gives the house’s next inhabitants as Mr Alan Thompson and family. Mr Thompson was manager of Lambton D Pit. He passed away in 1944:
Durham Chronicle, December 15, 1944
Mr Alan Thompson BSc (42), Primrose Hill House, Fence Houses, died in Sunderland Infirmary where he had gone on Monday with nose trouble. A native of Sunderland, after serving his apprenticeship, he went to New Herrington Colliery as under-manager and later was for 3 or 4 years at Beamish Colliery, when he returned to Herrington as manager. In 1936 he came to Lambton “D” Pit to take charge there and in February of this year, was promoted to be a sub-agent. He was popular with workmen and officials alike. He leaves a widow and a boy aged 11.
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