In and Around South Charlton, People and Places

Evidence for human activity in and around South Charlton stretches back several thousands of years. From earliest Neolithic burial sites, through possible Roman marching camps to nineteenth century industrial and farming development – a vast canvas of human history has been painted on our landscape.

Walk 1 - East Ditchburn Circular

Village Wash

Tradition has it, that just by the cattle grid before the steep climb, the village women would come to the nearby stream to do their washing.

Hazeldene Quarry

The moors to the northwest of the village are renowned for their fine white sandstone. This fine quality building material was highly prized and much of it was transported from the little seaport of Seahouses to Edinburgh during the nineteenth century for building Newtown in Edinburgh. The quarry has recently been re-opened and the stone used for renovation work in Scotland’s capital.

Washpool

Probably designed to dip the sheep in order to remove parasites from the their skin and fleece

Bronze Age burials

In February 1824, excavations began to reveal the secrets of a bonze age burial site, three quarters of a mile to the south west of South Charlton. The barrow or large burial mound was opened up and in the centre, a cist was found, made up of four large stones placed upright and crudely joined together. The cist was 31/2 feet in length from east to west, 11/2 feet in breadth and 2 feet in depth.

In the centre a fine urn or ‘food vessel’ was found lying on its side and filled with human ashes. It was 5” in height, 51/2 inches in diameter at the top and 21/2 inches at the bottom. It was dark in colour and is ornamented around the shoulder by a grooved line, on which were un-pierced ears placed at regular intervals.

The primary burial cist was excavated as well as nine secondary burials. In all, a number of pottery vessels were found with the burials including food vessels, urns and incense cups. In the late Neolithic and Bronze Age there was a period of sudden change. New types of pottery were introduced, similar to pottery found elsewhere in England and on the Continent. This pottery was often used to contain the burnt remains of cremations, which increasingly became an important way of burying the dead.

East Ditchburn Farm

Originally the site of small hamlet and later during the border warfare with Scotland, a bastle to protect the inhabitants from the ravages of warfare.

Did you know about the secret army that was to rise against the Nazis should they have invaded and conquered England? Now most of us will have come across anti-tank traps and concrete machine gun nests scattered all over the county but did you know that the government recruited a secret army that was to go to ground and then emerge to sabotage airfields and yes – even assassinate possible collaborators.

Well one man certainly does. Hedley Dixon of East Ditchburn Farm was one such recruit. Dismissed as 3C unfit by the Recruitment Board at Ashington in 1939, he joined his local Home Guard Unit. But little did the rest of his detachment know that he and others had been approached by no less a person that the film star Anthony Quayle, then an officer in Military Intelligence, with a secret task. He and three companions were recruited to the Auxiliary army as the secret army was called. Once the Nazis had landed, he and his comrades were to go to ground in a specially prepared dugout in the grounds of Doxford Park. At night the four would liaise and go on an assigned mission, leaving a note behind to say they had carried out a successful mission. Hedley prides himself in the fact that they were never caught and, fortunately, never used in anger. He also prides himself in the fact that in competitions between the various units of the Auxiliary Units, his lot came out in top – and there’s a silver cup to prove it. A somewhat small cup as there was a war on – but a cup nonetheless.