I'm told there was an Italian ice cream parlour down on the beach back in the 30s. A great chip shop on the corner leading to the beach at one time. My aunty Molly lived in the council houses at the rocks and her husband (name can't remember would come back from the rocks with a string of edible crabs on a rope. Brother worked at Blackhall pit for a while before moving to Jeremiah Amblers in Peterlee. Up in Blackhall itself there would be wall posters advertising Hartlepools United next home match for 4 shillings entry for adults. The road and railway led one way to Horden Colliery and the other way to Hartlepool. And the train passed by The Seagull and Crimdon. And apparently Billy Butlins wanted to buy the site once. Forgot to say that Aunt Molly bought a jack russell from down in Otley (you dirty Yorkshire bastards country) and it bit me.

I remember the Pools match posters on the gable end walls behind the Hardwick Hotel between 4th and 5th streets. There was a public toilet on the corner of the Hardwick site located next to the then bust stop where you could catch the old 17 bus to Hesleden (later the 246 too).
A well known local character and local rough sleeper (J.D) spent many years sleeping in that toilet block, later in the cellar of the Hardwick too. He was seemingly impervious to the cold. My old man said when younger he would turn up for work at the colliery in mid winter wearing only a thin cotton shirt with the sleeves rolled up and half the buttons undone.
When younger I delivered the Football Mail, I loved walking up and down those streets in the fog shouting "Foootballl Mailll". Happy Days.

Remember the Pools match posters on the front of the old cinema at the top of 7th street , cant remember any on there after 1974 though. The bus stop next to the Hardwick was were the 17 to Spennymoor departed from , think it could've even went as far as Bishop Auckland before our time. JD was a true example of tolerance and community spirit, basically the villages own personal hobo , he would probably get set alight and kicked to death these days. His last job was in Blackhall Workmens Club , he slept there in return for being the clubs full time glass collector and when he wasn't collecting glass would just sit in the reading room.

Blackhall CW got to the first round of the FA Cup in 1951/52 , getting beat 5-2 off Workington at the Welfare Park in front of 4.500. Proceeds from that game paid for a new stand , the roof taken off in the early 90s. Blackhall CW played in the North Eastern League between 1940 and the mid 50s, gates of 2 thousand been common place for games v Newcastle or Sunderland reserves or local derbies v Horden. Blackhall CW won the Sunderland Shipowners Cup in 1965/66 , no mean feat in those days.

Blackhall had 2 railway stations, basically halts, one in the colliery behind the Navy Club and the other at the rocks at the bottom of Station Road , beside the bridge underneath the railway line on the way to the beach. Both closed in the 1950s. There were two hotels practically on the beach, one at the bottom of Deneholme bank, in Castle Eden Dene , the other on the site of what is now Blackhall Rocks picnic area , these were closed and pulled down between the late 60s/early 70s. Blackhall has two pubs, Hardwick and The Trust ( where Michael Caine stayed during the filming of Get Carter in 1970) the end of the film saw Caine shot dead on Blackhall beach ) and had several clubs, Workmens, Legion, RAFA, Officials, Navy and in the 1980s the Welfare Hall and the Cricket Club, only the RAFA , Navy and Cricket remain.

Remember the Ice cream place at the rocks in the 70s was it Pieroni's? It was something like that - Used to frequent Crimdon in those days The Seagull was cracking for the lasses - spent many happy night in a caravan with a lass from Gateshead! Happy Days!!

Yeah it was Pieroni's. Think many a young lad from the collieries first dalliance with a lass was down Crimdon , mine was, a lass from Ferryhill during the summer holidays 1980.

It was Pieroni's the Italian ice cream parlour you refer to but I seem to recall seeing old B&W photos of another Italian ice cream parlour long before that possibly in the 20s or 30s that was actually down some wooden steps leading to Blackhall beach. Could be wrong of course. On another matter, do you recall an outfitters type of shop called "Alex Purvis" which i recall was near to The Hardwick. I got sent there as a an acned scarred 15 year old straight from the Labour Exchange in Easington Village. You lined up and they gave you a card out of an index like box and told you to apply for said job. I remember turning up for my interview like a stuffed very uncomfortable tailors dummy and the female assistants smirked and giggled. I didn't get the job and later joined the army as a junior soldier before my Hartlepool steelworks stint. Don't suppose Alex Purvis is still there today?

I wouldn't say Pieroni's was an ice cream parlour in my day ( the 70s) but it may have been before that. The Pieroni's like a lot of Italians moved to England in the 30s and many set up businesses such as cafes , ice cream vendors etc, some walking miles with a cart selling ice cream around the villages, sure I read somewhere of an Italian from Wheatley Hill who took his cart as far as Hartlepool selling Ice Cream, they certainly had a work ethic , the early arrivals anyway. Every colliery village had one, an Italian family selling ice cream or running a café. There was a Pieronis billiard hall in Blackhall Colliery during the 1950s , next to the old Stephensons bakery now the Alice House charity shop I think.

Purves's still exists but in another guise , it was a mini department store and had an upstairs and plenty of staff in the various depts., shoes, carpets , furniture etc. Kilburns was another shop, that sold good quality Clarks shoes , most parents got there kids shoes there as they allowed you to tick on ( Apro as my mam used to call it) also used to get my dads pit stockings there.

See below - the previously mentioned hotel in the Denemouth between the viaduct and the sea and Pieroni , that could be the hotel at Blackhall Rocks in the background ,on the site of what is now the Blackhall Rocks picnic area

Thanks for that Horden. Regarding Italian connections which seemed to be strong in the collieries. Whilst staying with an ant and uncle in the late 50s early 60s I remember an Italian style cafe in Wheatley Hill Colliery called I think Baldaseras. After all these years I stand to be corrected. Also a few years ago whilst visiting my dad's last resting place in Wingate Colliery I went into a cafe which had all the hallmarks of being an Italian one years ago.

I used to love going up to Blackhall and Horden with my dad as a kid. I’ve never felt so welcome as I used to feel in all my aunties and uncles houses.

Then along came Peterlee. Sorry folks to upset anybody. My dad's folks were all from the collieries and then in 1965 I was taken to live there. I suppose people from Scotland felt the same about Corby in Northamptonshire. It is was it is but it destroyed a part of what was before even though modern facilities were provided.

And that was the reason for the likes of Peterlee, Killingworth, Newton Aycliffe etc , to get people out of the slum dwellings that existed in the mining villages such as Thornley. Shotton, Hesleden. Haswell etc and get them into decent housing. My dad told me when they moved into a prefab in Hesleden ( yes a prefab ) they thought it was utopian, with a built in kitchen , no icicles on the inside of his bedroom window and an inside toilet , compared to the terraced hovel they had moved from. The likes of Peterlee were built on a dream , unfortunately the planners were years ahead of the people , and a lot of the people just didn't know how to behave in their new surroundings and quite quickly the place became run down , exacerbated by economic factors like unemployment and divorce. The same can be said for tower blocks. There are areas of Peterlee now that are quite decent though , but community and socially wise it was never going to compete with a mining village.

There was one in Wingate and it was said to be a classic example of an Italian 1950s style café. It closed a long time ago, but it was stood empty right up until the start of this century, the fixtures and fittings, red and white candy striped barbers pole , leather seated booths still to be seen. Think it is something else now , though some elements may still survive. It was the last surviving of its type though around here, in a village that in the 60s had around 10 pubs on its main street. Becoming a bit of a commuter place now with its new housing estates and proximity to the A19. The Italian in Wheatley Hill I think was the one I referred to earlier , who used to walk miles with his cart.

until a couple of years back we used to go for our dinner at blackhall community centre when we were up here. they knew we were not locals but were always made welcome as if we were which is not always the case i have found in the majority of places in this country. can say the same for the shops there also.

Great little old skool hardware shop in Blackhall called Robinsons, has been there for years , passed from father to son as all good shops should be , has most things in, but if they haven't they will know someone who has or order it in for you , nothing is too much trouble, and prices are cheap for good quality traditional products , a lot of tradesman use it.

What was that rather inviting looking pub on the A181 on the left when you took the bus to Durham? There were no visible buildings around it. I think it was a traditional name. Three horse shoes maybe?
I never went in it like so It could have been shite for all I know.

Three Horse Shoes at Running Waters I think you're on about. The place to be seen in the 70s, top class food , car park always full of top class cars, overrated in the 90s, went downhill in the noughties , may even have closed for awhile , re-opened or new ownership a few years ago , now said to be okay again.