Marsden village

The colliery mining village of Marsden was situated directly north of Souter Lighthouse (HER 2489). The village had a short life, less than 100 years, from about 1874, when Whitburn Colliery (HER 2493) began, to the early 1960s when the houses strted to be demolished. The village comprised of nine streets with a total of 135 houses and a population of around 600. The Ordnance Survey 1921 sheet shows North Street, John Street, George Street, Hilton Street, Charles Street, William Street and a Sunday School, post office and allotments. Charles Street is now part of the present Coast Road between South Shields and Sunderland. The houses of Charles Street and Hilton Street had four rooms (two up and two down), which held the larger families. William Street and John Street only had two rooms on the ground floor. The rest of the houses had three rooms, one up and two down. Each house without a garden was allocated an allotment. Each house had a back yard leading into a back lane. The Co-operative store had two houses attached, one for manager of the grocery shop and the other for the milkman. The post office was also a general store. The private front room of this building was at one time in use as a dentist's surgery and later a doctor's surgery. The whole village has been levelled and only an occasional cropmark of the demolished buildings may be seen through the grass. The post office is a ruin opposite the lighthouse.