Fencehouses

Fence Houses
Fence Houses
Fence Houses shown within Tyne and Wear
OS grid reference	NZ321499
Metropolitan borough	City of Sunderland
Metropolitan county	Tyne and Wear
Region	North East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	HOUGHTON LE SPRING
Postcode district	DH4
Dialling code	0191

Police	Northumbria
Fire	Tyne and Wear
Ambulance	North East

EU Parliament	North East England
UK Parliament	Houghton and Sunderland South

Fencehouses, or Fence Houses, is a small village within the parish of Houghton-le-Spring, on the edge of the City of Sunderland, England for the South with the North under the control of Durham County Council as part of County Durham.

It came into existence when Napoleonic prisoners were housed on the outskirts of Houghton-le-Spring. The prisoners were used as labour to cut a path through the hill at Houghton-le-Spring in order to get the troops from Durham to the coast at Sunderland. Houghton Cut as it became known has now been expanded to carry a 4-lane road, the A690. The place the prisoners were housed was known as "The French Houses" and this later changed to "Fencehouses".

This origin is highly debatable. A more likely origin was put forward by the late Houghton-le-Spring historian, C.A. Smith MA, in an article in the Official Houghton-le-Spring Urban District Handbook, 1962, as:

Fence Houses derives its name from Biddick Fence which formed the southern boundary of South Biddick and included Burnmoor^[1]

The land was originally part of the Grange (a large local manor house). In about 1950, a modern housing estate was added to the village it, called the Grange estate.

A railway line was built, bringing a 2-platform station providing services to Sunderland, Newcastle upon Tyne and Durham, and a stock yard from which local farmers shipped their cattle by train. The station opened in 1836, and the Post Office two years later as a Railway Sorting Office. The line closed to passengers in May 1964, apart from a one-day service for the Durham Miners Gala that year.

In the 1960s. Fencehouses had the largest telephone exchange in the area (The Police house at Shiney Row 4 miles (6.4 km) away had the number "Fencehouses 55" in the 1940s). In the 1980s the Fencehouses exchange numbers became the Durham exchange numbers.

Fencehouses was the terminus of a tram service from Sunderland and is now served by very few buses linking the village to Houghton le Spring, which is a few miles up the road.

The village is essentially a single main street cut in two by the path of the old railway line which also splits the village into control of two local authorities – Sunderland Council for the south of the village and Durham to the north). This is believed to be one of the only villages to split by local authorities in England with the North part of Fencehouses, County Durham and the South part of Fencehouses, Tyne & Wear. Just near to the railway line and yards from the old station, is a new development of town houses and apartments called "the sidings".

Recently, schooling facilities in Fencehouses have undergone a massive facelift. The previous three schools in the area (Dubmire Junior School, Dubmire Infant School and Dubmire Nursery) have been amalgamated under the one roof, in a multimillion-pound development.

This resulted in the Old Dubmire Junior School house being demolished in 2003, after closing the year before.^[2]

References

↑ Houghton-le-Spring Urban District The Official Guide, 1962
↑ The Story of Dubmire Junior School 1914 - 2002, Paul Lanagan, ISBN 0-9543253-1-1

External links

Places in Tyne and Wear
Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead	Gateshead Bensham Birtley Blaydon Carr Hill Chopwell Deckham Dunston Felling Kibblesworth Lamesley Low Fell Pelaw Rowlands Gill Ryton Sheriff Hill Team Valley Whickham Windy Nook
City of Newcastle upon Tyne	Gosforth Newcastle upon Tyne Arthurs Hill Battlefield Benwell Black Callerton Blakelaw Blucher Brunswick Byker Chapel House City Centre Cochrane Park Cowgate Coxlodge Dene Denton Denton Burn Dinnington East Denton Elswick Fairways Fawdon Fenham Great Park Haymarket Hazlerigg Heaton High Heaton Jesmond Kenton Kingston Park Lemington Manors Newburn North Kenton Ouseburn Parklands Sandyford Scotswood Shieldfield Slatyford South Gosforth Spital Tongues Throckley Walbottle Walker Walkergate Walkerville West Denton West Jesmond Westerhope Westgate Wingrove Woolsington
Metropolitan Borough of North Tyneside	North Shields Wallsend Whitley Bay Backworth Beaumont Park Benton Burradon Cullercoats Earsdon Forest Hall Howdon Killingworth Longbenton Monkseaton Murton New York Preston Seaton Burn Shiremoor St Mary's Island Tynemouth Wellfield Whitley Lodge Wideopen Willington Quay
Metropolitan Borough of South Tyneside	Hebburn Jarrow South Shields The Boldons Cleadon Harton Marsden Monkton Whitburn
City of Sunderland	Hetton-le-Hole Houghton-le-Spring Sunderland Washington Ashbrooke Barnes Bishopwearmouth Burdon Carley Hill Castletown Claxheugh Cox Green Downhill Doxford Park Easington Lane East Rainton Elstob Farm Farringdon Fatfield Fence Houses Ford Estate Fulwell Gilley Law Grangetown Grindon Harraton Hastings Hill Hendon Herrington High Moorsley Hill View Hollycarrside Humbledon Hylton Castle Leechmere Marley Pots Millfield Monkwearmouth Newbottle North Haven North Hylton Pallion Pennywell Penshaw Plains Farm Rickleton Redhouse Roker Ryhope Seaburn Seaburn Dene Shiney Row Silksworth South Bents South Hylton Southwick Springwell Springwell Village Sunniside Town End Farm Thorney Close Tunstall Warden Law Witherwack

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