In a message dated 17/03/2004 09:54:11 GMT Standard Time, wrightgc@optusnet.com.au writes: > The Mariners Cottages were built on either side of Broughton Road in the > mid > 1800s , and until around 1962 the section of roadway running between the two > groups of cottages was unsealed ---I think the surface was gravel ( I still > have the scars on my knees from skidding on my bike when I was a > schoolboy ).  The road surface of the rest of Broughton Road ( and every > other street in South Shields that I know of ) was finished with either > bitumen or concrete , so I have always wondered why was this one section > unfinished  ??   I imagine it has something to do with the cottages, but it > seems so strange that one short one hundred metre stretch in the middle of a > fully developed built up area should be unsealed  --  and I think there was > a perfectly normal pedestrian pavement on each side of the road , which I > presume was maintained by the local authority . >        Roads serving houses built on what was formerly private ground are officially "private roads" and their upkeep and surfacing etc are the responsibility of the owners of the adjacent property.  The local Council will only take over or "adopt" a road, if the local property owners pay them to do so.  Presumably in the case you quote that had not happened at the time you refer to.  There used to be many unadopted back lanes but gradually they have mostly been adopted over the years.  Many were in pit villages where the coal company weren't bothered about the state of the road, and were only gradually persuaded, often after nationalisation, to have them adopted.                           Geoff Nicholson 57 Manor Park, Concord, WASHINGTON, Tyne & Wear NE37 2BU NBL/DUR family history research in depth by THE local expert. Record searching service: you name the records, I search them!

The other thing to bear in mind, as I think Stan alluded to, is that there is not necessarily a legal right of way along these unadopted roads. I found this out to my cost recently when selling my house on an unadopted lane. Somehow the need for a right of way up the lane had been overlooked for over a century, even when some newish houses were built about 15 years ago, and I had to purchase an indemnity policy for my purchaser, just in case a neighbour decided that he couldn't cross their "patch" to get to the house. I was rather more concerned that my solicitors hadn't picked this up when I bought the place a couple of years ago. Oh well, we live and learn. Caro Holden