Re the haunting of Willington Mill. You may by now have discovered a lot yourself but in case you haven't, my main source is C T Oxley's "Strange Tales of the North Country", probably published in the late 1950s or early 1960s. Oxley also gave a much shorter account in his "The Haunted North Country", probably in the 1980s (Neither are dated!). The hauntings were mainly during the period when Joseph Procter and his family occupied the Mill House, 1835-47. In 1847 they moved away to North Shields and the house was divided into two tenements, occupied by the Foreman and by the Chief Clerk of the Mill. The "disturbances" apparently continued up to at least 1874. To quote Oxley's last paragraph, "Willington Mill was later pulled down and with its end the strange visitors returned to their own habitation. There seems little doubt that the site had formerly been the scene of a dark and horrible crime, and a lady, a stranger to the neighbourhood who was a clairvoyant, visiting the Mill described the two apparitions as 'a priest and a grey lady', and added that the former had refused to accept the lady's confession of a dreadful crime committed on the spot many years before." Personally I'm sure there would be some natural explanation of what happened, and the mysterious so-celled "clairvoyant" would not have needed to be introduced had it all happened in the 21st century. Much more interesting is the fact that what was probably George Stephenson's first ever railway or waggonway ran right past the Mill, linking Killingworth Pit, where Stephenson was working on the development of the steam locomotive for the Grand Allies, with staithes at Willington - and it was in use all the time the "hauntings" were going on. Geoff Nicholson -----Original Message----- From: Geoff Nicholson via <northumbria@rootsweb.com> To: jd.gosling <jd.gosling@btinternet.com>; northumbria <northumbria@rootsweb.com> Sent: Mon, 9 Mar 2015 9:28 Subject: Re: [NMB] Mill House, Willington Quay Tyne and Wear Archives have an excellent collection of old playbills/Theatre Bills. It would be worth an enquiry there. Geoff Nicholson -----Original Message----- From: John Gosling via <northumbria@rootsweb.com> To: kenmar.white <kenmar.white@btopenworld.com> CC: northumbria <northumbria@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sun, 8 Mar 2015 15:59 Subject: Re: [NMB] Mill House, Willington Quay Hi Margery, Thanks. Could well be. I'm wondering if he ever advertised locally, as playbills would surely give a location. So far I've not found anything in the papers of the time, but will keep looking. John On 8 Mar 2015 15:21, kenmar.white@btopenworld.com wrote: > > I wonder if this pop up theatre was put on the land of the demolished Mill House, this was a flour mill owned by a Joseph Proctor in the days of the haunting and the mill still stands even though it has been modernised now, the adjoining Mill House was his family home, from what I can gather he didn't live in it for long > > Margery .. Please quote the minimum necessary to put your reply on context. Please introduce yourself at the top of every post. The NORTHUMBRIA FAQ page is located at http://www.bpears.org.uk/NorthumbriaFAQ/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NORTHUMBRIA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message .. Please quote the minimum necessary to put your reply on context. Please introduce yourself at the top of every post. The NORTHUMBRIA FAQ page is located at http://www.bpears.org.uk/NorthumbriaFAQ/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NORTHUMBRIA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message