Fencehouses

infobox UK place
country = England
static_

static_image_caption=
latitude=54.84327
longitude=-1.50021
official_name =Fence Houses
population =
shire_district=
shire_county= Tyne & Wear
region= North East England
constituency_westminster=
post_town=
postcode_district =
postcode_area=
dial_code=
os_grid_reference= NZ321499

Fencehouses is a small village within the parish of Houghton-le-Spring, on the boundary of Tyne and Wear and County Durham, England.

It came into existence when Napoleonic prisoners were housed on the outskirts of Houghton-le-SpringFact|date=March 2008. 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" [Houghton-le-Spring Urban District The Official Guide, 1962]

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 convert|4|mi 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.

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). 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 multi-million pound development.

This resulted in the Old Dubmire Junior School house being demolished in 2003, after closing the year before [The Story of Dubmire Junior School 1914 - 2002, Paul Lanagan, ISBN:0-9543253-1-1] .

References

External links

* [http://www.fence-houses.co.uk/ The Official Fence Houses Website.]
* [http://www.houghton-hillside-cemetery.org.uk/houghtonlespring_org_uk/articles/dubmire.htm The Story of Dubmire Junior School 1914 - 2002]
* [http://www.fence-houses.co.uk/category/history/places/ Historic photographs and Articles regarding Fence Houses]