GeoStories - “The Lost Village of Milkwell Burn and Other Tales”
With funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Digital Voice helped residents of the Derwent Valley uncover a treasure trove of archive photographs and produce some lovely videos. Digital Voice worked with volunteers from the area, teaching them filmmaking and photo editing skills to document the history of the area and create a lasting reminder for future generations.
MP Laura Pidcock opened the celebration event where we screened the films and exhibited old photographs.
You can watch the videos online here.
The Derwent Valley has a rich history of mining. Villages such as Blackhall Mill, Hamsterley and Low Westwood were vibrant and close knit. Picture houses, post offices and a Coop were crucial parts of village life.
Local residents shared their memories of happy and hard times in these mining villages.
Milkwell Burn was made a “Category D” village and is now classed as a “Lost Village”. Those who remember it tell tales of laughter and getting by.
So many people talked of their childhood memories at Milkwell Burn, of which nothing remains, that we made a film just about them: Running the days length, playing in the woods, fields and river. Football matches involving the whole village, cricket in the backstreet with a dustbin lid for a wicket, tricks and sticks… idyllic!
A story we heard from many participants was the rivalry between the ‘Burners’ and ‘Beech Grovers’ in autumn time. As there were no photos to be found to bring these memories to life, a group of local children did it for us!
“ I loved linking the memories of the old with activities for the very young, creating history that they will look back on in years to come ”
- Participant
Frank Mason was from Milkwell Burn. He wrote a beautiful poem after the village was knocked down in the late 1960s. It was put to music and recorded by local singing group Mouthful along with other songs based on the memories shared with us about these villages. They have become a beautiful sound track for the films.
This project was run in partnership with Beamish Museum, Mouthful and Land of Oak and Iron.
You can watch all of the films here on our Youtube channel - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLioPnGDBajrQyyyz7UfX4_LzsXkWQ7bQQ
And you can see photos from the project in the Lost Villages of Milkwell Burn photo album on the Digital Voice Flickr page -
We’d love to know what you think – do you have memories or stories from relatives or neighbours? Do you have questions? Get in touch on facebook!
Commenting on the event, Julie Nicholson from Digital Voice said
“We are thrilled the project has been such a success; the films and archive photographs are a testament to the hard work of the local people involved.”