The Towneley Arms
According to local historian Mr. N Rippeth the Towneley Arms existed prior to 1835: 'The Towneley Arms started life as an inn used by cattle and sheep drovers and wagonway horseleaders. It developed as a post inn with the coming of the turnpike, when it was increased in size as extra rooms were built out in a gable at the back. It started trading as a public house by serving travelers using the ford (later Derwent Bridge) at Cowford with food and home brewed beer in its front parlour.' (Source: Rowlands Gill in Old Picture Postcards)
This photograh. shows the Towneley Arms as a tied house belonging to Aichies Breweries.
Other sources suggest that it was built in 1835 or very soon after as a coaching inn to serve travelers on the new turnpike road, with facilities for feeding, watering and housing horses as well as people, no liquor being sold for the first 25 years or so.
1930s
The Towneley Arms c. 1932
The above photos show landlord Walter Robson (third left) with his son Fred Toase holding daughter Jennie Toase aged 2 and John Deaken. [Courtesy of Robson & Fay Toase - source: Rowlands Gill Facebook page)
The above photos show landlord Walter Robson (third left) with his son Fred Toase holding daughter Jennie Toase aged 2 and John Deaken. [Courtesy of Robson & Fay Toase - source: Rowlands Gill Facebook page)
1940s/50s
Danny Brannigan, whose father was the landlord at the Towneley Arms in the fourties and fifties. recalls:
"I was born in the Towneley Arms and lived there until I was about 15 years old when we moved down the road to the Golden Lion at Winlaton mill. This is the first old picture I have seen with my fathers garden on. Every Sunday he used send us across the road to Gauzzellis shop with a basket full of vegetables in exhange for some sweets, which of course were rationed at the time."
(Source: Rowlands Gill Facebook page)
"I was born in the Towneley Arms and lived there until I was about 15 years old when we moved down the road to the Golden Lion at Winlaton mill. This is the first old picture I have seen with my fathers garden on. Every Sunday he used send us across the road to Gauzzellis shop with a basket full of vegetables in exhange for some sweets, which of course were rationed at the time."
(Source: Rowlands Gill Facebook page)
Danny also describes the photo above:
"That door in the middle was straight into the bar and the door top left was into another room where the piano was. The two windows upper left were bedrooms and the two windows above the bar belonged to a room called the buffs - I seem to remember a snooker table in that room.. The two part windows extreme right belonged to Bobby Smiths butcher's shop and living quarters.(Source: Rowlands Gill Facebook page)
"That door in the middle was straight into the bar and the door top left was into another room where the piano was. The two windows upper left were bedrooms and the two windows above the bar belonged to a room called the buffs - I seem to remember a snooker table in that room.. The two part windows extreme right belonged to Bobby Smiths butcher's shop and living quarters.(Source: Rowlands Gill Facebook page)
1961
The entire row in which the original Towneley had stood along with Mr Smith's butcher's shop on the end was pulled down. Newcastle Breweries had the pub rebuilt on much marger premises directly behind where it had initally stood.
The entire row in which the original Towneley had stood along with Mr Smith's butcher's shop on the end was pulled down. Newcastle Breweries had the pub rebuilt on much marger premises directly behind where it had initally stood.
This photo shows a bigger Towneley Arms being built with the orignal in the row of buildings still visible.
Whilst the 'new' Towneley Arms was not to last as long as the original, with its demolishion in 2001, it's closeness to the railway station which had ensured its future in earlier years also ensured it a permanent place in local folklore as the pub in which 'Wor Nanny' drank so much gin she 'missed the train' - an exploit the subject of the song 'Wor Nanny's a Mazer', popular 100 years ago in Newcastle's music halls and still known to local residents today..
Wor Nannys a Mazer Wor Nanny an' me myed up wor minds te gan an' catch the train,
Te gan te the toon te buy some claes for wor little Billy and Jane:
But when we got to Rowland's Gill the mornin' train wes gyen,
An thor wasn't another one gan' that way till siventeen minutes te one.
So aa ses te wor Nan its a lang way te gan an Aa saa biv hor feyce she wes vext;
ut aa ses nivvor mind we heh plenty o'time, we'll stop an' we'll gan on wi' the next.
he gove a bit smile an wen Aa spok up an ses, ther's a pubbilick hoose along heor,
We'll gan along there and git worsels warm an' a glass o' the best bittor beer.
But Nan wes se stoot Aa knew she'd not waak an she didn't seem willin' te try.
Wen a tink o'the trubble Aa'd wiv hor that day, Aa's like te borst oot an' cry.
Chorus - And ay wor Nanny's a mazer an' a mazer she remains
n' as lang as Aa leeve Aa winnet forget the day we lost the trains.
So doon we went te the pubbilick hoose, an when we got te the door
he sez "We'll gan inti the parlor end for Aa've niver been heor afore".
So in we went an tuek wor seats, an' afore Aa rang the bell
a axed hor what she was gannin' te hev, and she sez " The Syem as yorsel".
So Aa caalled for two gills of the best bittor beer, she paid for them when they com in.
An afore she'd swallied a haaf o' hors she said, "Aa wad rethur hev gin".
So Aa caalled for a glass o' the best Hollands Gin, she swallied it doon the forst try:
Aa sez to wor Nan thoo's as gud as a man, she sez "Bob man Aa feel varry dry".
Chorus
She sat an' drank till she got tight, she sez "Bob, man Aa feel varry queer".
Aa sez, "Thoo's had nine glasses o' gin te me two gill's o' beer".
She lowsed hor hat an' then hor shaal an' hoyed them on the floor:
Aa thowt wor Nan was gan' Wrang iv hor mind so Aa set mesel near the door.
She sez, "Give us order, Aa'll sing a bit sang"- Aa sat an Aa glowered at hor;
Aa thowt she wes jokin' for Aa nivvor hard wor Nanny sing ony before.
She tried te stand up te sing the "Cat Pie" but she fell doon an' myed sic a clatter,
She smashed fower chairs, an' the Landlord com in an' he sez "What the deuce is the matter".
He sez te me "Is this yor wife, an where de ye belang?"
Aa sez "It is, an' she's teun a fit wi tryin' te sing a bit sang"
He flung his arms aroond hor waist, and trailed hor ower the floor,
An poor aad Nan (like a dorty hoose cat) was hoyed oot side o' the door.
An' there she wes lyin', byeth groanin' an cryin', te claim hor Aa reely thowt shyem;
Aa tried ta lift hor, but Aa cudden't shift hor an' Aa wished Aa had Nanny at hyem.
The papor man said he wad give hor a lift, se we hoisted hor inti the trap:
But Nan was that tight that she cuddent sit up, so we fasten'd hor down wiv a strap
She cuddent sit up and she waddent lie doon, an' she kicked till she broke the convaince:
She lost a new basket, hor hat an hor shaal, that wummin, wi lossin' the trains.
Te gan te the toon te buy some claes for wor little Billy and Jane:
But when we got to Rowland's Gill the mornin' train wes gyen,
An thor wasn't another one gan' that way till siventeen minutes te one.
So aa ses te wor Nan its a lang way te gan an Aa saa biv hor feyce she wes vext;
ut aa ses nivvor mind we heh plenty o'time, we'll stop an' we'll gan on wi' the next.
he gove a bit smile an wen Aa spok up an ses, ther's a pubbilick hoose along heor,
We'll gan along there and git worsels warm an' a glass o' the best bittor beer.
But Nan wes se stoot Aa knew she'd not waak an she didn't seem willin' te try.
Wen a tink o'the trubble Aa'd wiv hor that day, Aa's like te borst oot an' cry.
Chorus - And ay wor Nanny's a mazer an' a mazer she remains
n' as lang as Aa leeve Aa winnet forget the day we lost the trains.
So doon we went te the pubbilick hoose, an when we got te the door
he sez "We'll gan inti the parlor end for Aa've niver been heor afore".
So in we went an tuek wor seats, an' afore Aa rang the bell
a axed hor what she was gannin' te hev, and she sez " The Syem as yorsel".
So Aa caalled for two gills of the best bittor beer, she paid for them when they com in.
An afore she'd swallied a haaf o' hors she said, "Aa wad rethur hev gin".
So Aa caalled for a glass o' the best Hollands Gin, she swallied it doon the forst try:
Aa sez to wor Nan thoo's as gud as a man, she sez "Bob man Aa feel varry dry".
Chorus
She sat an' drank till she got tight, she sez "Bob, man Aa feel varry queer".
Aa sez, "Thoo's had nine glasses o' gin te me two gill's o' beer".
She lowsed hor hat an' then hor shaal an' hoyed them on the floor:
Aa thowt wor Nan was gan' Wrang iv hor mind so Aa set mesel near the door.
She sez, "Give us order, Aa'll sing a bit sang"- Aa sat an Aa glowered at hor;
Aa thowt she wes jokin' for Aa nivvor hard wor Nanny sing ony before.
She tried te stand up te sing the "Cat Pie" but she fell doon an' myed sic a clatter,
She smashed fower chairs, an' the Landlord com in an' he sez "What the deuce is the matter".
He sez te me "Is this yor wife, an where de ye belang?"
Aa sez "It is, an' she's teun a fit wi tryin' te sing a bit sang"
He flung his arms aroond hor waist, and trailed hor ower the floor,
An poor aad Nan (like a dorty hoose cat) was hoyed oot side o' the door.
An' there she wes lyin', byeth groanin' an cryin', te claim hor Aa reely thowt shyem;
Aa tried ta lift hor, but Aa cudden't shift hor an' Aa wished Aa had Nanny at hyem.
The papor man said he wad give hor a lift, se we hoisted hor inti the trap:
But Nan was that tight that she cuddent sit up, so we fasten'd hor down wiv a strap
She cuddent sit up and she waddent lie doon, an' she kicked till she broke the convaince:
She lost a new basket, hor hat an hor shaal, that wummin, wi lossin' the trains.
Since the demolition of the Towneley Arms the village of Rowlands Gill remains and will always be a village without a pub for when in 1896 land south of the Railway, part of Smailes Estate, was bought for property development by a group of business men from Northumberland and Durham, an 'Indenture of Mutual Covenants' regulating the apportioning of the land into building sites, and the general layout of the estate was drawn up, one of the stipulations being 'No ale house nor Inn to be built'.
The original Towneley Arms had already been built long before this indenture, but once it had been demolished, no other pub could be built.
Source: 'The Village of Rowlands Gill, Co. Durham by Mrs. K. A. Low and Rowlands Gill Women's Institute 1961 with notes by Brian Pears with the assistance of Dr Alan Rounding, Terry Middleton and others;)
The original Towneley Arms had already been built long before this indenture, but once it had been demolished, no other pub could be built.
Source: 'The Village of Rowlands Gill, Co. Durham by Mrs. K. A. Low and Rowlands Gill Women's Institute 1961 with notes by Brian Pears with the assistance of Dr Alan Rounding, Terry Middleton and others;)