Looking north to Dawdon Infants and Junior Schools shown here with the infants school in the foreground.
Junior girls were on the ground floor and shared the infants playground, the boys were upstairs and had their own playground on the north side of the school. Built in 1910 to replace the tiny Cottages School it catered for 900 children.Closed in the late 70's and demolished shortly afterwards. Photograph 1910
There was also a prefabricated building in the schoolyard around 1950 used for final year boys, heating was supplied by a coal fired cast iron stove in the middle if the classroom.
Cottages School, Swinebank Cottages.
New Cottages, ( 83 houses ) later to become Swinebank Cottages were built in the 1850's to house staff at the Londonderry's Engine Works. A school from 1865 (1860?) to 1910 it was given by the 7th Marquess in 1922 for use as Dawdon Church institute.
Watson Town on the site of the later Dawdon Colliery.
The Blast Furnaces opened in 1862 (foundation stone laid 1859) but had closed by !865. In 1869, Watson Kipling and Co built a 16 acre Chemical wotks here and leased the idle Blast Furnaces. Operations ceased 1888. Watson Town (13 houses) was built 1869 / 70 to house their workers ( 300 at peak ) and later housed the sinkers of Dawdon Colliery before their demolition after 1906.
