Skylighters, The Web Site of the 225th AAA Searchlight Battalion: Searchlight Sites in the Newcastle/Sunderland Area: TT214 and TT215 -- Whitburn/Fulwell/Seaburn Area

Searchlight Sites in the Newcastle/Sunderland Area:
TT214 and TT215 -- Whitburn/Fulwell/Seaburn Area

A map of the general area where sites TT214 and 215 were situated. "City Centre" refers to the city of Sunderland (map reprinted courtesy The Sunderland Echo).

Zooming in on the Seaburn area. Map reprinted from Ordnance Survey Sheet NZ45/46.

Concerning recollections of the 225th in the Seaburn area, Dale Addison of Sunderland reports:

" ... members of my family knew many of them. And they used to socialise in 'The Cafe' at Seaburn. They were located on the seafront (known as the Recreation Field) Top Sergeant was a man by the name of Frank Chauffe (not sure about the surname spelling). Others included Lloyd Nixon, and someone from South Dakota nicknamed 'Red.' I don't know the unit details, but apparently many of them were killed on Omaha Beach on D-Day."

All of the men named are from B Battery, which manned the searchlight sections in this area, east of the city of Sunderland along the coast of the North Sea. The "Top Sergeant" was undoubtedly Sgt. Frank Shoaf of Mount Carmel, Illinois, and "Red" could have been either T-5 Wayne Nelson (Viborg, SD) or PFC Virgil Christensen (Souix City, SD). This recollection about some of the men being killed in action on D-Day is surely a reference to another U. S. unit, as no Skylighter landed on Omaha on 6 June 1944.

Lockhart's Cafe, Seaburn, circa 1910. In the 1938 Guide to Roker and Seaburn advertising the building was the site of the Beach Cafe ("Parties catered for. Seating accommodation for 400. All foods kept in refrigerators. Popular prices ..."). T. Crawford was the proprietor. The building later housed night clubs. In the popular 60s wave of nightclub development, the Ro-koko opened in 1964, and in the 1970s it became the Beach Club. In the 1980s, it was called Rumours. It was finally destroyed by fire in 1987. (Photo reprinted courtesy The Sunderland Echo.)

An advertising card from Atkinson's Seaburn Cafe. (Photo reprinted courtesy The Sunderland Echo.)

The Seaburn seafront, looking towards Colley's farm, Whitburn. Tents and deck chairs for hire and hot water was available so trippers could make their own tea in the days before vacuum flasks. (Photo reprinted courtesy The Sunderland Echo.)

The Seaburn seafront, looking towards Whitburn. (Photo reprinted courtesy The Sunderland Echo.)

A picture of Roker beach, black with people, taken at 10.30 p.m. one hot summer's night in July 1937. (Photo reprinted courtesy The Sunderland Echo.)

A rare postcard of rural old Fulwell, leading up to the Mill; the village's incorporation into Sunderland in 1928 left the way clear for seaside development at Seaburn. (Photo reprinted courtesy The Sunderland Echo.)

The new promenade, Seaburn, Roker. (Photo reprinted courtesy The Sunderland Echo.)

The "tram-o-car" was a popular way to see the seafront. This particular postcard is dated 1934. (Photo reprinted courtesy The Sunderland Echo.)

The bandstand in Roker Park, site of many open-air concerts. (Photo reprinted courtesy The Sunderland Echo.)

The Seaburn seafront today. (Photo reprinted courtesy The Sunderland Echo.)

A Brief History of Roker and Seaburn
(courtesy The Sunderland Echo)

   The "twin resorts" of Roker and Seaburn have been the playground of the people of Wearside (a reference to the River Wear) for generations.

   Tastes in holidays may have become more sophisticated and exotic, but the first sign of summer still draws the crowds to the seafront.

   So it's easy to forget that these "twins" have rather disparate ages. Roker developed first in the wake of the great transport revolution. Workers, enjoying their first taste of free time, travelled in from the pit villages and surrounding countryside on the new railways and Sunderland folk took one of the new trams from the town centre to the seaside in the latter half of the 19th Century.

   But it wasn't until this century that Sea Lane became the new resort of Seaburn further down the road.

   Housing development was much slower than might have been expected, for the gentry preferred to build their grand houses in leafy Ashbrooke rather than on the magnificent coastline over the river — for to reach it, they would have had to pass through the slums of Monkwearmouth.

   However, some fine families did like it, including Cooper Abbs, solicitor to Sir Hedworth Williamson. The Abbs family lived at Rock Lodge, and the terrace of houses on the front of Roker and the Roker Hotel were commissioned by them. The architect was John Dobson, the famous Newcastle architect.

   The first owner of the hotel was Edward Brown and it was known as the Roker Baths Hotel - which is how Roker Baths Road got its name. Mr Brown provided a horse and trap to convey visitors to and from the hotel via the country lane that connected the Brandling Junction Railway Station with the seafront, through Roker Farm. The last remains of the Brandling Junction Station in Portobello Lane were removed in 1998. The station served visitors travelling from Newcastle and the north.

   The Roker Baths Hotel flourished on the Victorian belief in the health-giving properties of sea water. Powerful pumping apparatus was introduced to pump sea water into the hotel to provide warm, cold, shower and vapour baths for the visitors. The cost varied between 6d (2 1/2 p) and 2s 6d (12 1/2 p) dependng on the service and the time of day it was required.

   The hotel also provided sea bathing machines on the beach which cost 3d (1 1/2 p) to hire and 6d if taken into the sea with a horse.

   Access to the beach was assisted by the dumping of spoil from the building of the North Dock (whose engineer was Isambard Kingdom Brunel). The spoil created gentle slopes in place of the naturally steep limestone cliffs.

   But all the while, Seaburn remained undeveloped. Little has been written about the development of the seaside here, and it could be a key area for further research by local historians. The most accessible pictorial source is a book produced by Monkwearmouth Station Museum attendant Peter Gibson, and housewife and fellow history enthusiast Pat O'Brien.

   Peter had already developed expertise through his work on the history of Southwick, and Pat had a wonderful collection of rare old photographs and postcards, and so it was that the two began working together.

   "I've been collecting old photographs for years and I've met all kinds of people through them," says Pat.

   The two trace the history of the coastline from the quiet days when it was a popular spot for smugglers and had only a few isolated farmhouses scattered between the settlements at Monkwearmouth and Whitburn.

   All the essential facts are there: in 1587 the Abbs family were granted land at Roker on condition they provided six soldiers to defend the mouth of the river.

   The first development came in 1840 with the building of Roker Terrace, including the Roker Hotel and Monkwearmouth Baths, and then in 1880, Roker Park opened.

   Six years later the pier and the lower promenade were built — though severe weather caused stoppages and the poverty-stricken workmen called a meeting in West Park to draw attention to their plight.

   Postcards from the turn of the century are a testament to the popularity of Roker as a resort, but it's not until the 1920s that postcards begin to demonstrate the growing popularity of Seaburn.

   But that stretch of coast was under the control of the rural district council and wasn't part of Sunderland until Fulwell was taken over by the borough in 1928.

   The council developed an ambition to make Sunderland the biggest seaside resort on the North East coast, but by 1930, the Echo was complaining: "Sunderland has on its doorstep a potential goldmine as a seaside resort. When will it be recognised?"

   Ambitious plans in the 30s were stifled by protests from ratepayers, but new promenades were constructed, the Seaburn Hotel and Seaburn Hall were built, along with a row of shops at Queen's Parade, and a permanent home was found for the fairground.

   The community spirit extended to the beach, with families, friends and neighbours meeting at their favourite spot. And all sorts of entertainment was available — donkey rides along the beach, the swings and roundabouts, not only in the fairground, but also on the lower prom at Roker, and seaside shows by troupes like the Jumbles.

Sunshine Corner at Roker in the 1930s. (Photo reprinted courtesy The Sunderland Echo.)

Religion played its part. Spotting the potential for conversion among the huge crowds, an annual Sands Mission began, with its headquarters at St Andrew's. And Roker Sunshine Corner was popular, with its catchy signature tune: "Come and join us, come and join us, Roker Sunshine Corner is the place to be... "

There were other groups, too. A crowd of 500 gathered in May, 1934, to watch Pastor Entwisle and his assistant, in black rubber vestments, carry out baptism by immersion.

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