The Community History

Explore the rich history and heritage of your community through our collection of articles, photographs, and local stories.

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Black and white photograph of a stone school building with tall gabled windows and a chimney, a church tower beyond

8 September 2026

Coates School, 1873 to 1968

Now an attractive green in front of St Mary’s Church in Ponteland, for almost 100 years until its demolition in 1968, this was the site of Ponteland’s…

A stone building with a half-timbered gable end and slate roof on a street corner, now in use as an estate agent's office

8 September 2026

Coates Institute: School to Estate Agent

There is a fine, old, sandstone building overlooking the roundabout at the beginning of Main Street which is now used as an estate agent’s office.

A modern two-storey stone-clad restaurant with a canopied entrance and clipped hedges along the frontage

8 September 2026

From Barclays Bank to Ateesh

The building which now houses Ateesh restaurant on Ponteland’s Main Street was built in 1970 as new premises in the village for Barclays Bank.

Black and white photograph of a large gabled house half hidden by trees, with two children in hats standing by a fence in the foreground

8 September 2026

The Old Vicarage and the Absent Vicars

Between 1778 and 1864 Ponteland did not have a resident vicar. There was a parish priest, but he was just a curate, paid for by the vicar to perform his…

The roofless stone shell of a medieval tower standing on a lawn beside a road, with a village information map board in front

8 September 2026

The Vicar's Pele Tower

One of the most prominent of Ponteland’s landmarks is the ruined Vicar’s Pele Tower which overlooks the main street.

A brick and stone house with an arched carriage entrance and terraced front garden, behind green iron railings

8 September 2026

12 and 14 Main Street: The Doctor's House

Numbers 12 and 14 on the Main Street form one of the most attractive small blocks of old houses remaining in Ponteland. They have not always stood alone.

Black and white photograph of an unmade village street with stone cottages on the left, figures standing in the road and a telegraph pole

8 September 2026

The Lost Cottages Beside Neasham House

Neasham House did not used to stand alone. Until the end of the 1950’s, there was a row of cottages abutting it, just across the road from the gateway to…

A 1960s pedestrian shopping precinct with flat-roofed brick units, a concrete lamp post and planters, one shopfront boarded up

8 September 2026

Merton Way: A 1960s Shopping Centre

Right up until after the Second World War, with the exception of the railway sidings, the whole of the area north of the Main Road was undeveloped.

Black and white photograph of a steam locomotive and carriages standing at a railway station platform with a long timber station building

8 September 2026

Ponteland's Short-Lived Railway Station

Ponteland had its own passenger railway station for 24 years at the beginning of the 20th century.

A white-painted single-storey community hall with a sign reading Merton Hall, a ramped path and flower beds in front

8 September 2026

Merton Hall: A Meeting Place Since 1965

Up until 1965, the old people of Ponteland had no communal space to meet each other and to chat and compare notes.

A low brick and white-rendered club building with a ramped entrance, hanging baskets and a chalkboard sign at the door

8 September 2026

The Club and Institute, Opened 1960

Ponteland only got its first club in 1960. The Working Mens’ Club movement started in this part of Northumberland just as the nineteenth century was…

A terrace of cottages in patterned brick with white porches and sash windows, set behind a low stone wall

8 September 2026

Merton Cottages, Built in 1871

These attractive houses were built in 1871 to replace some older cottages which were next to the church and were demolished to make way for the building…