Throckley, Middle School

In September 1870 the Throckley Coal Company determined upon building day schools for the children of its employees, and the following year a site was chosen on the north side of the Hexham turnpike, belonging to the Lords of the Admiralty, at a cost of 1/- per annum. The school buildings, constructed of local sandstone after 1872, cost £1,293.16.4d. About the same date a Wesleyan Methodist Chapel was built immediately west of the schools (the chapel was demolished in 1998/9 and has been replaced by two houses). The school was opened in 1873, a fact recorded on a sign adjacent to the main entrance and on a commemorative stained glass window inside. The Throckley Colliery School was later renamed Throckley Undenominational School. During the Second World War air raid shelters were built on the north side of the playground. The original stone school buildings were altered and adapted throughout the 20th century, but were due for demolition in 2003.