麻豆社

Nearly 2,000 men from the Tynemouth area died fighting in World War One. A huge group of volunteers came together to research each death in, what is possibly, the biggest project of its kind in Britain.

Using a street plan of the area from 1915-1916, and by placing a yellow dot on each house where there had been a death, they created a startling image of loss.

It鈥檚 thought the loss of life in the area was about twice the national average partly because of a strong historic link with the armed forces, and because so many men died serving in the navy or on merchant ships.

Silkeys Lane pictured is typical. In that short street, 8 men died. They were killed in all the major battles, Arras, Somme, Gallipoli and two died in POW camps. That loss was replicated in dozens of streets across the borough; hardly a family would have been unaffected

Location: Silkeys Lane, North Shields, Tynemouth NE29 0JT
Image shows a map of Silkeys Lane in Tynemouth with yellow dots representing war fatalities in 1915-16, courtesy of Woodhorn Museum
Tynemouth World War One Commemoration Project
Report presented by Joanna Lonsdale

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