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Friend of the Archive Allen
Williams contacted us to say he had spotted this fabulous image of Warkworth
sub-Branch. It is part of a cine film of
a school outing from 1970, and we are delighted that the owner, Frank
Gillings has been able to capture such an amazingly clear still frame for us
from his 8mm film stock! You can see the film in full, on Frank’s You Tube
Channel by clicking HERE.
Bank or
surgery?
Here is another atmospheric
image of Warkworth Branch, this time from 1937. The Branch is seen with a
doctor’s nameplate affixed above the Martins Bank wall sign. The North Eastern Banking Company
opens four new branches in 1891 - at
Tow Law, Hetton le Hole, Wark and Warkworth.
The following year sees the North Eastern Bank actively
looking for further expansion, which comes in the form of an amalgamation
with Dale Young and Company of South Shields.
Warkworth is run as a sub branch to Amble and opens for ten and a
quarter hours each week by the time of the merger with Barclays in 1969.
The branch opens on three
weekdays and Saturday morning, and is busier than other similar sized outlets
in Northumberland and Durham. Amble has several sub branches, Acklington
Auction Mart (closed 1967) ACKLINGTON RAF STATION (1969), RED ROW
(1991) and Warkworth, which survives
the longest, and closes after one hundred and two years in business, in 1993. |
In Service: 1891 until 29 October 1993
Image
© 1970 to date Frank Gillings
Image © Barclays Ref 30/3071
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A Commemoration – and an anomaly… We are grateful to Steve Booth for taking a photo of
Warkworth Sub Branch whilst on holiday in the village in 2014. There is quite clearly a lovely carving of
the Martins Bank Coat of Arms to the right of image, but as you will see
above in the original 1937 photo of the Branch, business appears to have been
transacted via the door and window to the LEFT! Steve spoke to the current owner, to try to
establish just what is going on here…
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{“Just had a chat with the owner. They took
over when the bank closed 20 odd years ago. The stone shield was already in
place and he believes that it was commissioned by Barclays sometime before
that time in order to preserve the historical provenance of the
building which is in a very historic part of the village. He believes the
commission was given to a local stonemason at a cost of £3000.”} As Warkworth opened in 1891, it would follow that the
one-hundredth anniversary of a bank in the Village would be worth
commemorating. It is nice to know that
the legacy of Martins was considered important enough to mark in this way.
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