14 WYLAM. CHAP. II. 



colliery villages, being the property of the owners or 

 lessees, who employ them for the temporary purpose of 

 accommodating the workpeople, against whose earnings 

 there is a weekly set-off of so much for house and coals. 

 About the end of last century the estate of which 

 Wylam forms part, belonged to Mr. Blackett, a gen- 

 tleman of considerable celebrity in coal-mining, then 

 more generally known as the proprietor of the ' Globe ' 

 newspaper. 



There is nothing to interest one in the village itself. 

 But a few hundred yards from its eastern extremity 

 stands a humble detached dwelling, which will be inter- 

 esting to many as the birthplace of one of the most 

 remarkable men of our times George Stephenson, the 

 Railway Engineer. It is a common two-storied, red-tiled, 

 rubble house, portioned off into four labourers' apart- 

 ments. It is known by the name of High Street House, 

 and was originally so called because it stands by the 

 side of what used to be the old riding post road or 

 street between Newcastle and Hexham, along which 

 the post was carried on horseback within the memory 

 of persons living. 



The lower room in the west end of this house was 

 the home of the Stephenson family ; and there George 

 Stephenson was born on the 9th of June, 1781. The 

 apartment is now, what it was then, an ordinary 

 labourer's dwelling, its walls are unplastered, its 

 floor is of clay, and the bare rafters are exposed over- 

 head. 



Robert Stephenson, or " Old Bob," as the neighbours 

 familiarly called him, and his wife Mabel, were a respect- 

 able couple, careful and hard-working. They belonged 

 to the ancient and honourable family of Workers that 

 extensive family which constitutes the backbone of our 

 country's greatness, the common working people of 

 England. A tradition is, indeed, preserved in the 

 family, that old. Robert StephensonV father and mother 



