A place over time

While I was walking around the North Road area this week I began to recall what the lady had told us a few months ago that North Road used to be a good place to come with really good quality shops. Today I was looking down the street trying to imagine what it might have looked like 100 years or more ago, how had it changed? When I returned home I trawled the internet for pictures and information and found the photos fascinating. The top photo here is modern day, the second one 1955, the third one 1910 and the last one 1835! The treets seem very quiet in 1835 and there do not appear to be many shops. In 1910 there is definitely more bustle and horse and carts feature. Shop signs are more prominent. In 1955 the shops all have canopies and there seem to be an awful lot of shops. This is a place which has developed a retail reputation from a quiet street to being a place to be to what it is now, busy but transient and full of shops and businesses which largely appeal to those falling on hard times. In 1875 the Miner's Hall was prominent as mining and Unions played such an important role in the lives of people in and arund Durham. Mining too has gone since the 1960s onwards. It is maybe ths loss of this mining identity which has had some impact on the fortunes of many and hte identity of North Road itself. Last week we visited Sacriston and looked and listened to the area for an hour. Sacriston was also a mining heartland and now seems to struggle with it's own value and identity. It made me ask the question, if this is what has happened to the place, how has it imacted on the people involved? Where does their identity lie now?