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Etal - Sound
Oral History Recording of Jim Tully (3rd April 1978)
Transcription of an interview with Jim Tully recorded on the 3rd April 1978
Jim Tully was born at Etal in 1893. His father, who was also born in Etal, was employed on the Laing Estate. His mother, who was born an Aitchison at Blackpots near Coldingham, moved into Northumberland when her father obtained employment working on the Alnwick to Cornhill Railway. During the full interview Mr. Tully recalls his childhood in Etal village c.1898 to 1914, and his first employment on the Etal Estate. He goes on to talk about his employment as a Thatcher in the employ of the Joicey Estate between 1925 and 1937.
During this extract Mr. Tully describes a typical Estate cottage in Etal village.
[Transcription]
But apart from that all the rest of the people living in Etal where estate employees.
And were the houses, estate cottages?
They were all estate cottages.
That included your own?
That included our own, yes.
What can you remember about it, can you describe the house?
Well, the house that I was born in, when you entered the front door there was a long passage went right through and out to the back. Now mid way along the passage the room went into the right, into the living room, and behind that there was what we termed then the back kitchen where there was a wash basin, where you just had, the water was all to carry, there was no water, only one tap in the middle of the village then, and all the water was to carry from that tap. And this room to the right was the living room, and the box beds were in, and the room on the left was kept just as a sought of spare room.
So you just had the two rooms?
But theres just the two rooms, yes.
This tape recording comes from the large collection of oral history recordings held by the Northumberland Archive Service. Interviews were conducted by Record Office staff from the early 1970's right through until the mid 1980's. The purpose of the recordings was to capture the essence of life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many different subjects were covered, including coalmining, farming, fishing, domestic life, World Wars and entertainment. Over 350 recordings have been collected comprising approximately 700 hours of recollections.