Life on Leslie Crescent: Memories of a Gosforth Childhood
A guest post by John Bynon
Some of the most revealing stories about an old house don’t come from census returns or architectural plans. They come from the people who remember living there.
In this guest post, John Bynon recalls his grandparents’ home at 24 Leslie Crescent in Gosforth, Newcastle, and the weekends he spent there as a child.
His memories take us behind the front door: the bells that once summoned servants, the original fittings, the small scullery, the garden and garage, and the cupboard under the stairs where he discovered his father’s Second World War gas mask.
John’s memories also lead beyond the house itself, into the story of his family and their picture-restoration business in Newcastle, and eventually to an unexpected discovery — a 1905 architectural plan connected with Grey’s Monument.
We have retained John’s original account as a personal recollection of the house and family. Discovering Heritage added the additional headings and introductory notes to help place the story in context.
Personal memories like these are an important part of a house’s story. They tell us not only who lived there, but something about what it was like to grow up there.
24 Leslie Crescent Gosforth
I can remember this from the beginning of my Grandparents moving to 24 Leslie Crescent.
It was just after the Second World War when my Grandfather, who was about 50 years of age, was demobbed. He was up at a bomber squadron at Louise-mouth at the end of the war. It might have been 1946 -47.
My Father was also in the RAF as a young man of about 24 years and was fresh out of flying school as a single-engine fighter pilot. Dad tells me that he went back to the old house after the war, where a neighbour informed him that his parents had moved to Leslie Crescent. I suppose communications were not what they are now.
My Father started working for my Grandfather at HS Bynon & Son picture restorers on Grainger Street. The business later moved to 46 The Cloth Market. Dad would tell me when they didn’t need the car; he would walk to work nearly every day, and my Grandfather would get the trolley bus.
There used to be a large elm outside the house, which was the home to many birds that would decorate my Grandfathers car.
Incidentally, my mother had a flat/rooms in part of next door in the early 60s at number 26 (the house on the end). That’s how mum and dad met.
My parents bought a house at 21 Woodlands, where my brother and I grew up a few years later. However, I would spend every weekend at my Grandparent’s house from the early 70s to the early 80s.
The house seemed vast to a 6-year-old boy. There were fantastic bannisters to slide down and bells in each room you could press, and the room name would swing inside the mahogany box on the wall in the breakfast room. This would be for the people who worked there in service in a time before my Grandparents lived there.
The house did not have central heating but was never cold.
My room was the small bedroom at the front of the house. I remember going next door into the master bedroom and looking out the large bay window. I could see all the way up and down the street from the Drive to Moor Crescent.
In the summer, I would go out into the small backyard and climb onto the asbestos roofed garage, and my Grandmother would throw up a large piece of old carpet to lie on. I used to clear the asbestos roof of any moss by scrapping with a stick. ( Unthinkable now). I’ve always liked the heat and would lie up there for hours with my Grandmother’s cat Sam.
I used to walk along the rounded coping stones, which used to be along the back wall and may still be there. My Grandmother would shout get down from there; you’ll set your neck. The garage doors were the original concertina timber folding green doors with lots of bolts to the floor and roof. What a carry-on!
The kitchen was called the scullery and was small with an enamel sink unit and those rubber extensions on the taps that you could point and squirt. The cat would only ever drink from the running tap.
Every window had white net curtains with large, heavy curtains on either side.
World War II Memories
Below the stairs, there was a small cupboard that I used to hide in. In there, I found my Fathers gas mask from WW2 that he had thrown in the day he came home and had forgotten about. Grandmother would shout,” Get out of there; it’s filthy”.
My Grandfather’s flying goggles were stored in the built-in cupboard on the first-floor landing. I used to come down the stairs dressed in his flying gear from the First World War, the flying helmet over my eyes and goggles around my neck. Grandmother would go nuts… “You don’t know where it’s been; take it off.”
The Gas Mak Under The Stairs
The house had all the original doors, but downstairs it had those 1940s glass misted panel doors to the front room, dining room and breakfast room. “Hideous glass panel doors”, my Grandmother would say….” too late to change them now”.
I remember my Grandfather giving me a new brass shiny key and trying it out in the heavy white front door. I had to stand on my tiptoes to reach the lock. The door opened into the inner porch, which had another original stained glass door. My favourite part of the outside was the external porch which is still there. I used to stand in there waiting for the rain to stop so I could play with my friends in the back alley of the Drive. My Grandmother would point at her watch, “Back at 6 for your bath !”
The bathroom had a huge enamel-coated bath with a large brass plunger which you would pull up with 2 hands to empty the water. I would always laugh at the noise the water would make.
The front garden had 2 rhododendron bushes in two corners. The flower beds had roses which I would spray with my Grandfather for greenfly on those hot summers in the 70s while the cat watched us through the leaded glass of the porch.
One thing I remember was very few cars on Leslie Crescent. One per house if that and no one parked outside your home, unlike the free for all nowadays.
The Bynon Family and Picture Restoration
John’s memories of Leslie Crescent are also part of a much wider family story.
His grandfather and father were both involved in picture restoration in Newcastle, and the family business, H S Bynon & Son, operated from premises in the city.
The work provides another link between John’s childhood memories and Newcastle’s history.
In September 2015, Sarah Nichol wrote an article for Chronicle Live entitled: How North East man Denis Bynon repaired some of the greatest art treasures. Denis joined his father’s picture-restoring business in 1948 and restored many notable paintings.
“His son Denis Bynon, FABPR, joined the firm two years later in 1948, also after leaving the RAF, and began a career that spanned more than 50 years which saw him working on many famous paintings that can still be found in nearly every notable castle and house in the North East, as well as further afield.” Sarah Nichol
Read the full article in the link below to find out which priceless painting Dennis Bynon helped to restore!
An Unexpected Discovery: A 1905 Plan of Grey’s Monument
An unexpected discovery
The story of Leslie Crescent doesn’t end with John’s childhood memories.
In 2023, John sent us a further piece of material he had discovered among his family’s belongings: a large colour architectural plan dating from 1905.
The plan, drawn by architect Herbert S. Dotchin of Percy Street, Newcastle, shows a proposed design for decorating Grey’s Monument for the visit of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra in 1906.
It is a wonderful example of how personal family collections can preserve unexpected pieces of local history.
Early in 2023, we had the pleasure of opening a further attachment from the author of this article, John Bynon. Found in a roll of old brown paper was a 4ft-long colour plan of Grey’s Monument dating from 1905. The architect’s plan, penned by Herbert S Dotchin, who worked from Percy Street in Newcastle, shows how Grey’s Monument could have looked dressed for the visit of Edward VII and his wife Alexandra in 1906. John kindly sent us an image of the article, which appeared in the Journal on Friday 25th November 2022. Reported by Tony Henderson
A house remembered through everyday details
Memories Behind the Front Door
John’s story is a reminder that the history of a house isn’t only found in official records.
Maps, census returns, directories, newspapers, plans and other archival sources can help us establish when a house was built, who lived there and how a neighbourhood changed.
But personal memories can reveal something different.
They can tell us about the rooms people remembered, the objects they kept, the way a house was used and the small details that might otherwise disappear completely.
Discover what can be found inside a house history →
At Discovering Heritage, this is one of the things we find so fascinating about house history. Every property has its own story, but that story exists within a much bigger history of families, streets and communities.
We are grateful to John Bynon for sharing his memories of 24 Leslie Crescent and the Bynon family story with us.
If you have memories, photographs or stories connected with an old house or street in the North East, we’d love to hear from you.
Dennis Bynon has restored some pictures for me in the 70s.John Falconer.