Up here in Northumberland we are lucky enough to have our own mini ‘Stonehenge’, a stone circle of standing stones currently five in number, although there is some speculation and debate as to how many stones there would have formed the circle originally. It was first scheduled as an ancient monument in 1925 as dating somewhere between 2400 and 1,000 years BC. This was based on archaeological evidence from the site that placed the stones from Late Neolithic to the Middle Bronze Age period. With this information in mind you can imagine my surprise when I happened upon the following information, completely by chance, whilst looking for some population figures for Norham Parish from the Statistical Accounts published in an original copy of a “History, Directory and Gazetteer of the Counties of Durham and Northumberland, by Wm. Parson and Wm. White Vol II published 1828” “DUDDO is a small township, consisting of two farms, a few cottages, and a colliery, 10 ½ miles N. by W. of Wooler. On the rocky summit of Grindon Rigg, in this township are the ruins of Duddo Tower, and a little to the north west are six rude stones or pillars, which were erected to commemorate the victory gained by the English over the Scots at Grindon in 1558……” This ‘fact’ was uncited giving no clue as to its primary origin so I set out to see if I could uncover a little more. “An Historical, Topographical and Descriptive View of Northumberland by E Mackenzie Vol 1, Second Edition published 1825” page 343 contained an almost identical description with the addition that “they are now called the “Duddo Stones””. With still no clue as to the origin of this ‘fact’ I took a look in the earliest history I had at my disposal “A Historical and Descriptive View of the County of Northumberland, Vol 1, published by Mackenzie & Dent in 1811” which states the information contained therein as being “carefully collected from personal research, original communications and works of undoubted authority”. On page 455 of said volume appears the same description, but with the addition of some vital statistics in the form of dimensions. Conspicuous by its absence once again is any reference to the source of this information! Taking a quick look at the National Archives Catalogue which returned a blank, I ran an online ‘Google’ search and came across a very similar account in “A Tour through the Whole Island of Great Britain, Vol 5, by Rev Clement Cruttwell published in 1801” but differed slightly in that it states the stones were erected on the site of the battle at Grindon and were only four in number, rather than six as described in the previous accounts. To my frustration there was still no reference as to where this ‘fact’, which is in all likelihood not a ‘fact’ at all, had originated, so I have abandoned my search for now, but I am sure when I have a spare afternoon, I shall resume my quest and hopefully one day get to the bottom of it. Until that time, like the stones themselves it will remain shrouded in mystery - unless of course you can help?.
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An introduction by "Forces War Records" to their latest record collection released today!
The Real 007
After the war MI6 recruited him to gather information on the Russian Red Army. Then, as World War Two loomed, he was assigned ‘agent Z3’ and based in Kitzbühel, Austria, he posed as a businessman, but secretly established a spy network that stretched deep into Germany. It was there that O’Brien-ffrench met and impressed Fleming with his style, magnetism and derring-do. The dashing socialite was the first person to hear that German troops were moving towards the Austrian border in 1938, and immediately reported the news to London, necessarily blowing his cover by using an open line to prevent delay. He also managed to warn many local residents who were in especial danger, giving them time to escape. It is lucky that O’Brien-ffrench too managed to leave the country, as the fact that his name appears in the ‘Black Book’ proves the Nazis wanted revenge. britain's schindlerMajor Francis E. Foley, born in Somerset in 1884, was studying Philosophy in Hamburg when World War One broke out, but managed to escape Germany with the aid of a borrowed German officers’ uniform. He initially joined the army and was later injured in action & rendered unfit for service, he was invited to join British Intelligence and spent the rest of the war recruiting for and running spy networks across France, Belgium and the Netherlands. After the Great War he worked as Passport Control Officer in Berlin, a cover for his work as head of the Berlin Station of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). His position enabled him to save tens of thousands of people from the Holocaust in the lead-up to the Second World War, as despite having no diplomatic immunity and being liable to arrest at any time, he blatantly broke the rules when stamping passports and issuing visas to allow Jews to escape “legally” to Britain and Palestine. Sometimes he went further by going into Internment Camps to get Jews out, hiding them in his home and helping them get forged passports. It is lucky for him that he was recalled to Britain at the outbreak of World War Two, since the Nazis were on to him – and his name was added to the Black Book. As it was, he lived to do even more damage to their regime; in 1942 he helped to co-ordinate MI5 and MI6 in running a network of double agents, the now famous “Double Cross System”. others on the listThe British Black Book was compiled with a view to taking out the top layer of society and undermining British spirit. However, alongside obvious contenders, such as Winston Churchill, Clement Atlee (deputy PM) and Anthony Eden (secretary of state for war), it has a number of quite bizarre names on it too, such as Noel Coward, Paul Robeson and intriguingly, some people who were actually Nazi sympathisers. The editors of the Daily Mail and Express were on it too. But left off, intriguingly, was the royal family. If ‘the Few’ had lost the Battle of Britain, and Hitler’s ‘Operation Sea Lion’, the planned invasion of Britain in 1940, had succeeded, the people on the list would have been the first to be rounded up and risk being killed, sent to concentration camps or forced to throw in their lot with the Germans and start doing the Führer’s bidding. The digitising of The Black Book The list has been painstakingly translated from its original German, interpreted to make sense of the complicated government jargon and abbreviations, and transcribed by Forces War Records’ Managing Director Tim Hayhoe, with assistance from military history graduate Sean Bennington. Previously obscure abbreviations have been explained, biographical details for the people listed have been added where available, and background information has been given on each and every Nazi department mentioned and the heads of those departments. All of this has been a labour of love that has taken around a year to complete. Similar lists were drawn up, and indeed used, for the USSR, France, Poland and many other countries in Europe; thankfully, the only place in the British Isles where the list was actually consulted to round up ‘enemies of the state’ was the occupied Channel Islands. Of the 20,000 or so versions of the German lists originally printed, only two are thought to be in existence today: one at The Imperial War Museum – and the other somewhere in Germany. Forces War RecordsForces War Records (www.forces-war-records.co.uk) is the website to visit for those researching their family’s military history. Specialising only in military history, the genealogy site contains over seven million records of individuals who have served from medieval times - right through to the present day. This fascinating site also has a crack team of professional researchers and military experts on hand to personally uncover extra layers of history about long gone forebears. Its mission is to hold the most in-depth, accurate and helpful military records available.
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AuthorSusie Douglas Archives
December 2021
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