A TREASURE trove of Tynedale’s past, found during a Hexham house clearance, is to go under the hammer next week.

The album of dozens of sepia photographs and postcards, some dating back to the late 1800s, is expected to attract a lot of interest from collectors.

Amongst this pictorial miscellany are some momentous events in local history, such as the unveiling of Benson’s Monument in Beaumont Street in 1904 and the 1935 Silver Jubilee celebrations in Bellingham for King George V and Queen Mary.

Another shows the crowds who turned up at Hexham Abbey to hear the proclamation of George V’s accession in 1910 – indeed one man is standing on top of the Shambles roof, presumably to get a bird’s eye view.

Perhaps one of the most intriguing is a 1905 photograph of a postman driving the Newcastle to Kirkwhelpington mail coach which, we’re told in a neatly handwritten caption, ‘was robbed on the highway near Kenton.’

Another is a view of the ‘new’ Queen’s Hall in Beaumont Street down towards Hexham Abbey, prior to the building of Trinity Methodist Church. It is by J.P.Gibson and is dated 1884.

Then there are First World War parade photographs and pictures of Hexham shopkeepers, including Tom Lishman outside his store and C.J. Irving’s baker’s van.

The Bellingham photograph is believed to be by renowned North Tyne photographer Walter Percy Collier.

Julian Thomson, of auctioneers, Anderson and Garland, said the album would be sold as one lot (number 167) at their Town and County Sale on Wednesday. Viewing days are being held on Monday and Tuesday at Anderson House.

Mr Thomson said: “The album provides a fascinating insight into Tynedale life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and we expect there will be a fair amount of interest from history buffs in and about Hexham.”