2-982-413 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Birthplace of Mr. Robert Stephenson, M.P., C.E., 1858. 'The cottage of the late Mr. George Stephenson, at Hillington, is in course of being pulled down, it being intended to erect a memorial building to the Stephensons on its site. Mr. Robert Stephenson, M. P., paid a visit to his birthplace previous to the removal of the cottage, and at the same time he inspected the plans for the Stephenson Memorial School...many will regret the demolition of this house, which is so intimately associated with the history of two such eminent men...In this house George Stephenson spent every moment of his leisure in making ingenious models of machinery, cutting out pitmen's jackets, repairing and cleaning clocks...Here the future eminent engineer passed some happy years, respected by all who knew him for his sterling honesty and kindly disposition...In the second story of this house, in the room lighted by the window next to that built up with brickwork, Robert Stephenson, the worthy son of so eminent a father, first saw the light; and in the same room a cloud was cast over the domestic felicity of Stephenson by the death of his youthful and amiable wife'. From "Illustrated London News", 1858.