RIP Norman McCord

 

I am saddened to report the death of Professor Norman McCord. Norman was one of the North East's foremost historians and 40 years ago he was one of my lecturers when I studied history at Newcastle University. He was also something of a mentor to me when I was carrying out the research for my PhD. After I graduated, we kept in touch and for many years. Norman, myself and other historians would meet up once a month to have a meal. It was known as eat-the-world as we attempted to eat food from every nationality that had restaurants in Tyneside and in Sunderland. We stopped doing this about 15 years ago as some members of our group were getting more and more infirm, Norman being one of them.

Norman was one of the leading people carrying out ariel photography in the North East. He discovered the Washingwell Roman fort near Whickham in 1970 while flying from Sunderland airport to Corbridge to photograph the area where the A69 was due to be built. Norman spotted the crop marks left behind by the fort at Washingwell and immediately realised they were caused by a Roman fortress which must have predated Hadrian's Wall by decades.

In 2022 I did some filming on the site of the fort to work out lines-of-sight with Gateshead and realised that Washingwell must have been part of a chain of frontier forts. I took my videos to Norman's house in Cullercoats in November 2022 and that was the last time I saw him in person. I spoke to him by phone in June last year to invite him to my wedding but sadly he was too infirm and house bound to be able to attend.

I ultimately have Norman to thank for my choice of subject for my PhD. He told me that the University had all the papers of Walter Runciman, a cabinet minister in 1908-16 and in the 1930s. They were waiting for someone to research them and produce a biography. That task fell to me!

I wish I had been able to see Norman again to talk about some historical theories I have, but it was not to be. 

RIP Professor Norman McCord