This house on the old Tyne Bridge was once occupied by Dr James Oliphant. He stood trial for the murder of a servant, who he allegedly strangled and threw into the river from the bridge.
On July 24th, 1764, the body of Dinah Armstrong was found in the Tyne near Dunston Staithes, having apparently been in the river for several days. There were marks on her neck that suggested the cause of her death was strangulation, and a coroner’s court concluded she had been murdered. The scribe at the church in Whickham where she was buried also agreed there was foul play, the entry in the parish records reads, “Dinah Armstrong, belonging to Hexham, supposed to be both hanged and drowned.”
Dinah had joined the Oliphant family at their home on the old Tyne Bridge a few weeks earlier, she was a temporary replacement for another servant who was unwell. She appears to have been a troubled young woman who arrived at the Oliphants’ under a cloud, having been accused of stealing some linen from her previous employer. There were also allegations that she had stolen napkins from another house where she’d been.
Dr Oliphant’s wife took pity on Dinah and offered to smooth things over with her former employer, if she came clean. She confessed to stealing the linen but refused to admit she’d taken the napkins, despite them having the rightful owner’s initials embroidered on them. On July 17th a neighbour also tried to coax a confession from her, this would be the last day she was seen alive.
The coroner’s damning verdict had set the town alight with gossip, fuelled by her sister, Tamar Armstrong, who spread rumours that the Oliphants were cruel to Dinah and kept her locked in a cellar. Dr Oliphant, his wife and another servant were arrested but released after the protests of several friends, and kept under house arrest on the bridge until they appeared before the Assizes Court.
The case against the doctor at the Assizes was that he had strangled Dinah and thrown her body into the river through a trapdoor below the house. He faced a sentence of death if found guilty. But the case quickly unravelled when the court heard the other servant state that she’d seen Dinah jump through the trapdoor. The Oliphants were entertaining friends at the time, who confirmed the doctor had no involvement.
A surgeon who examined Dinah’s body said the strangulation marks may have come from a necklace she wore, pressing on her neck as her corpse swelled up in the water. The necklace had disappeared but no other signs of violence were found on her, and Dr Oliphant was acquitted of her murder on August 17th, 1764. Nevertheless, his reputation was ruined, despite him publishing a book in an effort to persuade the public of his innocence.
But this wasn’t the last of the Oliphants’ bad luck. The old Tyne Bridge was destroyed in the Great Flood of 1771, and their house was swept away with all their belongings.