The industrial development of the area required additional workers. The company built a new Marsden village, located between the Lighthouse Quarries and Whitburn Colliery. Designed to house more than 700 people, there were 135 houses across nine streets, a church and
Methodist chapel,
Co-op store,
Post Office, school, and a
Miners Institute. Located directly on the cliff top, resulting in an exposed and often weather-beaten experience, many wives refused to move to the village, meaning that most miners lived in
South Shields and commuted daily using the newly constructed railway. The village gave its name to the "Marsden Rattler", a passenger train which ran on the railway via the
North Eastern Railway main line to . By the time of nationalisation in 1945 into the
National Coal Board, the site employed just under 1,500 miners. The railway line itself became the first nationalised passenger line on 1 January 1947. Passenger service was officially withdrawn on 14 November 1953, but trains ran until 23 November. Marsden has two pubs, the Marsden Grotto and the Marsden Inn. The Inn is located on Marsden Lane while the Grotto is hewn in the cliffs facing Marsden Rock. There are a few shops including a reptile shop and several post offices up towards Cleadon Hills. Marsden Lane is the main street leading up to Lizard Lane, Marsden Lane begins at the bottom of Horsley Hill Square before stretching up. ==References==