On Bedlington.uk Now...

@threegee ;-

I can think of a couple of possible reasons for a coal-miner's child being born at the granary. Coal-mining was playing a big part in Bedlington’s industry and miners were ‘imported from many parts of Britain. If you look at the population in 1851 there were almost as many miners from other parts of the country as there were native Bedlingtonians. Housing was at a premium and miners lodged wherever they could get a roof over their head until colliery housing became available. Another explanation for a birth at the granary may be that your relative wasn’t born at home. It wasn’t uncommon that prima gravidas (first-time mothers) went to the home of a female relative, often their mother, when the birth was imminent.

Thanks for the information, a really interesting read! Glad to now know the proximity of where it was. I was surprised my ancestor was born on a farm given his father was a coal miner and the baptism said “of Bedlington colliery”. Perhaps they didn’t stay long.

@threegee - reply from Cllr Alex Wallace =

I think you may have understood me. I was referring only to EV sales in Sweden. I can't speak about Europe as media reports are unreliable. As I'm sure you've noticed, I am no great fan of newspapers. They cater for their potential readers and their advertisers (as you rightly point out). The problem is (in relation to EV production and sales - and just about everything else) that different newspapers report the situation differently to suit clients needs and readers' expectations. For every report that says sales are decreasing you'll find another which says sales are increasing. I based my statement on statistics from Mobility Sweden (MS), the branch organisation for producers and importers of vehicles, who publish statistics of newly registered vehicles every month. Sales of EVs are down 21% this year here.

@threegee - no idea on any of your '?'. I no longer live in or visit Bedlington and don't drive. I will copy your '?' to the site where Cllr Alex Wallace posted it and see if he responds

Connector type? Cost per KW/h? Payment methods? And most importantly... the power available? Is it on Zapmap - yet? Back in 2020 it was very disappointing to see just how backward the NE was when we drove our Tesla off the Zeebrugge ferry at North Shields. We'd driven some 1500Km from Italy and through the Alps with no problems whatsoever. As soon as we landed on Tyneside, it was like stepping back into the 20th century. The charger at Cramlington was utter c**p and had delivered a measly single kilowatt-hour when we returned to the car after an hour in the shopping centre. It turned out it couldn't process the credit card it initially accepted and had disconnected. The hotel (which I won't name) had a totally ambivalent attitude to EVs, and much else! They directed us to a couple of points up beside Northumberlandia, which clearly hadn't worked for months. The only charging that actually worked was at the roundabout on the spine road, and that had a queue for the single pathetic 50Kwh (minus a lot) connector post. It was also overpriced by a lot, and there were ICE vehicles making access to it difficult. Back on the continent again, it was plain sailing all the way to the Mediterranean, with no waiting anywhere for a charge; zero defective chargers encountered; and two hotels giving us free overnight charging.

Is this Bedlington Station's first public EV charging point? Clayton Street.

The Nissan Sunderland plant in our area has it's workers on a 'Stand-down' so they have stopped working on a Friday until they can move on all the excess cars they have manufactured, and storing onsite, until they can move the manufactured cars on to the rest of the world.

Sales of pure EVs are up 23% year-on-year internationally. Much of what you read in the media about plunging EV sales is a distortion of the true position. The media has an agenda driven by their advertisers. It's true that consumers aren't buying German EVs, and that German sales fell sharply after a large rise due to German buyers bringing forward purchases due to their government scrapping subsidies. Except for the German made Tesla Model 'Y' German manufactured EVs aren't actually very good. The consumer eventually worked this out, but you won't hear this in the bought and paid for media reports! All German car sales are plunging worldwide, not just their underwhelming EVs! The German motor industry is facing its biggest ever crisis and lots of factory closures are imminent. All VW staff have been mandated a 10% pay cut, and they are just the lucky ones who aren't being made redundant.

If anyone wants to know whats going in now..............

I've just noticed that there is a vacant place between the grocer's shop and Henry. That would have become the hairdressers which dates the painting to between 1891 and 1901.

You are quite right Eggy. I've had a wander around the first three buildings on Front Street West End between 1861 and 1921 and the Travellers Rest is always the second house. The first is always a Grocer's shop owned by various people up until Robert Beadnell in 1921 and the Beadnell family still had it in the early sixties. In 1871 the second building is named the Travellers Rest (Beer House) but the occupier is an engineer. However, a side-line in beer-making, and selling thereof, wasn't uncommon. Guess who is running the Travellers Rest , 10 years later in 1881? Henry Kidd and his wife Phyllis! Next door is Robert Kidd running his drapery business and next door to hm is another Kidd, Thomas - a saddle maker. They must be related. Henry dies before the next census in 1891 but his wife continues to run the Beer House. Robert's drapery business has diversified to include dealing in musical instruments and Thomas is still working with leather goods. By 1901 the Travellers Rest isn't mentioned anymore but something interesting crops up. Next door to Robert's business is a hairdresser (male). Did you notice the barber's pole in the painting? It looks like the beer house is now part of Robert's house.

Don't really know - the artist has what appears to be the island in the middle of the road, where Trotters Monument was first placed, opposite the Travellers Rest and that would put Robert Kidd - musical instrument dealer etc (extract from the 1905 Bennett's Buisness Directory) - and the Travellers Rest close to the very end of Front Street West. But it might just be artsitic licence.

I think that later may have become the Blue Bell Inn. In 1921 it was just a few doors down from Llewelyn Kidd: Llewelyn Kidd followed by: Kidds House - 2 families Elliot and Coyles (miners) West End Front Street - 3 families: Pringle (dairyman),Taylor and Redpath (miners) Front Steet - 4 business premises: House painter, Cycle Agent, Baker/Confectioner and Blue Bell Inn.

@Canny lass & @Mrs funkyg - as normal it was many hours after I had read this post about the Kidd family when it popped out of my memory that @John Fox (foxy) had posted an old photo of a pub, the Travellers Rest, when we were looking to find 'Then & Now' images of the old pubs. ( Foxy was after us trying to identify where the pub was ) The other think Ithat flashed out this old memory was a shop next to the pub with the name KIDD and the shop next door to it was owned by ROBERT KIDD - I remember that as we thought it might have a connection to @Ovalteeny = Jack Kidd . This is the photo that Foxy posted :- At the time we didn't know exactly position of the building at the top end of Front Street West but I did find an old painting that included the Travellers Rest :- I haven't kept a note of who originally posted the painting so at the moment can't give them the credit. Filed away on my PC is a compilation, Then & Now images, that includes the painting but I can't remember why I did it and you can see by the text (from the British genealogy site) I have added down the side of the compilation there isn't a reference to the Kidd family, just info on owners of the pub :- In Foxy's photo of the Travellers rest it does look like the name on the pub sign is 'HENRY KIDD'.

The Watsons must have been there for a very long time. Wm. Watson Esq gets a mention on Armstrongs map from 1769. Almost next door to Mount Pleasant farm and granary is a "seat or noted house" with his name on it. (upper edge of map).

Welcome to the forum @Mrs funkyg. I don't know how well you know Bedlington but Kidds House was at the western end of the front street on the north side of the road. It's not possible to say exactly which house it was but I can narrow it down to three or four buildings for you. The map below is from 1860 but not much changed there for many years. The layout was pretty much the same in 1920. However, it's a map that's much clearer than any other that I have. I can say with certainty that Kidds house was located within the blue square and with a fair degree of certainty that it was one of the buildings facing the front street which I've underlined in green. In 1921, the first house, on the corner of Front Street West and Glebe Road belonged to a grocer and provision merchant called Robert Beadnell. The Beadnell family owned that building and shop until at least 1965 (I used to shop there). Next door but one to Robert Beadnell was a 42 year old widower, Llewelyn Kidd, who was a general dealer. Both were self employed and running their own business and living above the shop. Llewellyn owned property there, hence the name Kidds House. He also owned property in Kidds Yard which was located directly behind the buildings facing Front Street. I've marked the entrance to Kidds Yard with a red spot.

@Mrs funkyg