On Bedlington.uk Now...

Hello! I stumbled on this site looking for information on people in my family tree as well. My Great grandmother i was Catherine “Kitty” McGlen born to Michael McGlen and Isabella Dowson.

Thank you

@Canny lass & @Harry.T.S this is just me trying something different. This is a direct link to a 202 map on the NLS site, same period as the 1921 map CL posted above, but a bit more detail :- https://maps.nls.uk/view/132278981

Northumberland Alerts Sesdnoorptlthmh6ua5miu1iiac4a3h5t71f26139aih00if4720ahu91auc · Construction update for Bedlington Station Works are progressing to install the new station platforms, drainage and fencing at Bedlington Station. Works moving forwards include both daytime and overnight working through the week and on weekends across March 2025 into the spring. Working hours for day shifts during this period are 8:00am – 6:00pm with overnight shifts between 9:00pm – 07:00am. Advance notice of full road closures In order to carry out road drainage infrastructure works on Station Road; a series of full 24 / 7 road closures will be required. These are currently planned to take place on the following dates and times: · Monday 31 March 2025 0:01am – Friday 4 April 2025 11:59pm · Thursday 17 April 2025 9:00pm – Tuesday 22 April 7:00am · Friday 2 May 2025 10:00pm – Monday 5 May 7:30am Please during the above dates there will be 24 / 7 working. These dates may be subject to change and if so, any changes will be communicated in advance. Bedlington South Level Crossing will be closed to vehicles during the works, however pedestrians will still be able to use the crossing using the footway. During this period a road diversion will be in place via Melrose Villas & Jubilee Terrace and St Johns Road. Please see below for an image of the diversion route. Bus Route Diversions Service X21 will follow the diversion below and not miss any bus stops. Service 2 will run a loop via Stead Lane/Rothesay Terrace & Station Road so that buses serve their usual stops in each direction and stops at Palace Road & St Johns Road won't be served during the closures.

She was still there looking at the records, and all I got is her name, nothing else about her, and I private messaged you the name.

@Harry.T.S Do you know if your great great grandmother was still at Rutters Buildings after the birth? Would you like to share her name with me so that I can find her?

Thank you, this map and information are very helpful to understand a bit more of the area and how many families were in the area at this time. It slowly unlocks the mystery behind this one part of the family tree.

Hi @Harry.T.S, welcome to the forum. As I said I’m not too familiar with the area but Rutters Buildings starts to appear on maps at some point between 1866 and 1896. It was a long row of housing lining the main road at Scotland Gate (between Choppington and Guide Post). In the 19 11 census there were 15 families living in Rutters Buildings. 13 of them were living in just 2 rooms and the remaining 2 families had 3 rooms each. There were some big families so living conditions for most were cramped, to say the least. Rutters buildings was located between the methodist church at the north end and the Kings Arms public house which adjoined the terrace at its southern end. You can see it on this map from 1924 which is the earliest on which I find its name but there may be others.

You are right, it is Rutters Building as I thought it was Putters with way it was transcribed. Do you know anything about Rutter's Buildings?

I don't know the area so well but I've never heard of Putters Buildings in Scotland Gate. Could it be Rutters Buildings - which did exist in the area? Handwriting ob certificates can be misleading. If you've recently obtained the certificate i has been transcribed from old documents which can be difficult to read.

I'm looking for some help if anyone can help me. I've been doing my family history and I've hit a roadblock now that has led me here. I have just got a copy of a birth certificate for my great-grandfather that shows his mother lived at Putters Buildings, Scotland Gate Beddlington, 1910, and she was a domestic servant. This is where it might turn shocking, on birth certificate it only has the mother's name and maiden surname and the baby was giving mother's maiden name as no father's name was put on certificate so I'm thinking she got pregnant with her employers baby as that was common in them times or it was someone else baby. Does anyone know anything about Putters Buildings, Scotland Gate Beddlington 1910 and anything about domestic servants working in the Scotland Gate or Beddlington area?

Yes he was

@Margaret I Johnson Hi again! Am I right in thinking that John Tait was Mary Jane's third husband?

@Margaret I JohnsonI have disappointing news! The John Tait recorded at Rawlings Yard (schedule 162 Market Place, Bedlington) in 1911 is married and his wife is with him. John was born at Holy Island and is 77 years old. His wife, Catherine, was born at Kelso and is now 73 years old. None of these details correspond to the information given on the census returns of 1891 for John Tait - husband of Mary Jane. However, the 3rd person in the household is John and Ann's grandson - John T Tait aged 21 years born about 1890 in Alnham, Northumberland. The John Tait being searched for by Margaret was born in Pasture Hill, Northumberland. That's about 20 miles as the crow flies from Alnham so they may well be related. I had a quick look in the 1911 census this morning and found a John Tait of the correct age (born 1855) with the same profession (mining) lodging in Hirst, Ashington. He, however, states that he is single which wouldn't be strange if he was separated. He gives his birthplace as Low Mill Northumberland which is less than 10 miles from Pasture Hill. Could it be the same person?

@Margaret I Johnson as this site is visible to everyone online I would suggest that you ask the Admin ( @AndyMilnethe remove your email address from view. If you want to contact a member with personal info, eg email address, then it is best to use the Messages, envelope at the top right of the screen so only the two people see the message. The photo that Canny lass posted of the Market Place showing the entrance to the yard is probably the only one wee have seen with a full view of the building. There are other old photos showing the Market place area but not with a full view of the Rawlings buildings. The oldest photo of the area I have seen is one that was popsted on a Facebook group by @johndawsonjune1955 and he has the date as c1903. I have put that photo, one without a date and the 1910 map extract and photo Canny lass posted together :-

Hi, thank you both for your help regarding my question, I would love to have copies of the original documents. John Tait, I think was estranged from his wife Mary Jane (my 2x great grandmother) at the time as she is living in Shiny Row with some of the children, I can't find him in 1901 but it was after 1891 where they lived in Front Street, Bedlington schedule 162 that they separated, as I have a newspaper article where they went to court, he was accused of striking Mary Jane. It's all very interesting so I would love to know who the other people are in the house with him, possibly not wife but one of the daughters and her son? My email address is [redacted] Regards Margaret

@Canny lass I had two cups of tea and 2 Ringtons ginger snaps. Brilliant work and explanantion - thanks CL I can't post all the above on one post on the Facebook comment/question that 'MarknMargaret Johnson' raised so I will give them a direct link to this topic. My memory is saying the margaret joined this grouop not so long ago. I checked the 'Margaret' names and there is a @Margaret I Johnson so this will 'Tag' her.

@Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)Make yourself a cuppa! This is going to be long! It’s quite easy to mistake schedule numbers with house numbers. Another common mistake is to think that every schedule number is a house. What the census documents record are the number of ‘households’ and it is these ‘households’ that are given a schedule number. Space was at a premium and living space could be rented out by the room so that several households often lived in the same house. This was very common practice in Bedlington. At the time of the 1911 census, the ‘Market Place’ had 33 households of which one was a common lodging house with 25 male residents and one private house which was unoccupied. If we look at the enumerator’s summary book these 33 households, with the exception of the Post Office, the Turk’s Head public House and the Howard Arms Hotel all had the same address – Market Place Bedlington. This, you could say, was the ‘formal’ address at which the household resided. This was the address written by the enumerator on the census form which he delivered to the household to be filled in by the head of that household. It was also the address he used when transcribing the completed form to his summary book. While this system worked well for the enumerator, who had a set route to follow, it wasn’t the ideal system for the people who lived there should they, for example, need to impart the whereabouts of their home to intended visitors or tradesmen. The residents of the Market Place (and many other places) found their own way of describing their location and this was usually by means of easily identifiable features in the vicinity of their home. One of the wonderful things about the 1911 census is that the forms filled in by each household were not destroyed once the enumerator had transcribed their content to his summary book. The householders, regardless of what the enumerator had written on his part of the census form, often wrote their address in the manner in which they would give it to would-be visitors. So is the case with MarknMargaret’s relative, Mr John T, which greatly eases the task of identifying where he lived. The schedule nr 26 refers to this address written by the enumerator: Mr John T, however, gives the following address as his place of residence: In other words, John’s household comprising himself, his wife and his grandson, lived in the yard of the Rawlings family home. There were a number of such yards all along Front Street, Vulcan Place and Glebe Row. The main family home, in this case the Rawlings, faced the main street and the yard faced away from the street at the rear of the house. Basically, anything in the yard that was deemed ‘habitable’ could be rented out. They could be small houses to accommodate employees but equally well they could just be small outhouses or lean-to buildings. Mr William Rawling lived in the Market Place in a building facing the main street and in this building was also his business - Merchant Tailor & Mens Wear. The location is easily identifiable from its location, next door and to the east of the Howard Arms hotel, as recorded in the summary book. As I said, the enumerator had a set route to follow: Here is the Rawling family home and business, arrowed red. I’ve also marked a doorway, adjoining the tailor’s shop, in blue. This opened into a passageway leading to the yard: If you look closely at the angle between the house which I’ve arrowed and the larger building to its right, you can just make out the roof and chimney of the yard buildings where Mr John T lived. I don’t know the date of this photo but the map below is from 1910 and you can clearly see that there are two small buildings in the yard. These had each two rooms, one of which served as kitchen/livingroom/diningroom (and at times even as bedroom). In the first of these two buildings (marked green), adjoining the tailor’s shop, lived Mr William Errington, the previous occupier of the tailor’s shop. It was in his day, however, a grocer’s shop. He occupied just one room. In the second of the two houses (marked red) lived MarknMargaret’s relative, Mr John T, who occupied two rooms – probably one up and one down. On the map I’ve also arrowed in blue the doorway to the passageway which I marked in blue on the above photo This is the same doorway shown on Alan’s photo (reproduced below): Hope this is of help. If MarknMargaret would like copies of the original documentation let me know. If they could pass on an e-mail address through yourself, Alan, that would be ideal.

@Canny lass - reply from MarknMargaret :-

We do our best! I'm now sure that T is correct and I've located the place.

I have asked the question, on Wednesday, but still no response