Dr Trotters. Monument

[tonyg]

When out with my pals for a drink last night the Question was raised about when was it moved from the center of the road to where it is now. beside Grenfells, has anyone got the answer,

[ex Bedlingtonian]

Possibly when they did the dual carriageway?

[tonyg]

The date and year that's what i want to know.

[threegee]

Late 60's I'd guess, but it may have been 1970's. Can anyone make it out from this shot?  http://www.bedlington.co.uk/community/gallery/image/1643-front-street-1970/

 

It was certainly on the little central island in the mid to late 50's. This one looks early 1960's to me: http://www.bedlington.co.uk/community/gallery/image/1573-the-lion/  Should have paid more attention myself! The Gallery will surely give more clues.

[Reedy]

Moved by the council in 1972 according to Pmsa.org which also gives a good description of the monument and inscription. Google has a few sites where it gets a mention.

[Reedy]

www.pmsa.org.uk/pmsa-database/9654/

[threegee]

Ah, so it is in that shot!  Good find!

 

What would be of far more general use it to know exactly when the (dangerous) concrete lampposts went.  This has general implications for dating many Gallery photos.

[John Fox (foxy)]

Late 60's I'd guess, but it may have been 1970's. Can anyone make it out from this shot?  http://www.bedlington.co.uk/community/gallery/image/1643-front-street-1970/

 

It was certainly on the little central island in the mid to late 50's. This one looks early 1960's to me: http://www.bedlington.co.uk/community/gallery/image/1573-the-lion/  Should have paid more attention myself! The Gallery will surely give more clues.

Here it is moving camp.

[threegee]

Brilliant!  And, judging by the coats and scarves, it certainly wasn't the Summer of 1972 either.

[tonyg]

 in the Red Lion last night another Question was raised, when was the Budge out side pulled down'

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Slightly off-topic,Threegee,but looking around everywhere noo,a think AAL thi lamp-posts are dangerous!!

Half the stock of the metal ones are sawn off three feet above the ground and safety -taped,and the remaining ones are showing signs of rusting

near the ground,I think some lamp-post makers just took Wansbeck Council for a ride,when they were contracted to make and supply the council with a few thousand for the whole shire!

Back to Trotter's Memorial,he was a good doctor,who more or less pushed through laws to have better sanitation,and living conditions for the residents of Bedlingtonshire.

I can picture the 3, and the 3A,buses swinging roond the memorial,ti turn into the "Bus-stand,at the top-end......on thi way ti thi toon!![in the '50s!],oh!...

...AND the 10,and thi 10A,also.....cos buses were so packed in them days that the United bus company had to put extra buses on,so they had the "A"

suffix,and also the "Duplicate"...which was an extra bus to cope with demand,especially on days like "Cock-n-Hen day",from Morpeth to Blyth,on Wednesdays,which was a thriving market day in Morpeth....which was the 47 bus,and also the 48.

When we came out of the pit,at Choppington High Pit,on Wednesdays,we had to stand for over an hour,as one bus after the other went past full-up,and the old-timer's would say,in a grumbly tone of voice,"Whey yi might knaa,it's bliddy cock-n-hen day..."!!

[Maggie/915]

Did you ever go to the Mart in Morpeth HPW?

I have great memories of going along and being told any gesture or movement could result in me buying an animal or two!

Far from putting me off , I love auctions.

They still have a cattle mart in Bakewell Derbyshire or they did last time I was there , the smells the atmosphere, just great.

Strange what brings the memories flooding back.

[Symptoms]

I remember going often to the Mart with my Dad to buy hens ... we used to keep them on the allotment at the back of our house. Up the station slope, park the car and walk around the pens - the place was always packed. I can also recall 'cattle railway trucks' being shunted into the Mart sidings to load/unload livestock.

Of course, the Morpeth pubs were open all day for the Mart trade ... I must have been about 13 when my Dad took me into one of the pubs; beer for him, pop for me. It seemed that escorted kids (farmers kids) were tolerated.

Anyway, the chucks would be taken home and introduced to the resident clucks, fights would break-out, then peace would reign. All our hens were named by me and they were great fun to play with ... chasing dangled worms (hen races) and so on. I've got some lovely 8mm film footage (now converted to DVD) of the chucks racing for the worms, one had even been taught to stand on my Dad's shoulder (like Long John Silver's parrot).

Edited January 24, 2014 by Symptoms

[Maggie/915]

The 'Duplicate' bus , I had forgotten about them.

I have memories of catching a bus at 6;15 to Newcastle.

The stop at the Top End was great because you could catch more than one number of bus to Newcastle.

Coming home late was the problem , walking past the cemetery .

Always said it was not the dead that I feared.

[Symptoms]

Getting the bus home from The Haymarket after the match ... as soon as the Ref blew for the end of the game we'd gallop at top speed down the lanes to get on 'The Newbiggin Bus' or the 'Ashington Bus' - I've forgotten their numbers..  Because we were fit young lads we always beat the crowds to the buses.  When we got back to Bedders the 'Pink' had arrived at the Newsagent (can't remember the name at the moment) opposite the Monument;  only the 1st half of the match was reported.

[Maggie/915]

Was the Trotter Monument also a fountain.;

[Canny lass]

It wasn't a fountain as such, Maggie, with spurting water, but it was a drinking fountain where you could quench your thirst from a water outlet above the semi-circular Bowl on the side.

Edited February 3, 2014 by Canny lass

[tonyg]

yes it was a fountain. he died aged 56 leaving a widow and twelve children' Dr Trotters' body was laid to rest with his ancestors in the kirkyard of Kells in Galloway'

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

Getting the bus home from The Haymarket after the match ... as soon as the Ref blew for the end of the game we'd gallop at top speed down the lanes to get on 'The Newbiggin Bus' or the 'Ashington Bus' - I've forgotten their numbers..  Because we were fit young lads we always beat the crowds to the buses.  When we got back to Bedders the 'Pink' had arrived at the Newsagent (can't remember the name at the moment) opposite the Monument;  only the 1st half of the match was reported.

I think the newsagent at The Red Lion - Beadnell's, got a few mentions when we were identifying old shops etc but this was the only post I could find that covered it so I've added a picture I have just come accross.

This is a very old 'photoshoped' postcard I saw in a book by Brian Godffrey - 'Postcards from Cramlington'. These were the postcards produced to cover the sight of the Zeppelin - April 14th 1915. 

It shows Dr Trotters monument, Beadnell's shop, The Wharton and a structure where the 'BUDC' shelter was erected.