Bedlington Colliery

[Joe Ridley]

Thanks Allen,

I live next to the paint spray garage.  There was another garage opposite my house that was used by a haulage company in the past.  My house was originally bought from the Coal Board.  The road to the front of the house belongs to the NCB.  The council have plans to adopt this road and make a car park on the waste ground next to Liddles Terrace, to be used by rail travellers when the railway is reinstated.  I welome this as the road is in a poor state. 

I would love to find out if these garages once belonged to the coal board, the chapel is now used occasionally as a workshop.

Do you know which colliery was the nearest to where I live?

Joe

[Joe Ridley]

Hi Alan,

Here is a picture showing my house and the garages and chapel.  I believe the garages are owned by a genteman call Mr Edgar, I believe he lives in Bedlington.

Joe.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

28 minutes ago, Sloopy .Dog said:

Hi Alan,

Here is a picture showing my house and the garages and chapel.  I believe the garages are owned by a genteman call Mr Edgar, I believe he lives in Bedlington.

Joe.

 

Joe - that Mr Edgar is my nephew Mark, and yes he lives in Bedlidlington station. I have asked Mark, via email, if he knows of the history of the garages. Mark used to rent the garage off his uncle, Robert Hall (also lives in Bedlington Station) so they just might have the history. I will let you know, if and when Mark replies. Robert, now retired, doesn't use social media etc. but if Mark doesn't come back with any info I will ask my sister-in-law (Mark's mam and Robert's sister) to get Robert to get in touch.

On the 1938 (published 1937) map I posted you can see the Bedlington 'A' pit on the land that is now the Bower Grange estate. I don't know anything about any land the NCB might still own but I would expect that any NCB buildings in the Bedlington Station area would have been used by the 'A' pit. The Doctor Pit, at the Top end of Bedlington had all it's own buildings. The two pits were shared the same railway line for transporting their coal. From the Railway Station there was a branch line ran up to the 'A' pit and on through that pit to the Doctor Pit.

Have you ever used the Durham Mining Museum (DMM) site to get info on the local collieries? The DMM site has all the basic info on all the Northumberland and Durham collieries.

This is a link to the Index (A to Z) page for all the collieries :- 

 http://www.dmm.org.uk/collnear/b022.htm

 

  

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

24 minutes ago, Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) said:

On the 1938 (published 1937) map I posted you can see the Bedlington 'A' pit on the land that is now the Bower

Should say ... (published 1947)

  

 

[Joe Ridley]

Thanks again Alan,

I have spoken to Mark, He runs the spray shop next door to me.  His uncle ownes the garages and rents them out, I didn't know his name.  There used to be a pop factory at the top of the street, it is now flats,  There is another garage behind my house which is also a spray shop.  My house must be over one hundred years old and as I have said it was a colliery house, as is the one next door.  I love local history and as I come from a mining family I am interested in local mines.  I am originally from Prudhoe and both my granfathers, my father and his brothers worked at West Wylam Colliery.  When I left school I applied for work at West Wylam Collier but it was closing and I never got the chance.  According to coal board records there were shafts under my house and there is still a lot of coal under there.  Than you for the old photo's and maps.

Joe.

[Canny lass]

3 hours ago, Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) said:

@Sloopy .Dog & @Pete had a look at the old maps and there was a chapel next to the primary school but the old maps, upto 1938, don't show any buildings behind Ravensworth Street and Bridge Street. 

Had a look via Google street view and you can't get very close to the garages but there is a building, that I was unaware of when I lived in Bedlington, that could be the chapel you are on about.

Check out these images :- 

There is a Spiritual Church that is first shown on the 1938 New series and there is a close neighbouring building. Could they be the garages?

 

Edited January 2, 2022 by Canny lass

[Joe Ridley]

No I don't think that's it

Joe

[Joe Ridley]

Hi Canny Lass,

Ive had a better look at that map and I belive they are the garages and chapel.  My house is ex colliery and could be about 1925 or earlier.  The year it was built is not on my deeds.  

Joe.

[Joe Ridley]

Here is the map showing the chapel etc.

Joe

[Pete]

There's information on the colliery chapel website relating to a chapel in that area but not sure if it is the same chapel shown on your map.  http://www.bedlingtoncollierymethodist.co.uk/about-us.html

[Canny lass]

7 hours ago, Pete said:

There's information on the colliery chapel website relating to a chapel in that area but not sure if it is the same chapel shown on your map.  http://www.bedlingtoncollierymethodist.co.uk/about-us.html

It's not the same chapel.  The Colliery Methodist Chapel is just opposite the entrance to Bower Grange. I've marked the Spiritual Chapel with a pink dot.

 

[Canny lass]

9 hours ago, Sloopy .Dog said:

My house is ex colliery and could be about 1925 or earlier.  The year it was built is not on my deeds.  

@Sloopy .Dog Your house is definitely on the 1922 map. Have you any record of it, or your neighbour's house, previously being called Ferndale House or Chester House? These are the two names that show up next door to each other on Ravensworth Street in the 1939 register. That would locate them approximately between the two halves of ravensworth Street. In 1939 they weren't occupied by miners (who generally had a more simple terrace house, my relative lived in Liddle Street at that time)) but by a retired grocer and a retired schoolmaster. That's not to say they weren't owned by the colliery.

[Canny lass]

Sorry Joe, i forgot to post the 1922 map:

 

[Joe Ridley]

This map is interesting as it does not show the garages or the church.  My deeds show my house was bought from the Coal Board by Robert & Linda Brown on the 03/12/1983.  36 Ravensworth Street was also purchased from the Coal Board in 1983. by Mr & Mrs Darling.

Joe

[Canny lass]

Forget Ferndale house and Chester House! They were number 27 and 28. In 1939 number 36 was occupied by the Robinsons, a family of five plus what appears to be a visitor or boarder. The head of the family and one of the sons both worked for London North Eastern Railways - the father as a motor driver and the son a permanent way labourer. The residents of 37 did however have mining connections, the head of the family being a miner (filler underground). These two houses are pretty much mid-way between Bedlington A pit and Barrington Colliery. He could have worked at either.

Have you considered using the Land Registry for England? They aren't too expensive if the history is important to you. https://www.landregistrytitledeeds.co.uk

 

 

[Joe Ridley]

Thanks for that information.  I do use the Land Registry, only to find out recent information.  Do they do older searches?  I am a bit of a novice.  I did my family history and I enjoyed that.  I am trying to get maps of Bedlington,  It's a bit hard to find good clear maps.  I am grateful for the maps you sent.

I talked to an old resident who knew some history and he told me the garages were used by a haulage company.  He said he thought their name was James.  He said there was a garage straight across the road from my house.  Now demolished.  I have attached a picture of the spiritualist church.  Now used as a workshop.

Joe.

[Canny lass]

@Sloopy .Dog the following map-sites are free to use and should be useful to you:

https://maps.nls.uk/

https://www.oldmapsonline.org/

https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/maps

Those I posted above are edited screen dumps from these sites.

 

Re the Land Registry, I believe they do older searches as well but I don't have any personal experience of that facility. You could contact them and ask, before you order anything.

Thanks for the photo of the church. I see that it says "Spiritualist Church" above the door but I can't read the first word. Have you been able to read it?

I looked it up on Internet and it seems to still be in use as a spiritualist church at that address, although I can also see that the Ashington Spiritual community is now called "Ashington and Bedlington" Spiritualist Church - formerly it was just "Ashington".

https://bedlington.cylex-uk.co.uk/company/bedlington-station-spiritualists'-church-19320980.html

 

[Canny lass]

Forgot to mention:

If you are looking for maps to show Bedlington's growth and development I can recommend downloading this pdf:

https://www.northumberland.gov.uk/NorthumberlandCountyCouncil/media/Planning-and-Building/Conservation/Archaeology/Bedlington.pdf

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

@Sloopy .Dog - I have added the names of collieries I can remember that were in the area - don't think I've missed one but @HIGH PIT WILMA will keep me right. There was a railway link between the tow Bedlington pits and they both dumped the waste onto the same pit heap.

 

The site of the 'A' pit main shaft can be located on the Bower grange estate by the vent that was installed. I don't know exactly where it is but @John Fox (foxy) might be able to tell you. 

Edited January 4, 2022 by Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)

[Joe Ridley]

That's great, now know where all the pits were.  That spoil heap is some size.  There must be many miles of pit shafts under Bedlington.  There is a one under my house, plus it was an open cast mine previously. 

canny Lass has also been very helpful, giving me the names of previous tenants etc.  I don't think now that the garages were colliery.  I have attached a picture of the Spiritulist Church, now a work shop.

 

[Canny lass]

47 minutes ago, Sloopy .Dog said:

canny Lass has also been very helpful, giving me the names of previous tenants etc. 

The 1921 census should be released this year and there can be more to learn from that.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

1 hour ago, Sloopy .Dog said:

That's great, now know where all the pits were. 

There are 'Hot Spot' maps on the DMM site. The maps are for 1898, 1928 & 1951 and they show the active pits at that time.

If you visited the Bedlington Colliery page on that site you can select each 'Hot Spot' map by selecting the Go to... links on that page.

This is a direct link to the Bedlington Colliery page :-  http://www.dmm.org.uk/colliery/b022.htm

You can explore/play for ages on the DMM site

This is a copy (without the built in links) of the 1951 'Hot Spot' map - Netherton Colliery not on this one :-

 

[Canny lass]

I didn't know that! Thank you!

[John Fox (foxy)]

5 hours ago, Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) said:

@Sloopy .Dog - I have added the names of collieries I can remember that were in the area - don't think I've missed one but @HIGH PIT WILMA will keep me right. There was a railway link between the tow Bedlington pits and they both dumped the waste onto the same pit heap.

 

The site of the 'A' pit main shaft can be located on the Bower grange estate by the vent that was installed. I don't know exactly where it is but @John Fox (foxy) might be able to tell you. 

Behind Harewood Drive.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

1 hour ago, John Fox (foxy) said:

Behind Harewood Drive.

Thanks @John Fox (foxy)