Mount Pleasant Granary 1840s

[loopylou]

Hi, this is my first post on here. Whilst doing research I’ve discovered one of my ancestors (surname Dixon) was born in 1846 at “Mount Pleasant Granary” in Bedlington. I’ve never heard of this place before, does anyone have any idea where it was? In later censuses his birth is down as Sleekburn so maybe it was near here.

All I can find on google about it is another person who was born there in 1851.

 

Thank you 🙂

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

Welcome to the group @loopylou. 

I have seen 'Mount Pleasant' memmtion on the old maps of the area but can't remember having heard about a Granary around that agricultural area. Bedlington Station used to be known as Sleekburn.

This 1859 Map enlarged shows Mount Pleasant :-   

This 1920 map (not enlarged) shows the Sleekburn area with Mount Pleasant still mentioned :-

[loopylou]

Thank you for the welcome 😀

I have seen that farm before, didn’t know it was called Mount Pleasant—interesting. If I remember correctly Mount Pleasant Granary appeared in the 1841 census after Sleekburn Grange and that Mount Pleasant Farm. Seems a bit strange for it to have just disappeared!

Edited October 24, 2024 by loopylou

[loopylou]

I wonder if this “Granary Point Jetty” was named after Mount Pleasant Granary…?

“the suggestion was taken up and the rail was completed in 1841, joining the existing wagon way at Bedlington Station, finishing up at Granary Point Jetty, East Sleekburn.”

https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Bedlington_Ironworks

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

16 hours ago, loopylou said:

I wonder if this “Granary Point Jetty” was named after Mount Pleasant Granary…?

“the suggestion was taken up and the rail was completed in 1841, joining the existing wagon way at Bedlington Station, finishing up at Granary Point Jetty, East Sleekburn.”

https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Bedlington_Ironworks

Had a look at the small amount of info on the area that I have (Evan Martin booklets) and can't find anything to help you

Naturally if anything crops up I will add it to this topic.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

@loopylou - had a flick throught a booklet on Sleekburn by Stephen B. Martin (Evan Martin's farther) and there is a short reference in it to Mount Pleasant Farm and the granary gets a mention when it was owned by the Watson family of North Seaton :-

 

[Canny lass]

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).

 

[loopylou]

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.

[Canny lass]

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.

[loopylou]

Thank you! (a bit late on the response 😁) . I believe the premise of his parents lodging is very likely. It completely missed me, but in 1851 the family was living at “Lodging Houses” in Bedlington (but do not know where these were located). 
 

1861 census shows next on the schedule to Mugger’s Corner a lot of “licensed lodging houses” so I wonder if it was here??

Edited Sunday at 21:26 by loopylou
Extra info

[Canny lass]

14 hours ago, loopylou said:

I believe the premise of his parents lodging is very likely. It completely missed me, but in 1851 the family was living at “Lodging Houses” in Bedlington (but do not know where these were located). 
 

1861 census shows next on the schedule to Mugger’s Corner a lot of “licensed lodging houses” so I wonder if it was here??

Welcome back!
You are right when you say that there were lodging houses at the entrance to Mugger’s Neuk in 1861. There were in fact two, but in 1851 these were one larger lodging house. As I mentioned earlier, housing was scarce for the increasing workforce so as well as the lodging house which housed 17 lodgers (and the family of three who ran it), there were a further 60 people lodging in the market place within the homes of various families. However, I don’t think your relatives were lodgers of either sort.

In 1851 there were no Dixons living in the lodging house or lodging with private families in the area where the lodging house was ie. the market place. If your relative is who I think he is, Charles Dixon with father of the same name and a mother named Dorothy, then he did live in the Market Place just to the left of the Howard Arms when facing that building. Why do I think this?

The enumerator’s route, 1n 1851, went from “the first house in the corner below the Cross to the last house at the east end of the town on the same side”. He then crossed the road and enumerated “the south side of the town from the first house in the Mill Yard at the east end to the last house in the Half Closes on the same side”. 

There was a general lack of postal addresses in the 1851 census as the postal system hadn’t really developed at that time. However, there were schedule numbers for each household in the census documents and certain locations were identifiable by the occupation of the residents – such as “innkeepers” and “grocers” who usually lived on the premises. 

Looking at the 1851 census for Bedlington, district 2a (which includes the market place), and following the enumerators route, as he himself describes it above, the first house below the cross has schedule number 1. Successive sch. nrs. are given in sequence to the various households along the route. NB. The sch. nr. applies to a household, NOT a building. There may be several households in one building.

Continuing eastwards in the enumerator’s footsteps from Muggers corner towards Leadgate House (on the corner opposite the Northumberland Arms) you will find at sch. nr 29 an innkeeper with the unusual surname Petrie. Unfortunately, there is no name to the inn. However, if we look up Petrie in the following 1861 census, we can see that he is in the same position and that his business is the Howard Arms. That sorted out we leave sch. Nr 29, the Howard Arms, and get back onto the enumerator’s route. 

We don’t have to go far to find Charles and Dorothy Dixon together with 5-year-old Charles Dixon and his siblings because he is at sch. nr 31, almost next door to the tavern. At sch. nrs. 30, 31 and 32 are three small households which  probably, but not certainly, occupy the small row of buildings which I’ve arrowed blue in the map below. What I can say with certainty is that Charles Dixon lived in one of the buildings - or the buildings in the yards behind them -which I’ve marked in red.

Edited Monday at 12:00 by Canny lass

[loopylou]

 

On 07/04/2025 at 12:56, Canny lass said:

 What I can say with certainty is that Charles Dixon lived in one of the buildings - or the buildings in the yards behind them -which I’ve marked in red.

Wow this is some brilliant detective work, thank you very much. 😁 Never would’ve thought of using pubs and shops as identifiers, will definitely take this into account for the future.

My ancestor is the Charles you mention (3x great grandfather to be specific) after 1851 these Dixon’s tended to switch between Choppington & Bedlington. (Charles parents were buried in Choppington if I recall) but Charles was buried at Netherton Lane. Sadly he did not live very long, he died at Doctor Terrace in 1892 aged 46.

Edited 12 hours ago by loopylou

[Canny lass]

Happy to have been able to help! Pubs, in particular are good markers. The landlords were often there for years so you can go to a later census where more addresses are available and get a better location. Another tip is to always read the enumerator's description of his area.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

@loopylou compilation of images - Google steet view 2023 - Market Place photo c1930 & @Canny lass's map extractb :-

 

[loopylou]

@Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) this is brilliant, thank you 😁

Edited 8 hours ago by loopylou