Oldgate Row Bebside Furnace

[loopylou]

It looks like that between 44-49 (presumably 1944) that the middle block was demolished after the fire but the outer houses kept. Then at some point between 1949 and 1959 the lower houses also demolished, keeping the ones closest to Bank Top Hotel until River View Close was built.

 

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

@loopylou & @Canny lass the only old photo I have seen that includes Craggs Buildings is the 1930s one in one of Evan Martin's books on Bedlington :-

And I think Craggs buildings are the ones I have marked with a red star in this copy :-

 

 

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

Then and Now 

[loopylou]

@Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) I think the bungalow you reference as River View in the older picture is actually the second one in, number 2? 

Maps has a no 1 River View which nearly lines up with a corner house in Tomlea Avenue . But the current end house (2) is a bit further down. I assume a few got demolished over the years. 

Edited Friday at 20:16 by loopylou

[loopylou]

Possibly this?

 

[loopylou]

I think this is how Craggs Buildings may have been numbered.

It seems it was named this due to the former license holder of the Puddlers Arms being a J. W. Craggs. He had the pub in 1887 before dying in 1889, aged 43.

No. 1 started where the Bank Top is now, and continued down to No. 13/14 next to River View.

No. 1 - 4 are the cottages that separated the Puddlers from Bank Top Hotel. The 1881 census lists an address “Clark’s Cottages” inbetween “Liddle’s Cottages” (Liddle’s Yard) and “Puddler’s Arms”. I think it’s likely Clark’s Cottages referred to No. 1-4. A former landlord of the Puddlers was Henry Clark.

No. 5 - 8, an auction piece on 22 Oct 1864 (Newcastle Daily Chronicle) lists the Puddler’s Arms as having “eight large rooms”. Possibly that the Puddler’s was split into four two-room flats.

No. 9 - 14, the same auction piece lists the Puddlers Arms as having “three houses, with four rooms each, adjoining the above.” I believe these were split into the six two-room apartments of No. 9 - 14, as a later auction piece on 27 Feb 1869 (Newcastle Daily Journal) now describes the attached property to Puddler’s Arms as “six double cottages”.

 

Photo with the door numbers included.

Edited Saturday at 08:25 by loopylou

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

@loopylou I agree with you on the cottage numbers for River View👍. You have really put a lot of work into delving into your family's past

[loopylou]

@Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) Thank you 😄 Cragg’s Bdgs comes up a lot in my family history.

I’m surprised Puddlers Arms doesn’t have much information about it but I guess if it stopped being a pub in the 1890s it makes sense. I think there might be misconceptions that the Puddlers Arms was *on* the site that the Bank Top Hotel is, when it was a few doors down (I thought this at first 😁). But maps do have Puddlers Arms in one version and the Bank Top in nearly the same place next. So I can see how that would happen. 

(On another bit, I know there is a Bedlington Facebook group for things like this? Would this info be useful?)

Edited Saturday at 18:54 by loopylou

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

@loopylou I would suggest 1st select the Discussion tab then 2nd enter the one word ie. Puddlers  in the search facility. That will return you 3 pages = 65 entries for where Puddlers is mentioned on this site.

There is nothing definite on this site about The Puddlers Arms and The Bank Top Hotel to suggest that the pub changed it's name but it does, because of the space available in the small strip of land, seem more likely to be what happened. 

I know @Canny lass has looked at the area and in the past she found that as well as the Puddlers houses next to River View there was also another row of houses on the opposite side of the pub called Puddlers that later became part of Glassey terrace with the name Puddlers.

If you do search fot Puddlers then yoy will see what I have said above explained in more detail and the fact that Puddlers lives again = some old airey houses in Tosson Close were rebuilt as Puddlers Drive.

There is a Facebook group Bygone bedlington (I am a member) and you will find similar info on that group but again nothing concrete and within that group I have never seen any member delve into census records etc and post info within the group. The admin of the group is a retired gemtelman John Kyyzanowski who may have info but I can't be sure. John used to work at the Northumberland Archives site at Woodhorn Colliery. His main  passion is collecting old postcards of Bedlington.

I will have a delve around (as long as I remember  and get back to you.

Don't think there is any info on the Puddlers from Ireland that were brought accross to work on the Bedlington Iron Works in the Furnace area. Puddlers Row is said to have beem built for those workers. I'll have a scan of the Evan Martin booklet :-

   

[loopylou]

It is certainly a mystery @Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)! Thank you for the info it is very helpful. Will have a look at those. I knew about Puddlers Row but was not aware that Glassey Terrace was formerly a Puddlers-related name too. 😄

One thing that confuses me is the way that Cragg’s Bdgs is labelled in the 1911 census. It makes it look like the Puddlers Arms is in the middle of the block and was later renamed to be part of Craggs. Rather than the Puddlers Arms being demolished and replaced with Bank Top Hotel.

After Bank Top Hotel the addresses go as;

No. 1 Craggs (missing, a shop? Uninhabited?)

No. 2 Craggs Buildings (Weightman)

No. 3 Craggs Buildings (Elliott)

No. 4 Craggs Buildings (Kinghorn)

following these are

Old Puddlers Arms (Mawson)

Old Puddlers Arms (Thain)

Old Puddlers Arms (Cole)

Old Puddlers Arms (Burrell)

All of these addresses ”Old Puddlers Arms” have two rooms each, which equates with the eight rooms  described in the auction.

then confusingly

Craggs Buildings (no number) (McMullen)

No. 2 Craggs Buildings (Thompson)

No. 3 Craggs Buildings (Hutchinson)

No. 4 Craggs Buildings (Campbell)

No. 5 Craggs Buildings (Hadaway)

Craggs Buildings (no number) (Parker)

These also had two rooms each. Then after follows River View. It would appear that No. 2/3/4 are duplicated, but I do not think that these are the same properties, rather that the end six properties later become No. 9-14 of Craggs.

Edited Sunday at 11:52 by loopylou

[Canny lass]

Make a cup of tea, there's no way of explaining this quickly!

This may throw a little light on the mystery! The enumerator for Bedlington, District 9 in the 1911 census, was one J W Gaskin. He appears to have been a man who took his work very seriously. Going above and beyond the call of duty in meticulously recording the statutory requirements: name, age, birthplace etc. of each person he recorded even a brief description of the building in which the residents lived. From these descriptions I think its now possible to identify the buildings at Bank Top – at least in 1911.

@loopylou Yesterday you described the census for 1911 in the following manner. (I’ve taken the liberty of colour coding your text so that I can compare them to census records, photos and maps. Unfortunately I can't use coloured text here).

You said:

“No. 1 Craggs (missing, a shop? Uninhabited?) BLUE
No. 2 Craggs Buildings (Weightman) BLUE
No. 3 Craggs Buildings (Elliott) BLUE
No. 4 Craggs Buildings (Kinghorn) BLUE

following these are
Old Puddlers Arms (Mawson) GREEN
Old Puddlers Arms (Thain) GREEN
Old Puddlers Arms (Cole) GREEN
Old Puddlers Arms (Burrell) GREEN

All of these addresses ”Old Puddlers Arms” have two rooms each, which equates with the eight rooms  described in the auction. 
then confusingly 
Craggs Buildings (no number) (McMullen) RED
No. 2 Craggs Buildings (Thompson) RED
No. 3 Craggs Buildings (Hutchinson) RED
No. 4 Craggs Buildings (Campbell) RED
No. 5 Craggs Buildings (Hadaway) RED
Craggs Buildings (no number) (Parker) RED
These also had two rooms each. Then after follows River View. It would appear that No. 2/3/4 are duplicated, but I do not think that these are the same properties, rather that the end six properties later become No. 9-14 of Craggs.” 

Let's ompare that with what the enumerator says.

The enumerator describes the buildings these people lived in as follows:

P 10: Sch nrs. 217 – 219 “Craigs Buildings, 1 block of 4 cottages” (1 unoccupied therefore only 3 sch. Nrs.) BLUE
P 10: Sch nrs. 220 – 223 “Old Puddler’s Arms, 1 block 4 dwelling houses” GREEN
P 11: Sch nrs. 224 – 229 “Craigs Buildings 2nd block in flats, 6 dwelling houses” RED
There after follows River View starting with “a semi-detached villa, a villa, 6 more semi-detached villas and then 1 block 7 cottages”.

 

If we transfer that information to a map (this one from 1924 as it’s the nearest I have) it looks like this:

Following on from the red marking of Craigs Buildings, 2nd block, I’ve marked the enumerator’s description of River View: semi detached villa (pink), villa (yellow) and 7 semi-detached villas (purple), 1 block of 7 cottages (orange).
If we then transfer that information to the 1930s photo it looks like this:
 

There are a couple of questions that arise:
The unmarked space between the blue marking and the green marking has no immediate explanation from the enumerator. I would suggest that it could be one of the 3 houses, each with four rooms, described in the 1864 advert as these are “adjoined” to the Puddler’s Arms. If this is the case then it should be marked BLUE. Much depends on the location of the outer wall of the Puddler’s Arms – to the right of or to the left of the unmarked space? In total, the three cottages have 12 rooms.
The advert dated 1869 includes 6 double cottages of 2 rooms each. This also gives a total 12 rooms, so these could be the 3 roomed cottages mentioned in 1864.

An alternative explanation for the space would be that it was occupied by the 2-roomed cottage offered for sale with the Puddler’s Arms in 1869 as part of the same lot for sale in 1869. If this is the case then it should be marked GREEN.

To me it seems that, at least in 1911, the large building contained not only the public house (to the right) but also 6 flats (to the left). I’ve said before that housing was at a premium due to the need for a greatly increased workforce in Bedlington. Perhaps the Puddler’s Arms originally occupied the whole of the building but renting out accommodation may have given the opportunity to provide a better income – for infinitely less effort.

 

 

[Canny lass]

Sorry, I forgot to include the source of the enumerators description of the buildings:

 

[loopylou]

Great work @Canny lass 😄 I agree that this is likely what the buildings were laid out as. A good thing that the enumerator was so detailed. Still such a mystery!

A quick peek on the 1881 census brings up also detailed addresses of the area. After Liddle’s Cottages (Liddle’s Yard?) there is “Clark’s Cottages” followed by the Puddlers Arms, then “Millfield Cottages”. After “Millfield” follows Puddlers’ Row.

I was wondering due to these two addresses surrounding the Puddlers’, the “Clark’s Cottages” may be a reference to BLUE in Craig’s Buildings, and then “Millfield Cottages” refer to the RED part of Craigs. These  addresses aren’t brought up again.

 

 

Edited Monday at 19:25 by loopylou

[Canny lass]

@loopylou I can certainly agree that Clarkes Cottages and the Craigs Bldgs adjoining the Puddler's Arms are one and the same thing. My only reservation is that the 4 dwellings of Craigs Bldgs have become 9 dwellings in Clarkes Cottages  - but it is possible. However, I'd be hesitant to say that Millfield Cottages are the same thing as the flats in Craigs Bldgs. It seems like an odd thing to call a flat a cottage.

It needs some more work. If we get a bit of rainy weather this week I'll have another look at the area.

Have you read any of the posts in the topic "Puddlers Raa (Row)"? There's some interesting info from people with first-hand knowledge of the area. You'll need to get your wellies on to read it as you'll have to 'wade' through a lot of info which isn't directly related to Puddler's Row. We do tend to digress a bit on this forum!

One of the things you'll find in the topic is this photo of Liddle's buildings from 1910. 

The angle on the corner suggests to me that it may be the building marked in orange here. It's definitely on a corner!

 

Edited 19 hours ago by Canny lass

[loopylou]

@Canny lass I wonder if there was one family/household per room at that time, hence the ability to squeeze nine families in there. Agreed about Millfield Cottages, there’s no glaringly obvious of the name connecting to the buildings (Craggs & Clark’s being previous landlords), and certainly could be that they were properties further down Puddlers Road. The Brewers Cottage is quite interesting, there was mention of Henry Clark owning/managing a brewery at Bedlington Iron Works, so they could be connected. 
 

I’m starting my way through the Puddler’s Raa thread, what an interesting read 😁 Directly from a family member of mine (whose siblings were born in Craggs recalls going to an aunts house in the 1950s, says the cottage (most likely #3) was nearer to the Bank Top Hotel and remembers that it had two rooms. Thinks the remaining properties were demolished in the 50s too. 

Edited 18 hours ago by loopylou

[loopylou]

*50-60s, sorry.