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 17 hours ago 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 6 hours ago by loopylou