Hi. My Mam, Joyce Riley nee Butcher, but her Mam was a Collingwood.

[Nicola Riley]

My Mam, Joyce Riley nee Butcher/Collingwood, recently passed away on the 1st February 2026. I have for many years now been researching our family tree. A contributor to the page commented on #1 &2 Fountain Yard. Mam was born @#1 in 1947. Her mam, Margaret Annie Collingwood, was also born at Fountain Yard  in 1908, so that was possibly a family home. My Grandad, William Henry Quilter Butcher was born in 1901 @ Doctor Pit. I would love to know if there is anyone who knows more about the history of these places, especially where mam was born. Her grand Uncles; Nanna's brothers ; James Robert Collingwood, and George Collingwood are mentioned as casualties of The Great War. Thankfully mam was able to visit their memorials.

[Canny lass]

@Nicola RileyHi Nicola, welcome to the forum.

Sorry to hear about your mam's death. If I'm thinking of the right person then I went to school with Joyce - Westridge Secondary Modern 1959 - 1962. A very nice girl. She wasn't in my class but in the same class as my best friend so we hung about together during our breaks. You'll find a couple of school photos of that Joyce in the Gallery, Westridge album. Might be worth a look.

I think you may have found the topic related to Fountain Yard where your nanna's brothers are mentioned. I don't think Fountain Yard comes up in any other topics. Dr Pit is up for discussion frequently. Type "Dr Pit" (inverted commas are important) in the search box, top right and you'll get a list of where it appears.

Edited February 12 by Canny lass

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

@Nicola Riley welcome to the forum. Seeing your post made me check the album, Doctor Pit and Rows, we have in the gallery section and I see we don't have the old maps showing the rows so I have added a compilation from the old maps showing the siting of the rows.

This 1896 map shows the location of the Dr Pit and rows within the town :-

[Kathleen Hills]

On 11/02/2026 at 23:50, Nicola Riley said:

My Mam, Joyce Riley nee Butcher/Collingwood, recently passed away on the 1st February 2026. I have for many years now been researching our family tree. A contributor to the page commented on #1 &2 Fountain Yard. Mam was born @#1 in 1947. Her mam, Margaret Annie Collingwood, was also born at Fountain Yard  in 1908, so that was possibly a family home. My Grandad, William Henry Quilter Butcher was born in 1901 @ Doctor Pit. I would love to know if there is anyone who knows more about the history of these places, especially where mam was born. Her grand Uncles; Nanna's brothers ; James Robert Collingwood, and George Collingwood are mentioned as casualties of The Great War. Thankfully mam was able to visit their memorials.

Hi Nicola your mam Joyce was my aunty Joyce my mam was your mams sister muriel I'm so sorry to hear of aunty Joyces passing the only connection to your mam was through my mam who is no longer with us I was looking up names to find out information about my family history and don't ask me how but this post came up I also like to look up family history but as my mam and dad split up when I was only 7 years old and mam never really liked speaking about her past its hard to find out things.  I do hope my uncle Ronny is still with us and hope you are all well x

[Nicola Riley]

Hi Kathleen, 

Yes, Dad is still very much with us albeit house and bedbound now. 

Mam's passing was expected but still a shock.  The last of her siblings. Mam did manage to speak to Auntie Muriel a few months before she (Muriel) passed away. Trevor has been keeping our ties to Northumberland open , now that we live down south-ish, actually in East Anglia. If you want to k ow more information,  and you're on Ancestry, you could look up my family tree. It's quite extensive and quite a lot of information about the Butcher/Collingwood side there too. 

Nicola