On Bedlington.uk Now...

@loopylou if you have been using the saerch facility on this group then there are a couple of points that we eventually stumbled on.If you put a phrse in the search box eg - Bank Top Hotel - then the system returns you every comment that includes the word Bank or Top or Hotel. If you add quotation marks - "Bank Top Hotel" then you only get comments with the full phrase 'Bank Top Hotel' If you enter a phrase within a category, eg. History Hollow, then the system only searches that category. If you select the 'Discussion' tab and then search then the system searches all the categories.

@_pauls do you follow Malcolm Robinson on this group and Facebook? This is a link to his Facebook page :- https://www.facebook.com/p/Malcolm-Robinson-Bedlington-West-Ward-100057586923534/?locale=en_GB

Hello - just checking in for the first time in a year or so to see how people feel it is going? From my hideout in West Bedlington I can see that we have invested in a wonderful set of traffic lights and cones while we widen footpaths that will result in approximately 0 additional pedestrian and cyclist journeys to the station that we haven't got yet. Entrance to the memorial garden looks nice*. In a couple of weeks I will cast my vote for my local independent candidate because at least I know he actually cares, but in a sense I wonder how the electoral comission can keep a straight face when offering elections for Bedlington when I suspect that NCC hasn't even heard of the place. Although to be fair they got it spot on when they decided what we needed was half a dozen empty flats and 4 empty retail units. *for real... not sarcasm in case anyone wondered

@Canny lass thank you for the thread, I’d not noticed it before. I think the families must’ve swapped around quite often. Each time I see new census’ and records the building is the same but the door number has changed 😁. Rooneys started living at Craig’s Bldgs by Aug 1914 at least, before that they were at Back Row in 1912 (according to school records of the youngest two sons; Joseph C b. 1900 and John Edward b. 1902 — and a death record for the infant son of eldest dau Margaret b.1888). John’s wife Ellen was a next of kin for my relative in his WW1 record. This had her living at number 3.

Topic: Mary (molly) Rooney 1926-2008 It was the same Joe Rooney that posted the above topic in ‘Public Notices & Announcements’, December 8 2008, that I was referring to. He died in 2010. April 2010 @sissinghurst posted 2 topics: 'Joe Rooney poorly' followed by 'Joe Rooney’s Passing'. @loopylou the topic 'Mary (molly) Rooney 1926-2008' posted in ‘Public Notices & Announcements’ might be of interest to you as Molly was born at 6 Craggs Buildings, Bank top which you mentioned in an earlier post.

I joined the group in 2013 and I remember coming accross his comments on the housing and the families that lived at the Bank Top in the 1940's :-

Moved to Canada. Hasn't posted anything on here since 2010.

Wow, what a small world! 😁

@Canny lass if I am on the right wave length was Joe Rooney, ex Banktop moved to Australia, a member of this group and he posted lots of info in History Hollow on the area and the families around the Banktop?

John Rooney had some of my relatives as neighbours!

@Canny lass thank you very much for your research 🙂 @Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) thank you for the maps and image comparison I didn’t think that I would be able to see a photo of Oldgate Row (or that any existed) so this is a great help. My ancestors lived there for a few years 1908-1911 then (John Rooney) died so from there they were scattered around the Bank Top & Furnace area. A lot of the rows (Back, Brick & Stone) and then Craigs/Craggs Blgs. I have info about the other places but Oldgate was always the outlier 😁

@loopylouusing the info from @Canny lass this is a then and now of the area.

Sorry about that! I started to doubt myself but now I can say that my posts were correct. You have got it right Eggy. Doctors Row in the first photo and Old Gate Row in the second photo. The building which "looks as if it is being demolished" is in fact the old gate house from which the street above got its name. There used to be five families living in that at one time.

Ignore my last two posts! I might be confusing Old Gate Row with Old Factory Row. I’ll have to have a rummage in my old research notes.

So at the top left this is Gatehouse/Doctors Row ? :- And I joined two photos together (using the railway line asa guidline) to show the area east of the Furnace bridge and will Old Gate Row be the row on the right hand photo ie the row closest to the house that looks as if it is being demolished?

At the top of the hairpin bend was Gatehouse Row. It later became Doctors Row.

@Canny lass - I remeber you did a lot of research into the Furnace/Bebside area and was it Old gate Row, along with another row, that was at the top of the Hairpin Bend. If that's the one then we have a photo, looking up from the Furnace bridge area showing the two rows.

Here it is, arrowed in red.

Hi, My ancestor’s lived at this location in the 1911 census. I have tried searching it up but not found much information about it. Does anyone know more specifically where it was located? I would assume south of the Bank Top across the river, possibly? A burial record I’ve located also refers to it as just “Oldgate”, no Row. Thank you 🙂

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

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

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.

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.