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Just to keep everyone updated.......here is my 'application' for County Councillor. So we have a full list of candidates for the NCC Bedlington West Ward seat and it looks like an election has had its starter gate opened with claims, counter claims, spin and misdirection already! As I have said the only promise I give is to continue to do my best for the ward, so more of the same if you like! Like any job applicant a CV would seem an obvious starting option. So here are the main points in mine: As a resident I wasn’t happy with the way our Town’s needs had been ignored for decades so as a private individual I decided to try and do something about that. You don’t really need a position but you do need a commitment and some level of understanding as to how the system works. Set up the Bedlingtonshire Development Trust. Worked with NCC to get the sports pavilion at Gallagher Park. Ran a Fields in Trust campaign after getting Gallagher Park qualified as a QE11 Park and won a national award! Did the training in counselling skills so I could interact confidentially with people on a one to one basis. Completed training in procurement, project management, VCS development, planning training and others which I thought would be beneficial. Got the funding for and ran a Heritage themed event with Leading Link, which we had to go to Manchester and receive a commendation for. I had to go to Blyth Sports Centre and push in to argue with the Olympic Torch Committee for Bedlington to be included in their processional route so our kids could see it pass too. This after NCC said no! With Richard from Salvation Army and Lyn from Leading Link we had over 5000 people lining a very wet Front Street that day! Bedlington Terrier seats……..my design and my project with the money made paying for Xmas lunches for our seniors and support for our food banks. In May 2013 I was elected as a Town Councillor. The chevron parking on Glebe Road, my idea to stop the double parking there so others could pass. My project through the Town Council. New footpath down to Attlee Park, to stop the need for pedestrians having to step out on the main road. Again my project through the Town Council. After lacklustre and aimless two years under Labour control, which was more about claiming the council to be a Labour one instead of actually doing things, I was elected to the chair of the Town Council. What happened in the next two years was more than had happened at any time before! New Bus shelters throughout. Street furniture painted gold and green. Two new play parks at West Lea and Meadowdale. New Town Gateway features, which I designed and oversaw the project. Started on the discussions with a local resident who made sun dials internationally, but who couldn’t get one in their home town. Now in the Market Place! We bought the two new commemorative seats which now sit behind the War Memorial after I did the research and costing. Restarted the Town Fair and held it on the street. First to put on a show for the Xmas Lights switch on. Put in the original three defibrillators onto the street after the existing NCC Councillors refused to back them. Brought in a REDUCTION to the Town Council tax charge, the only one to ever manage that and do everything (plus) listed above. No wonder we got phone calls from all over asking how on earth we had done it. Then in 2017 I was elected to County Council. I said “I’m drawing a line in the sand…….we don’t go backwards from here!” First job get a light controlled crossing next to the COOP because it was gravely needed! All main roads into my ward area resurfaced. I recorded every pot hole in the ward and sent in the lists. I also had to stand up to what had happened at Arch and Active Northumberland to try and bring some resolution after unbelievably bad independent audits. Covid hit and while everyone else hid under the blankets I was running around dropping food parcels off because the government essentially locked up elderly people for 12 weeks! I made sure the ones I knew in my ward had something at least once a week. I got the 100’s of food parcels from the Salvation Army so I raised money for our food banks to make sure I wasn’t taking out more than I put it! West Lea Cemetery needs a special mention: First try and sort out the flooding issues which saw flooding on the children’s graves. Cleaned out the main culvert pipe which runs alongside the western side of the cemetery. Next the road inside the Cemetery needed resurfacing. Helped set up the Friends of West Lea Cemetery group. Did the D Day commemorative plaque at the side of the entrance. Renovated the old derelict hut which stands in there for a base for the Friends of West Lea Cemetery. Flooding reoccurred so I had to fight for new field drains fitted at the lowest bit on the South side. Did the Covid plaque at the other side of the entrance. Garden of Remembrance needed sorting out. The path between the cemetery and St Bennies needed sorting out too so QE11 Memorial Path, again after Bedlington not planned to get one. Now we have the best! New railings along the Front. Worked with Cemeteries management to turn the look of this cemetery around. It’s a popular place to visit these days and the Garden of Remembrance is now filled with flowers on tended plots. Plessey Woods needs a mention too. Went down 8 years ago and spoke to the staff there and saw it was only been used by a few dog walkers. Lobbied for the money to get the new playground done as well as path repairs etc. I got the funding on the proviso that I increased visitor numbers Put on events (children’s and adults) to get people there so they could see what was on offer. Argued for the extra parking area because it was proving that popular now. Had to get double yellow lines outside to stop the indiscriminate parking along Shields Road. Set up a Friends of Plessy Woods group. Continually argued for café and toilets upgrades which are now planned for end of this summer. Came up with the idea of Climbing Boulders as a way of attracting more people down there. Worked on the design, costs and siting with manufacturers and park managers. Should see them soon! More events in the pipeline for this park! Road speeds are an issue in several places, first one to tackle, Hazelmere. The internal roads have now gone to 20 MPH. Also the B1331 as it passes four school entrances……now 20 MPH after being told it wasn’t going to happen! New path opposite Hartford Hall, again after being told it wouldn’t happen. Had to fight to get Bedlington into the mix for a PlayZone but we were eventually. Then loads of fences and hoops to jump to get it actually built. Now being built at West Lea. The first new build leisure facility in Bedlington I can remember! I’ve also had to tackle house builders on behalf of residents and we have residents meetings with them (I’d like to say regularly but………) so problems can be worked out and residents made aware of what’s going to happen. Sensible communications is very often the key! I have documented just about every aspect to this ‘job’ over the last 8 years even to the point of being referred to solicitors when it doesn’t suit one party’s narrative! I’ve told everyone what’s going on, what’s about to happen and the reasons behind the way I’ve voted on most issues. I can’t think of any resident who has been in touch and who I’ve not responded to. We might not get the answer we wanted but all concerns have been forwarded to the right place. In short this is the sort of stuff I’ve been doing for the last 8 years, a lot of which aren’t really the remit of a councillor but hey it’s Bedlington, someone has to do something! This isn’t an exhaustive list by any means, and for more examples in much greater detail take a look at the Historical Factoids I posted on my Facebook page: “Malcolm Robinson Bedlington West Ward.” If you vote for me it’s not difficult to work out what you will get! Trying to inject some common sense into the county council instead of the political spin and gyrations of the Political Party’s! ‘Residents First’ because I don’t have a political party to promote and gain benefit for, so the only people who tell me what to say and do are my residents. We don’t go backwards and we don’t leave anyone behind! It’s that simple really!

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.

Its getting pretty acrimonious this election period. First rebuttal, "It seems the Labour canvassers going around today are saying the schemes and projects I’ve listed in my ‘CV’ post are only what I’m claiming to have been part of or done, in other words a figment of my imagination? Well the lists are there if you want to challenge them, Im quite happy to justify each and every one! In fact if you want some more………. Ill just say this in response, we had a Labour councillor for the four years before I got in and he picked up the nickname……..”The Invisible Man!” Lets not go back to those dark days! We have lost trust in the national government in record time, God forbid the same happens to our county!" Second one, "Just by way of a post script to my last ‘political’ post another claim by the Labour canvassers was that I always vote with the Conservatives. Doesn’t take too much effort to show that’s not true either! As part of the last NCC pre Budget presentations all councillors were given a large number of papers to read through. As I said at the time the financials alone were 467 pages. It would seem I was the only one to pick up on the Advance proposals they contained. You might think with tens of millions of pounds at stake it would be a stand alone item but I could only find three quite curtailed references to it. As usual I asked about it because I didn’t understand completely what was intended. Once I had the explanations my words were……….”That’s a deal breaker for me, if I went along with it I couldn’t look my residents in the eyes ever again!” Now I’ve put that in inverted commas because that’s exactly what I said at the time in the faces of the main political and professional players at County Hall and that why I voted against the conservative proposed budget. Fast forward to the recent vote on the restructure of Advance, only a month or so ago, and we see the whole Labour group vote with the conservatives on this issue with only Independents voting against. These days I only believe half of what I see and nothing of what I hear, that might be good advice for residents in what is fast becoming a pretty acrimonious election period. I’m trying to remain positive and not descend to levels others are crawling around in, but it’s hard!"

Billy Mcglen was my Grandad. I often (on what would have been his birthday) Google his name. This year I came across your post. It's nice to think he is so well remembered.

Seems everyday there is a different attack..........and I am not attacking any other candidates but I am going to defend myself! I don’t normally respond to overtly ‘aggressive’ posts, that’s a one way route, but somehow I’m being accused of ‘hiding’ something about this Members Local Improvement Scheme funding? Not quite sure how seeing as I posted the FULL details of the scheme three weeks ago on 1st April on this page, a page that’s open to public access. I do try and keep my residents informed! So the funding is there, the list of things I’ve supported with it is there along with the costings. Even the cancelled projects are listed so I’m not quite sure what’s been hidden? Members get an allowance of up to £15K PA to ‘spend’ on small projects in their wards. I make sure every penny of mine is spent in the ward or very close to it, if there are things which benefit my residents. Just some very recent examples: First the small path I had been asked to get done opposite Hartford Hall. I had it priced up off NCC and it came back at over £30K. I put in the last of my MLIS funding, just over £10K, and Christine, Bedlington Central, agreed to put in £4K to make it happen. So for the £10K in my pot we got over £30k’s worth of work done. Second one, the QE11 Memorial Path and Garden of Remembrance at West Lea Cemetery. We weren’t getting anything so I badgered the Leader of NCC until he told me to design a scheme and they would consider it for funding out of the QE11 funding NCC had already agreed. I did and eventually got £24K out of them. Along with £1K donation from the Friends of West Lea Cemetery group I put in the rest out of this MLIS funding. So we got over £50Ks worth of work done there. I’ve also put in £5K into the café and toilets upgrades at Plessey Woods which is costing about £300K! So nothing hidden it’s all there in black and white but given the associated funding it unlocks I’m happy to use it for projects which can be ramped up with clear community benefits, some smaller projects like dropped kerbs and bollards to larger projects like the QE11 stuff. Even sharing costs with neighbouring ward councillors on projects with joint benefits makes sense to me.

Like I said it getting unbelievable out there............ Well it seems the Labour candidate is now going around telling people I can’t get anything done because I’m not at the ‘Top Table’ because I’m not in the Labour party. I’m wondering which ‘Top Table’ that might be? Might be the MP’s ‘Top Table’, or the North East Mayor’s ‘Top Table’ or even the Crime and Police Commissioners ‘Top Table’? These are ALL positions which once elected should be ‘A’ Political and not be used to gain influence and promote individual devotees. They are supposed to be there to serve their respective communities in their positions without favour! Just goes to show the ‘locked doors and smoke filled rooms’ are very much still in play even today. And we thought we had seen the last of that sort of thing! Absolutely shocking but from a party that’s reneged on its promises to our elderly population, WASPI women, farmers, veterans and the sick and disabled, etc., etc. and seems intent on taxing us more and more so it can fritter cash away on building the PM’s international reputation, I’m not too sure its unexpected!

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.

My latest offering........... Been told off several residents today they have received their postal voting papers today and they have filled them in, ticking my name, and reposted straightaway. Thanks very much I really do appreciate the trust you have shown! I have tried to steer well clear of the shenanigans going on at the minute with political posts in Bedlington, preferring to illustrate lessons from recent Bedlington history we should all be aware of. Failure to learn from the past is a recipe for continued failure and I think we have had enough of that! As all the main political parties played roles in what I see as snubbing the needs of this Town I cannot understand how anyone can trust them again. Time and time again we have seen decisions based purely on political party benefit and that’s why I think the political parties are part of the problem not the solution! It’s also one of the main reasons I get reprimanded so much by chairs in meetings because I call it out every time I encounter it. There are excellent Independent choices at these elections, people with real experience and knowledge, people who have leant how the system works and where the failures are, so they know what to look out for and how to get around them. That takes years to learn, not 5 minutes! I said at the very beginning of this election this is about trust, I don’t think we can trust any of the political parties given how they have screwed us over every time they have been in power. Even at national level we can see how much political manifestos are worth and if they can get away with it what chance do we have at this level of government? In the last 8 years of being a county Councillor I’d like to think I have never broken the trust and faith people gave me when they elected me, from day one! It’s your choice, please use it wisely.

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.

@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.

Then and Now

@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 :-

Not that my memory is brilliant these days but I do recall Joe Rooney mentioning the fire when he posted a comment about his older broter :-

I don’t know if there are photos of Cragg’s Buildings out there, but there were some in the papers in 1943 after it was on fire. (No. 5, 6, 7 and 8).

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.

@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 😁

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.

Here it is, arrowed in red.

@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.

Hi Alan, I’ve checked that too. I’m trying to find my granda, he got my grandma pregnant and her dad, a Home Guard threatened to shoot him if he came back haha. However the name we have doesn’t seem to fit the DNA ancestry profiles. thank you though

Well! That was a nice little wander around a place I love, and looking so much better than it's ever done before. Thank you Malcolm for all your hard work.

Seems this stuff caused quite a commotion after I said this was some of the stuff I've been doing over the last few years Then being told I was dreaming...............

https://www.business-live.co.uk/enterprise/north-east-suppliers-sought-landmark-31436618?utm_source=inyourarea.co.uk&utm_medium=iya-app&fbclid=IwY2xjawJvDTVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHi0eMNsqaviNgK8kv51ZUAfbenEM89HvLP9PpsVVC2_QRj7JVD0l6uyDhVy6_aem_mO_PBkDQX402OCn54xVsOA

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

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.

@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 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

Possibly this?

I see what you mean! They did move around a bit in those days. They sort of outgrew their living space and swapped with another family member with a smaller family.

@Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) thank you for the advice, very helpful. There’s a lot of stuff on here to look around at 😁

Sorry I don’t think I worded it right. Oh dear 😅. I did mean door numbers, not the schedule in censuses—I meant to infer that at some point in time the Rooneys seem to live at nearly every door number (3, 6, 8 etc) and the numbers are always changing because they switched houses that much. It is quite interesting to see how everyone in such a small space was connected, because there was quite a lot! In 1939, No. 9 (Tweddle) & 10 (Bell) families connected to the Rooneys as the Tweddle’s adopted a grandaughter of Ellen Rooney. I think the Tweddle’s had been at Cragg’s since about 1914 too.

@loopylou You may be confusing schedule numbers with door numbers. There are very few door numbers in the census records before 1911 but there are always schedule numbers in the far left-hand column of the census returns. These numbers can and do change as they don’t refer to any building, only to the households within them. The 1911 census was a bit different. You will find the schedule number in the top right hand corner of page 2 for each household - the part filled in by the householder. The correct address and house number (if there is one) you will find on page 1, filled in by the enumerator before he delivered the forms to the household. The address given by the householder on page 2 doesn't always agree with the address given by the enumerator. Everybody in the same street could call it by a different name. AS for 3 Craggs Buildings at the Bank Top. From your fragment of paper it does look like John's wife was living there pre-WW1 but by 1921 it was her daughter Ellen who occupied that house together with her husband James Thompson and they were still there in 1939. You need to go a bit further along the road in 1921 to find John's wife Ellen at number 8 Craggs Buildings. She is then widowed and head of the household. Living in are son Bernard and his wife Rachel together with their 5 children. Still at home are sons Joseph C and John Edward.

@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.

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!

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

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.

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

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.

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??

Charlie’s brother Geoff (my step father) did pass away in South Africa but died of a brain haemorrhage not some mysterious African parasite. It’s very true Charlie and Geoff were very much the polar opposites, even more so with the third brother John. Geoff was more a family man with fantastic values and an ambition to live a better life abroad. A great sportsman, running for county with Morpeth Harriers alongside Jimmy Alder whom went on to bigger success in the sport and, almost, playing lawn bowls for England. Geoffs greatest achievement was raising another man’s children as his own. Giving them his name, his all, and his unconditional love. Although born to a different father, I have proudly carried the surname Kyle since immigrating to SA at the age of 9 back in 1982. Geoff left a lasting impression on all he came into contact with. Loved by many and now, missed by a few.

Thanks for the information . I lived in Bedlington as a child, but moved away, when I was twelve. I spent a lot of time visiting my grandparents who lived in Shiney Row and was delighted after spending yet another holiday up north my husband and I moved back to Northumberland .

I haven't heard of either identity discs or first aid kits for children. However, I do recognise the name Lifebuoy - a soap in common use during my childhood, When the pit-baths opened at Netherton Colliery my father refused to use it. He thought it smelled like 'women's scent'. If I'm totally honest, the words he used were "like a whores handbag". I thought it smelled like carbolic myself. He stuck to the hard, green, Fairy Household soap that was grated (on the cheese grater) to put into the washing machine/poss-tub.

I've just come across this interesting site created by Derek Johnstone about those local lads who died fighting in the Great War (I don't know if this has been posted on this forum before). https://docplayer.net/152715054-Bedlington-soldiers-who-died-in-the-great-war.html