johndawsonjune1955

interesting points indeed these Maggie. That abouth the steam engine holding the fence up at the swann, choppington, what malcolm was on about, just gives an example of what lays beneatrh bedlingtonshires earth. willoughby broke the steam engines up there. i wonder what else is hidden. talking abouth bedlingtonshire we have had some of the best pioneers in history when it comes to the railways. you mention a good deal of other valuable points too. all interesting and true. but if we look more within our shire of the past, choppington had some of the greats too. Thomas Burt worked at the local colliery. thomas glassey was the first primeminister of queensland in australia. we have the oldest pit lodge too in choppington colliery. barrington had some inventors too. cambois has a fantastic history, oh, and an invation took part there too. i feel the need to write something on it too lets get our area noticed more. i think we can if malcolm could get funding. and as of the time team or others like that, there is barry mead. btw barry is doing a talk on bedlington ironworks next month. i will ask mark where and the time as it slips my mind. very interesting, we never know who will be there, but it could bring interesting people to listen to the talk and what can develop one never knows. keep the good work up everyone, we are doing well on here with our heritage topic.

nice pics too. but do you know anyone on the pics ?

And heres a pic of the main gatepost showing the makers name.

And them lovely gates. Remember them ? Bought from the Paris Arts Exhibition by Malcolm they were. Long gone

dissapointed no one knows anyone. Who was there and remembers the dreaded Joyce or Joan. Cant remember her first name but her daughter one time was engaged to John Nettles of Bergerac FAME. Here she is on thje left of pic. 1982 i believe this was taken. who knows any of the guys in the pic ? it would be nice to put a name to them

there are plenty memories by members on here. but rhymes can't recall any. the games we played would be similar to other areas. i wil have a butchers through some of the groups paperwork see if there is anything filed away. Oh yes, just remembered, there was a cobler at Hartford and he repaied shoes and made shoes for people from around the area. everytime he did something he did a poem, rhyme about it and the person, and some vip peepes too from Hartford. It even included how much they paid him in some of them. We have his book with them in, but its not in great condition, and sadly won't be able to let you take it away as its only one of its kind, written by him, but i will see if a member has time to write a few out for you, and i can get them on-line. there from the just after the middle 1800's to late 1800;s a super piece of history.

lets look back at Hartford Hall as a rehabilitation centre . It wern't just for miners. I been there myself in 1981 after an accident. Lets see if we can put a name to faces beginning with 1982.

interesting. i got a few pics of the farm and workers. sort them out as soon as i get a chance.

yep m8 call me.

you never know. Lots of Orangemen were in this area. BTW. the other half of my family the "Lavery's" came from Ireland.

that sounds better altogether. i leave it in your capable hands to see what can be done and i will supply more rare pics for it.

cheers Malcolm if Foxy is up to it we can give it a go. interesting little project i think

Malcolm started a new topic off on the Front Street. See what you think m8 i joined them up and its like it was in 1959. However, we could say earlier if we aint got more to add on from then as it hadnt really changed. I am going off the 1959 bedlington picnic footage for these two pics. Just an idea. If its no good nothing lost, you know what i mean

So these pics from 1959 is what we would have seen. This is how it was then. If we put them together like this it starts taking shape

Do you think we could recreate Bedlington Front Street from years ago by using old pics ? I think it would be worth doing. Malcolm , i reckon it would be good for your project. What do you think. an example here's two pics , we could add on to these and re-create the street if we could get enough pics from that time

and there are many more too. sort them out very soon

An ols pic of mine.

Thats what me and Colin think. We been looking closely at the pic again today. However, with what was written on back of photo could they have been the last nailers at the Furnace ? But still agree with Vilcan Place and the oldest man on the left his face is very familiar, I do think i seen him before on another photo.

Looked at the photo with magnifying glass and its 1888. Its in pencil , faded but you can see it is 1888. Was it taken at the Furnace or the side of Vulcan Place ?

This is from Bedlington Furnace too. Same contact and she has many pics too. Can't say who she is as a couple of years back a certain person went to an elderly lady at Nedderton after finding out something from me and said he was from our history group. He was out of order and i won't say anything about this one in case he sees it on here. Mind you, i never have seen himon here, but you never know. These photos are all interesting and i think they need discussing. The pic of the first nailers could be the oldest of Bedlington i know of ? And, there are more. Lets know what the members think ?

Hi. Been to see a very interesting person today. Had a chat on Bedlington and the Furnace. She has given me a photo of The Last of the Nailers. She says it is Bedlington and on the back it is dated 1858. This has got me puzzled as of the date but it is in her families photographs and she aint sure who it is of. She is getting on in late life now and have to take that into my thinking. Could this be the Gibson family of Bedlington and a previous family member have written this on the back of the photo ? I don't know, what do you think. ? Post something else later as soon as it is scanned. From the elderly lady too.

that goods Adam im going to scan a lot in at weekend. never realised how many i had well over 500 maybe 600 thats not counting the groups folders of photographs. but nice to see some of the ones not seen often

cracking bit of history. Willoughby were the dismantlers and it wasnt just in the car park there. it was behing the pub. now a good little story and piece of history for you all here. Go along towards the old brickworks and the Choppington Station railway sign is to be seen where it was dumped. its still on some of the stone it was fastened too. will take some work to get it out the ditch tho Alittle further along in the ditch is a pit tub. Too heavy to get out, but in canny condition. Again at the Willow Bridge to the right on the Barrington side is manking in history. What about the first coal mine there by Thomas Mason ? Go have a look and see if you can find some of the old mine building, im sure you will. also the Unitarian Chapel was there and some of it dumped at the burn. There is across the burn, a small stone coffin. When i went to look at it, many years ago, a bloody rat jumped out of it and, well, i nearly did the unthinkable. Yes there is a lot of history there. Oh, got some good pics og Willoughbys cutting the engines up there too. And the railway line where the brought the engines to be cut up ended right at the rear of the Swann. Interesting aint it, and as Maggie says "Dig, and discover" Shes right. There are a lot of interesting places to dig around our area, and i used to dig old tips and collect old bottles, jars, clay pipes, jam pots, jam pot lids and a lot more. Found some interesting history on my digs and travels. Never done it for many many years now, but plenty to find. Get along the ditch if your in good health and recover some good historic bits.

From 1925 this Easton Bus is about to go to Blyth Carnival. Cracking old pic, but do we know anyone. It would be nice if we could put some names to faces. Trotters Memorial is visible too. Will u/l some more very soon.

Here is a rare pic Its the Bedlington Brewery staff from 1899 Is anyones family on here ?