johndawsonjune1955

Its nice to know that old names are still used in naming house areas and roads etc. I think its good.

I live at Richard Ashley Close, names after the Newbiggin lifeboat, and we have Longrisge Drive on Barrington Road ? and many more.

Nice jesture. Hopefully may see more in Bedlington after Birkinshaw and Stephenson, etc my list can go on for ever, but it is happening.

Headstones can tell a good tale for us all, but i don't think they do nowadays.

Anyway, when i am gone i want no fuss, as long as i am with my wife in the end, together, for the family, that is all i want.

Sadly, how many headstones do we see now with only one person ? probably the other has married on, and its all forgooton about. Very sad indeed.

Good old days indeed. Picked many a time for Pattison at Guide Post. Used to be Clarkes Farm. Blacberry picking fetched a few bob in. Put the coals in for folk too. Took the pop bottles back when doing shopping for a few pence.

Took newspapers to the fishshop for a bag of chips and many more chores.

Happy days. It wern't all bad , was it ?

I was sunning myself in the car park, whilst reading Facebook, when a bloke spoke as he walked past with his dog.

The voice was familiar but without my specs on I didn`t see his face properly.

Spoke to him again when he walked back along the river path.

It was ex Street star Ian Mercer (Gary Mallett)

Signed him up for Synergy interview: nice chap

Met him a good few times John. Your right, a nice fellow indeed.

The old poss tubs and posers may be needed when the electricity runs out.

Anyone still say the wash house or are they now potting sheds.

Anyone still got a mangle.

people still say "What in a photo" as if it means nothing nowadays. I will say this tho, heres a pic. Isn't it nice to look at. Thanks Maggie for bringing this to my attention.

Can't believe this topic, my mother worked there and then went to Stannington. A lot of stories i have for Stannington from my mother, now 80. "Bless her"

hmmm. what years would you say ? got pics of the area before it was transformed, and it would be nice to recognise it if it were on. Thanx for the info tho, very interesting

Hi all. try this site for your family history.

The members are very helpful , just like on here.Its very interesting.

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?board=28.0

As Adam says "I would say every area should have a memorial to miners who worked and died down the pits not just places in South East Northumberland but those in Yorkshire, Scotland, Wales, etc. As coal miners deserve the same recognition and thanks as members of the armed forces get every year on the 11th November, because if it had not been thanks to coal miners we would never have had the industrial revolution we would have also lost either or both World War's as they provided the fuel for the county in it times of need."

He hits the nail on the head here and its a fact that other areas should have one.

However, let us concentrate on Bedlington's and make it a landmark event, and other areas may begin to follow suit.

Its true as Adam says about the miners and the wars, and mind you the miners made a good job tunnelling towards the enemy too. I just wonder how many Bedlington miners were involved in the tunnelling ?

It would be nice to record that for the future.

I have raised this with the town council and the town council is to be asked at the next full meeting if it supports the idea of a miners memorial.

Great move Adam. Nice to know and hopefully it can materialise.

Maggie many seams were throughout the district .

Say Bedlington Dr Pit, Bedlington D Pit.

12 seams were worked

Busty

Harvey

High Main

Yard

Maudlin H1

Maudlin H2

Main Coal F1

Main Coal F2

Low Main

Hutton

Brass Thill

Tilly P

They were also refered too as other names

an example here is

Mudlin H1 was Upper Bensham

Maudlin H2 was Bensham

Tilly P was Denton Low Main

Busty Q was Upper Busty 1

Thats how it was underground at the Doctory Pit.

I have a list of all seams from all the collieries somewhere inb my archives Maggie

Go to our website

http://www.sixtownships.org.uk

Go to our archives and mining deaths and see the stories and pics are being added too.

Micky Potts my friend. You are on the right lines with the collieiries mentioned.

With the memorial it would be nice to incluce them all as Bedlington has had the most Northumberland Miners Picnics held compared to anywhere else and of course on this Bedlington forum we are talking about the prospects of one for our area.

Its the forum members idea and its terrific to see the interest in this.

I will talk to some of the group members and maybe at our next meeting see if it can be put on the agenda for some iseas as to where funding can be found and see if we can invite members of the forum to have a chat at our meeting and maybe get some hands on board.

Sadly i can't be part of that at this time being due to illness but lets see where we can go from here and get things in motion.

What do you think ?

As for pictures of headgear of the pits we have a huge archive of them and many many more and huge archive material too. And, i mean huge.

Max Adams has a biography out about Oswald of Northumbria who ruled AD634 to 642.

He claims Oswald and his brother Oswiu laid the foundations for our nation as we know it today.

It seems Oswald was seen as a Beowulf style figure and maybe even an inspiration for Aragorn in Lord of the Rings

The book is published by Head of Zeus

ye ya right there Maggie

Thanks for the offer John, three weeks ago I might have said yes but now not necessary. It's amazing how many people I actually know that have been getting the mag but for some reason it (or my memory is getting worse) never came up. Found I have an uncle, ex pitman from Beaty Row, Bates and now in Stakeford Miners Cottages who's been getting it for for 15+years.

It even came to light a couple of weeks ago that about eight years ago our son was passing on a copy from his partners family to the father-in-law! He was reading straight through it and passing it on the same day he got it and he never mentioned it to my wife or me.

Talking to Al today and he said 20p each for creeful.

Isn't it great to see how we all connect on the forum ?

Brilliant between Keith and Keith Lockey, just to try and recognise someone.

I luv it when things click. Just luv it.

Keep on saying "Luv it" i sound a bit like Kevin Keegan here when he was on about Newcastle winning the title and beatin Man United.

Never mind, i like what i read on the forums. i just "Luv it"

Thanks for the offer John, three weeks ago I might have said yes but now not necessary. It's amazing how many people I actually know that have been getting the mag but for some reason it (or my memory is getting worse) never came up. Found I have an uncle, ex pitman from Beaty Row, Bates and now in Stakeford Miners Cottages who's been getting it for for 15+years.

It even came to light a couple of weeks ago that about eight years ago our son was passing on a copy from his partners family to the father-in-law! He was reading straight through it and passing it on the same day he got it and he never mentioned it to my wife or me.

Not a problem. If you dont mind me asking whos your relation at the cottages. Know just about most of them. Its a small world aint it ? Maybe i dont know him but its nice to know that all us ex miners are being looked after. I moved to the ones at CAmbois for 3 years. Bill Smith, my marra at Whittle Colliery is director, i believe. Geoff Gobin, is my wifes uncle and he is a trustee and councilor for Bedlington Station. Ian Lavery, ex Miners NUM secretary is my half cousin. Hes now MP for Wansbeck.

Monthly magazine by Mike Kirkup, of Ashington.

Does anyone get this magazine?

Talking about the past, pits etc., as usual whilst in a pub, an ex miner said there was a monthly magazine, 'Creeful of Coal', and he had seen a couple and thought they were a good read but could not remember where and when he had seen them.

A Google of 'Creeful of Coal', as you would expect, throws up about 200 results (in 0.24 secs) but a click on most traces does not give a lot away. I can buy 17 old issues for £9.99 on ebay or I could ring Mike Kirkup courtesy of the info in http://www.shipsnostalgia.com :-

Mike Kirkup produces 'Creeful'. He can be contacted by phone - 01670 855749 or by e-mail mike@mikecree.freeserve.co.uk. The current March issue did contain the article and photos relating to Hughes Bolckows. The mag is made up of articles and photos sent in by readers and there is always something of interest.

Best wishes

Joemac

The above from 'joemac' was published in March 2007 and rather than go down many dead-ends I thought I would ask you lot who have probably delved into this lot before.

So I ask - Is it worth me buying 17 old issues from ebay? Are there free issues available today?

I await your constructive replies

Als Superstore has loads of back issues. I can asak for a special special price for you. It may even be Al selling them on Ebay. Lets know, i ask him for a list and a good price for you. But, remember, not very much on Bedlington, mainly Ashington, newbiggin, lynemputh and North Seaton.

Neva heard of that story. Maybe one i have missed ?

My father-in-law, Denis Charlton worked there too.

My wife, his daughter, Janette, would go to the colliery with him on pay day and take his pay home.

She has good recollections of this.

In a topic lately someone was asking if theree was a mill at the Ironworks.

Here is reference to it.

A water- mill erected by Robert Delaval on the south bank of the Blyth formed the

subject of a decree made in the Durham Court of Chancery in 1637. It stood on ground afterwards occupied by the Bedlington ironworks, near

the existing bridge. In order to obtain a constant supply of water for his mill, Delaval constructed a dam across the stream, after obtaining leave

from the lessee of Bedlington mill (which stood a little higher up the river and on the opposite bank) to place the farther end of his dam upon the

north bank. The Bedlington lessee stipulated that he should be allowed to destroy the dam if he experienced inconvenience from it, and, upon

discovering that it set up a backwater and so interfered with the" working

of his own mill, he claimed and obtained fulfilment of the contract

The factories known as the Bedlington Ironworks were, in part, situated

within this township. The undertaking originated with a lease for ninety-

nine years of premises in Bebside, taken in December, 1736, by William

Thomlinson, a Newcastle merchant.^ At this period the manufacture of

pig-iron in England had fallen to a very low ebb through the exhaustion

of the wood required for charcoal smelting and the failure of attempts to

utilise coal for this purpose.' A clause in the lease empowering the lessee

to cut timber in the Bebside woods seems to point to the probability of

the works having been designed for smelting the ironstone deposited in

the coal measures and cropping out in the banks of the adjoining river

Blyth. There is, however, no record to be obtained of any smelting

operations having been carried on at this period. The staple trade of

ironworks then consisted in the working up of scrap iron ; and for that

purpose forges were erected wherever the advantages afforded by cheap

fuel and water power in sufficient quantities to drive small hammers could

be obtained. These were both to be had at Bebside, and the works in

their early stages were chiefly employed in making forgings for general

purposes as well as for the Bedlington slitting mills.

Later in the centurv the works were carried on bv the Malings of

Sunderland, who worked ironstone on the north side of the river and

calcined it there, prior to smelting it in the Bedlington blast furnace, and

forging it at a forge near Bebside corn-mill on the southern bank of the

stream/ Their efforts were, however, attended by such poor results that

they were driven to abandon the smelting operations ; and the forges and

works on both sides of the river were acquired, about the year 1788, by

William Hawks and Thomas Longridge of Gateshead.

The new lessees extended the works and employed them in working

up scrap iron into rods and hoops and other ironwork,' and carried on the

business into the early years of the nineteenth century, during the period

when the rolling-mill was being introduced into the trade.'' In 1809^ the

works came into the hands of Messrs. Biddulph, Gordon and Company,

of London, and a period of development followed under the management

of Mr. Michael Longridge, who subsequently became one of the partners.

Rolled iron bars, sheets and hoops, together with anchors and chain-cables

for the navy, had hitherto been the chief products ; but, with the dawn of

the railway system, the business of the firm increased, and the fact that the

first successful rolled iron rails made were produced at these works, in

1820, must have added largely to their reputation.

The substitution of malleable for cast iron in the manufacture of rails

played a large part in the development of railways. So far back as 1818

Mr. Longridge had conceived the idea of connecting the works with a

neighbouring colliery by means of a railway laid with malleable iron rails.

He then ascertained that rails of this description had been tried at Wylam

colliery, as well as at Tindale Fell, in Cumberland, but with only partial

success. The rails used at these places were formed of bars one and a

half inches square and about three feet in length, having so narrow a surface

as to cause injury to the wheels ; while the increase in width, required

to overcome this difficulty, added so largely to the weight as to render

the cost prohibitive.' To Mr. John Birkinshaw, the principal agent at the

Bedlington works at the time, belongs the credit of having suggested the

idea of making the rails in a wedge form, so that the same extent of surface,

as in the case of the cast-iron rail, was provided for the wheel to travel on,

and the depth of the bar was increased without adding unnecessarily to

the weight." In accordance with the recommendation of Mr. John Buddie,

the well known colliery viewer, the rails were afterwards made with a swell

between the points of support. They thus resembled four or five of the

old 'fish-bellied' rails joined in one length. They were generally twelve

or fifteen feet in length and rested on bearings three feet apart.

The Stockton and Darlington Railway, opened in 1825, was the first

public line on which these rails were used.' Its example was followed by

the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, in 1830, both lines being under

the superintendence of Mr. George Stephenson as engineer. The rapid

development of the railway system no doubt created an extraordinary

demand for railway material, and, in consequence, the manufacture of loco-

motives was added to the general engineering business of the concern.

In 1829 the Company purchased that portion of the Purvis and Errington

estate in Cowpen township which lay nearest to the river,* and erected

upon part of it, in 1837, a locomotive factory, where locomotives of a high

class were constructed.

Towards the middle of the century the business, which was then carried

on under the style of Longridge and Company, or the Bedlington Iron Company, had become one of considerable importance and repute through the excellence of its manufactures. About 1840 the Longridges secured

a lease of coal in the vicinity from Lord Barrington/ and established a

winning, known as Barrington colliery, which was connected by railway

with the works, and carried on partly in conjunction with them and partly

as a 'sea-sale' colliery. Soon afterwards they embarked in the manu-

facture of pig-iron, and erected two furnaces on the north side of the

river, using, as raw material, a mixture of the local coal-measure ironstone

obtained from a mine at Netherton, and stone which was at that date

being gathered from the debris on the shore of the Cleveland coast and

used, under the name of ' Whitby stone,' by the few furnaces then at work on the north-east coast."

By about 1850 the works had reached their fullest capacity, being

equipped with blast and puddling furnaces, rolling-mills, and boiler,

engineering and locomotive shops, which employed a large number of

workmen.

Their prosperity did not, however, continue. Keen competition in

the locomotive trade and excessive cost of transit both to and from the

works appear to have brought the firm into difficulties which resulted in

its failure in 1853. There being then no public railway in connexion with

the works, the locomotives, heavy forgings, boiler plates, and other goods

had to be conveyed on rolleys drawn by horses to Newcastle, a distance

of twelve miles, and there delivered, shipped, or placed on the railway to

be forwarded to their destination.'

Prior to this date the works had been assigned to Mr. James Spence,''

and by him they were carried on up to 1855, when they were closed for

some time.' In 1861 operations were resumed by Messrs. Jasper Capper

Mounsey and John Di.xon,^ who, although they appear to have conducted

affairs with energy, met with no better success and failed in 1865.^ The

business was then transferred to a company known as the Bedlington Iron

Company, Limited, and continued until 1S67,* when the works were finally

abandoned. Barrington colliery was purchased in 1858 by the owners of

Bedlington colliery,' by whom it has since been worked ; the connecting

railway was acquired by the Blyth and Tyne Railway Company,** while

the property belonging to the company in Cowpen township was bought

by Mr. Robert Stanley Mansel, owner of the adjoining estate of Bebside.

A considerable number of cottages remain at the Bank-head, but the fur-

naces and buildings of the works have long since fallen into decay.

From old records abouth the ironworks this is how it is recorded.

Bedlington Ironworks.

Yer right Malcolm.

Enhanced pic and blew it up and its the Riva.

Began production in 1982.

Yes thats right. The shows nowadays are "cage shows" i believe

My father in law Denis Charlton is away to one today.

Found this in one of my Bedlington Archive folders.

Interesting and just thought i would add it to this topic .

Look at the names too. Very interesting individuals exhibit.