Canny lass

That's what I call a nice bit of claggin(g)! After a fair bit of observation - which involved a fair bit of zooming in and out, comparisons with other photos, counting windows, inspecting chimneys and facade details, delving into the corners of my mind and even a visit to Google Earth I have to say that I'm no further forward as to the where-abouts of the off-licence. There's an interesting door (Borgia's entrance) tucked in between Feasters and Carrs which I hadn't noticed before and there's an interesting mosaic floor in the entrance to Premier (formerly part of Carr's). However, I'm sure it's not the mosaic 'arcade' floor of Molden's/Feasters as that was next door to the left but I know I bought my Lambrusco some where there. 92 and 96 combined used to be Walter Wilson's and Meadow Dairy. I don't know if it was the same shop with just a change of name. My mother always called it Walter Wilsons even when it had Meadow Dairy on the sign. The first half of the grey building adjoining Premier was Millne's gift shop. I don't know what was in the half nearest Walter Wilson's.

I think the idea may have been to prevent bringing tears to the eyes of their customers.

The penultimate quiz. Thought we might have a bit of a 'special'next week to round it off but this week it's the usual 12 questions: 1. What would you expect to find in a pluvial region? 2. Where is Rupert Bear’s home town? 3. What is the surname of boxing brothers Leon and Michael? 4. From which country does the wine Johannisberger come? 5. A nectarine is a cross between a peach and which other fruit? 6. In what year did Salman Rushdie go into hiding? 7. There are two Cleopatra’s Needles. One is in London, where is the other? 8. Who sang the theme song to the Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me? 9. Who in literature was haunted by the ghost of Banquo? 10. Into which sea or ocean does the Mekong river flow? 11. Which European prime minister was assassinated in February 1986? 12. What were The Kinks dedicated followers of in 1966? I’ll bet you didn’t know …. In Waterloo, Nebraska, barbers are prohibited from eating onions between the hours of 7am and 7pm. Answers on Thursday next week.

Fair point! Time to start asking questions, Malcolm.

Couldn't agree more! I've always thought that Bedlington should be doing more with its rich heritage.

That brings back memories! My mother used to mash the egg and tomato together and call it "mock crab". It did look a bit like crab but the taste was pure egg and tomato!

Answers to last wek's quiz: 1. A Farrow 2. 1,500 metres 3. South Island 4. Paris 5. Drums 6. Mrs. Bridges 7. Keith Reid and Gary Brooker 8. Robert the Bruce 9. Caesar 10. Cricket 11. Helium 12. Apple New quiz tomorrow.

Now I'm confused and wondering if I've misunderstood your first reference to Pease Bush? Are you saying: a) Peas/Pease Bush is correct and the map-makers got it wrong b) Puce Bush is correct and the enumerator got it wrong c) There are two forms: one of which may be dialectal (which is what I believe) I don't know where map-makers get their place-name information from but some of the OS maps are "revised" editions meaning that the previous map was amended. Therefore a 'mistake' could well be repeated. However, some are not revised, indicating that a new survey is the basis for the information included on the map. That should have made it difficult to repeat mistakes. The census records i shared were written by different enumerators (all male) at 10 year intervalls and with no need of access to the previous records (there was nothing to transfer). This suggests, to me, that Peas/Pease was the written interpretation of local pronunciation.

Sorry! Occupational injury.

Well, the Wansbeck electorate has clearly fallen below the required 95% of the UK electoral quota. That should be easy enough to rectify -especially in these times of lockdowns.

It's a possibility so I looked at the actual entry for the adress. I think I can detect a clear loop on the letter e. The 'a' in Peas isn't completely closed at the top but the same 'a' appears in several names: James, Jane and Mary A. For the sake of interest I looked at the previous-, 1851, and the following 1871 census records: 1851: Is not very clear but, again, Ithink it's 'ea' and the word is definitely more than 3 letters. 1871 (enuerator's description) is easily read and this time the word has an added 'e' at the end - Pease Bush Farm. So, It seems to have been Peas or Pease to the locals and Puce to the map makers (or maybethe map-makers were city boys who couldn't understand the dialect).

Getting back to Puce Bush: You may need to zoom in to read the original but here is how the enumerator describes ”Peas Bush” in his area description for the 1861 census. Notation, upper left corner of text: “My district comprises Whinney Hill Scotland Gate Choppington Colliery Peas Bush” Note the spelling of Peas Bush instead of Puce Bush. 'Peas' is clearly how it was pronounced in 1861. Third- and second from last lines of the text: “Peas Bush is an old sort of a place being formerly an off onstead for Choppington farm but now occupied by Choppington colliery” Note: onstead, a word I’ve never come across before, means “a farmhouse with its buildings” (Miriam Webster). Some other online sources define it simply as a farm outbuilding. The map shows several large buildings so I think Webster gives the more likely definition.