Canny lass

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.

@lilbill15 I can't be sure but I've distant recollections of hearing that the town mortuary was situated thereabouts as well. Perhaps we can ask Andy to move these posts about Doctor's Yard to your new topic.

Well done! It's not easy in the beginning!

@lilbill15I believe that it's all that remains of Doctor's Yard, the part that fronted the main street. I think that even Grenfell's formed part of the yard at one time. When I was a nipper the school nurse, Nurse Dunbar, lived in it or possibly the one next door (Grenfell's seems to have become much bigger over the years). Next door but one was the Coroner's Office. It seems that all things of a 'medical' nature may have been situated there. This map is from 1860 but the yard appears even in the 1840s. It's the house exactly opposite the old police station, I beleieve.

@lilbill15Glad you liked it. I thought it would be a good starting point for you. It makes a nice framework to build on. PS. There's no such thing as a daft question.

@lilbill15 Have you read the Extensive Urban Survey of Northumberland (sub-section Bedlington). It's well worth a read: https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/northumberland_eus_2011/downloadmenu.cfm?REDSQUIDARCHIVES_53e8bf38-a9b8-4597-8642-4228eca8bd15_0

It has its good points!

Puce Bush goes back to 1865 on maps, with the exception of OS 1966 - 1972 (can't be more speciic) where it is written "Pace Bush". I don't know if it's the same place sometimes referred to as Pease Bush. Puce Bush is in itself quite an interesting name. Bush, as we understand it today, has its roots (pardon the pun) in the northern Germanic languages but one theory is that they were influenced by the old French word 'bois' meaning woods/thicket/ forest. This was the original meaning of the word even in English but it has evolved to refer to only one particular form of plant. Puce, as you probably know, is a purplish brown colour but do you know where that colour gets its name from? The word puce came into the English language quite late - 1700s - and even that from old French word 'puce', meaning flea. Couleur puce means flea coloured and, of course, when it's had a feed of blood puce is exactly the colour of a flea. So maybe Puce Bush was a flea infested wood or, as an alterative speculation, a woodland area covered in purple heather perhaps.