Canny lass

No, I don't have a legend for any maps.I haven't needed one for a long time. When I've been stuck I've simply typed 'ordnace survey symbols' or 'maps conventional signs and symbols' into the search box and choose from the many sites returned. There are some good quick guides which are compact enough to have on an A4 paper when you are out and about. I've usually found them too small when viewing on my mobile.

Answers to last week's quiz: 1. Brisket 2. George V 3. Rivers 4. Jerusalem 5. Night and Day 6. Flyweight 7. Fish farming 8. Prince Henry 9. J F Kennedy 10. 1929 11. Sheep 12. Bill Bixby New quiz tomorrow!

I'll look forward to seeing them! It must be at least 40 years since I was anywhere near.

Just a very short walk, even for my 8 year old legs, across the fields.

I tried to reconstruct your walk from Willow Bridge and I think you may be somewhere here.

I posted the wrong map and I was too late to edit. This is the 1806 map I meant to post. Here you can follow the whole course from Ewart Hill to Sleek Burn.

It may well be that after passing Willow Bridge it continues towards Sleek Burn. I'll have a look. It does indeed flow into the Sleek Burn as can be seen on this 1806 OS First Series map (Sheet 105 NW)

.... and here's a map from 1947 showing the origin of the Green Letch just north of Ewart Hill. It's the blue line starting just to the west of B in Bedlington.

You’re not wrong in thinking that the green letch has its origin near Ewart Hill and that it runs north towards Red House passing west Lea cemetery on the west - causing havoc with flooding at times - before reaching the eastern outskirts of Netherton Colliery. It then continued past the Francis pit where the ravine was very deep. At that point, there was a small wooden bridge crossing the letch and leading onward was a footpath which terminated at Northumberland and Westmorland Avenues. It terrified me as a child as it was so deep. Passing the Francis pit workings the Green letch continued north east to eventually join forces with the Netherton Letch. I’ll let it be unsaid which name the letch took after that point but I’m inclined towards Green flowing towards Willow Bridge. Here’s a map from 1886 showing its whole course between Ewart Hill and its merging with the Netherton Letch. It’s named on the map and I’ve tried to leave that visible for you. The direction of the flow is also shown (south to north) but it was difficult to keep that. If you’d like to see the map without markings I can post it for you or send it to you by direct message.

I may have been a bit too generous with the red pen there! I believe it's the Green letch which continues towards Willow Bridge - not the Netherton letch - and eventually meets up with Willow Burn.

Sounds like the Netherton Letch, shown in red. Naturally, I've painted the Green letch in a suitable shade of green:

I believe they are earthworks created when the Francis pit shaft was sunk.

No idea what happened to them, Tony but Joseph (Joe, a ginger headed, spectacle wearing lad) was in my class at school.

Could it be the remains of Choppington Brickworks? It's just a small dot behind the Lord Clyde pub (above centre) on this 1896 map of the greater area of Netherton, Choppington and Barrington. As you can see, there are Brickworks the length of Choppington Road. Probably half of Bedlington is built of bricks from here. I know that the newer rows: First-, Second-, Plessey- and Third Street were. Here's a close up. I'm afraid I don't know from which year. If the remains are very near the Choppington road it's most likely to be this. There wasn't much remaining of the Francis pit houses when I grew up in the 50's. Only their gardens remained as allotments behind the new First Street.

These are my favourites: https://www.old-maps.co.uk/ https://www.oldmapsonline.org/ https://maps.nls.uk/ https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/maps/ Enjoy!

Interesting! I always thought it was confusion with the colliery. Never too old to learn!

Now, I've located the map I was looking for! Ewe herd Hill goes back much further than 1820. here it is on what, according to me, is a very beautiful map of the area from 1769:

The community named Netherton on the map is what we now call Nedderton Village. The name was changed due to postal confusion when Netherton Colliery came into being – that’s to say the community that grew around the Howard- and Francis Pits. What we previously knew as Netherton Colliery isn’t shown on this map. Probably a bit too early. Maps are great things but they are like photos – they record only a moment in time. Unfortunately, the ‘moment’ captured in the survey may, very often, not bear any resemblance to the area at the time of publication. That’s particularly true of maps from the 19th century as, in order to keep pace with the needs of growing Industry, coal mines were springing up all over the place at a fair old rate of knots. Map-making, on the other hand was a long and tedious process. Netherton Colliery community doesn’t appear in any detail until housing started to be provided. Though there were as many as 14 mines (not all coal producing) late 18th century in and around Netherton the area was predominantly arable land. Blue-, Burnt- and Redhouse Farms were already established way back at the beginning of the 18th century on land belonging to the Ogle family. The first ‘pit’ of any size was at Nedderton Village around 1789 but it wasn’t until 1837 that any major production started at Howard pit – around which the colliery rows were built. Production was good and in 1846 another shaft was sunk to give better access. This was the Francis pit. So, it was a bit after 1820 that any community worthy of notation on a map was established at Netherton Colliery.

Apropos Ewart Hill, did you know that it was originally called Ewe herd Hill? I've always thought of Ewart as family name but Ewe herd Hill was clearly a way of describing a landscape feature ( a hill where there were shepherds living or working). Here it is on Fryer's map of 1820:

Try having a look at another topic on this forum: https://www.bedlington.co.uk/forums/topic/3197-ewart-hill-opencast/ HPW gives a good description of the wooden trestles of the bridge being built in 1954. There's a lot of information about the workings at Acorn Bank as well.

Neither did I. My girl-guiding knowledge stretched to Granny- and reef knot. What a mine of information this quiz is!

It's Friday, it's quiz night. Time to give the old bumps of knowledge an airing: 1. What name is given to a joint of beef cut from the breast next to the ribs? 2. Which English king married Mary of Teck? 3. Yenisey and Irtysh are both major examples of which kind of geographical feature? 4. The Dome of the Rock was built in 691 by Abd-al-Malik. Where is it? 5. Which Cole Porter song was inspired by a leaky tap? 6. In boxing, what name is given to a class under 8 stone? 7. What is the more common name for aquaculture? 8. Which member of the British Royal family was born on 15th September 1984? 9. Which US President’s presidency was called the Thousand Days? 10. In which year was the Wall Street Crash? 11. Ryeland, Kerry Hill and Roscommon are all breeds of which animal? 12. Who played the title role in The Incredible Hulk? I’ll bet you didn’t know …. There are 4,000 different types of knot. Answers on Thursday next week.

Answers to last week's quiz: 1. Bismark 2. Pericardium 3. Harold Wilson 4. Weser 5. Georgie Fame 6. Whitehall 7. Bullfighting 8. Biggles 9. Almonds 10. In the temporal lobe of the brain 11. Arundhati Roy 12. Chequers New quiz tomorrow.

Vic, there are no words that I can say that can take away the great pain you and the family must be feeling at this time. It is sad news indeed. Dot seems to have had a rich and wonderful life and I'm sure she enjoyed all the children and grandchildren. There must have been many happy, family times which now become happy, family memories - of which she is a part - for all of you. Enjoy those memories. I know that you nursed Dot for a long while and that you did a great, if sometimes dufficult, job. Let it be a comfort to you, knowing that she was able to remain at home so long thanks to your kindness and effort. And don't forget, that Dot, despite her poor health, has helped in the documentation of Bedlington's rich history on this site thanks to her knowledge of Phillips Yard and the bakery. My thoughts are with you.

On many census returns these are registered as halves- 17, 17½, 18, 18½ etc.. It can be confusing at times.