Canny lass

Hi @stustep and welcome to the forum. The Gibson nailers get a mention in Graces Guide https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Bedlington_Ironworks where you can read that: "During the first quarter of the nineteenth century the splitting mills became disused at the Bedlington works, and soon after that all the nailers shops, apart from one, disappeared from the town. The last shop belonged to the Gibson family and can be traced back to the beginning of the last century. Mr. Gibson says he was forced to finally pull down the shutters of his shop in 1930. He has since been known in Bedlington and district as "The last of the Nailers". Hope this is of use to you.

@ms_lighthouse happy to have been able to help.

Thanks Eggy. Strange thing is, on several websites I get a pop-up telling me that the site is not secure and a choice to continue or abort my search but this doesn't happen with DMM.

@Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) Well, I got him to look at it and he 'clarted' all day with no luck. He wonders if it has anything to do with my having bought a new laptop and iphone exactly one year ago when something called F-secure was installed (Part of the package I bought). I thought I'd had the problem over a year but maybe I'm wrong.

You might as well have written that in Chinese!! I'll have to get my OH to have a look at it. I tried to access dmm again today and got the same message. However, i did see that that there was a padlock with a red line through it at the beginning of the web adress.

@7RIrFIf you are interested in the Bomarsund pits you might like this. It's a page from the notes of the people who were responsible for names on the first series of OS maps round about the 1860s. This particular entry is for Barrington Colliery's Hannah pit. The handwriting's not too bad: "A new colliery with all the necessary apparatus. Owing to some differences among the company the workings are dicontinued".

I agree that on that map they would appear to be the same thing. The three pits of Bomarsund were literally in each other's back yards. It's about 5-6 years since i researched my family connections to mining in Bomarsund so the memory is a bit vague but I've rummaged through my notes today and I think I can explain it to you better. My memory failed me when I said that Bomarsund pit was officially named Bedlington F pit. These were two separate pits only yards from each other. Here's a map showing the 3 pits. Right to left: Bedlington F pit, Bomarsund Colliery and the Hannah pit. Following the map is a list of the coordinates for these pits. I've marked Bedlington F and Bomarsund in red. The Hannah I've marked blue. If you compare the coordinates for Bedlington F and Bomarsund colliery you'll see that they are identical. So, it was Bedlington F which became Bomarsund colliery. The Hannah, judging by its coordinates, wasn't many yards away so it's easy to see why they would appear to be one and the same within the small confines of a map.

I haven't been ale to access dmm for well over a year. Any attempt just gives this message. Any idea what it means?

The Hannah pit and Bomarsund pit were two quite separate entities. The Hannah, opened in 1854, was still being worked up until 1927 when it finally closed but the Bomarsund pit was opened prior to that in 1910 and had nothing to do with Barrington colliery. It was owned and worked by Bedlington Colliery. I think, but don't quote me, its official title was Bedlington F pit. There's no way of knowing why Red Row was built where it was, but it may have had something to do with killing two birds with one stone - housing for both the Hannah and the Henry at relatively equal distance from the two.

Sorry James! The complete text didn't survive my pasting technique. Here's the rest of it: At that time there was no great need of any specific address as the postal service was still in its infancy. Bedlingtonshire abounds with such descriptive names: Wood Row, Stone Row, Brick Row, to name but a few. The advent of steam powered industry brought with it a huge demand for coal and both land- and mine owners in Bedlingtonshire weren't slow to realize that they were sitting on a fortune in untapped reserves of the black stuff. New pits were opened, new seams were opened in old pits and there was a great migration of people into the area giving rise to an urgent need for housing. The 1871 census records the "new houses built recently" - those that line the main Bedlington to Stakeford road.The name Red Row then became synonymous with all of these houses even though they now more resembled a village than a simple row of houses.. You say, quite rightly, that Red Row had no colliery. However, Red Row is no more than 1½ miles from Bedlington A pit, and Barrington Colliery had two pits within an even shorter walking distance of Red Row's houses: the Henry pit ½ mile to the south east and the Hannah pit 3/4 mile to the north. They later had a third, the Frances pit, adjacent to the Hannah pit which was closed then reopened to meet the demand for coal, so there was no shortage of work. The four original houses of Red Row were solely occupied in 1866 by coal miners and 95 % of the new houses in 1871 were also occupied by coal miners or other pit-workers. Given the type of occupant and Red Row's proximity to the Barrington Colliery pits I'd put a pound or two on those houses being built/owned by Barrington Colliery. However, that's just speculation on my part, but it would answer your question as to why the houses weren't built nearer to Bedlington station. Barrington Colliery would probably not have had any land rights south of the railway line as it was situated in the West Sleekburn township of Bedlingtonshire. Hope this answers some of your questions.

@7RlrF Hello James and welcome to the forum. On this site there is no such thing as a stupid question. You asked about Red Row and wondered if it was a village. In 1866 Red Row was, literally, no more than a row of houses, presumably red and so named because they were, again presumably, made of red brick.

A bit late but Happy New Year you all!

Nr 12 could be a young John Carr. He played for the Mechanics.

"printed and published by G Robinson, 10 Front Street West" - would that be the newsagents at the top end?

Sorry you've had to wait. It's been a hectic week! Here are the answers to the Christmas quiz: 1. 1. 1920s 2. 7 swans a swimming 3. 221 feet 4. No number is mentioned. The book of Matthew, the only gospel to mention the Kings, doesn’t say how many there were only that they brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. We just assume that they were three because of the three gifts. 5. Kentucky Fried Chicken. It’s so popular you have to order several months in advance or join queues that have started to build on Christmas Eve. 6. Iceland. They’re a canny bunch of lads but if you’ve been badly behaved you’ll just get a rotten potato. They ‘ve got some great names too: Sausage -swiper, Door-sniffer and Window-peeper, to name just a few. 7. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott 8. Donald Duck 9. Light Emitting Diode 10. Newcastle-upon-Tyne 11. A 50-pence piece. 12. Isaac Newton 13. Capricorn 14. The Indian Ocean 15. December 26 16. Jolly careful 17. c) making a noise. (It’s no wonder that baby was awake!) 18. Paris 19. Donner 20. False. The average gain is 1 lb. I'll take the opportunity of wishing each and everyone of you a happy, prosperous year in 2024. May it be filled with health, wealth and happiness. I'm off tomorrow morning to celebrate an 80th birthday in Scotland. New Year's Eve and a birthday rolled into one. It's bound to be a good one! I remember (just about) the 70th birthday party and if it's half as good it'll be great. Take good care of yourselves and we'll meet again next year.

Well spotted Vic! 3 pm it is - or to be really correct 3.05 pm. 3pm is another 'must' - the lighting of the Christmas candle! We do have an exciting time here, don't we!

Well, it is Friday and it is Christmas (almost) so here's something to keep you busy! Christmas special: 1. In which decade did Coca-Cola start using Santa in their advertisements? 2. In the song Twelve Days of Christmas what is given on the 7th day? 3. How tall, plus or minus 25 feet, was the tallest cut Christmas tree? 4. How many Kings/wise-men does the bible say visited the baby Jesus? 5. What is the most popular meal for Christmas in Japan? 6. In which European country might you receive gifts from a different ‘Yule Lad’ each night if you leave your shoes on the window-sill on each of the 13 days before Christmas? 7. “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents” is the opening line in which classic British novel? 8. Christmas won’t be Christmas in most Swedish households if the family don’t drop everything they are doing and gather around the TV at 2pm to watch who? 9. What does the acronym LED mean on ‘fairy lights’? 10. For almost 70 years, which British city has received a gift of a Christmas tree from the Norwegian city of Bergen to show gratitude for its friendship during WW2? 11. What Christmas gift did Harry Potter receive from the Dursleys in ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’? 12. Which famous scientist was born 25 December 1642? 13. Under which sign of the Zodiac was he born? 14. In which ocean can you find Christmas island? 15. Good King Wenceslas looked out on the feast of Stephen. On what date did he look out? 16. In 2020 Prime Minister Boris Johnson described Christmas as a season to be jolly and ….. what else? 17. In the Christmas song ‘Away in a Manger’, the cattle are lowing. Does this mean that they are: a) lying down? b) chewing the cud? Or c) making a noise? 18. In the film ‘Home Alone’, where did Kevin’s family travel to for Christmas? 19. In the song ‘Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer’, what is the name of Rudolph’s dad? 20. Studies show that the average American gains 3 lbs in weight between December 24 and January 6. True or false? I’ll bet you didn’t know …. The origins of the word ‘mistletoe’ are two Anglo-Saxon words: mistel meaning dung and tan meaning stick or branch. So, mistletoe literally means dung on a stick. Answers on Friday 29 December. Merry Christmas everybody!

A well-deserved award indeed! Like Vic I also greatly appreciate the hard work that these girls do. It's a great comfort to ex-pats like myself who can't visit often and have no relatives left in the area who are willing or able to do so. I know that my parents and my brothers are well looked after. Thank you.

.... and the same from me! Merry Christmas to everybody. Take really, really, REALLY good care of yourselves and we'll meet again in the new year.

It feels a bit odd to give that horrendous account of pit-life a 'like'. There's nothing 'likeable about the life they had and yet they were a lovely bunch of people. What I 'liked' was you bringing this up to the surface (literally) so that other's may know about it. Thanks HPW!

What Pete said!

Trying to reply to your posts, Synptoms and HPW, but after entering ypour names I'm unable to write anything else. Nothing is accepted so I'll try a new post instead. I read with interest your posts above. What a vivid picture you paint! Horrendous to say the least. It was actually half in jest that I said what I said about the pit not having to pay 2/6 so I wasn't really prepared for your replies. How could the mine owners be so cold and callous? The old phrase 'adding insult to injury' takes on a whole new meaning!

@Symptoms @HIGH PIT WILMA

Thanks Maggie!