Canny lass

I know what he means! This is one of the reasons I don't use FB, TW or the likes. I have done but couldn't find time to deal with all the requests.

I understood thet to mean he was no longer sure the house had been sold direct to Longridge by Birkenshaw.

I think John K. may have read that advert incorrectly. The date of the sale is 26 May 1875. That's 17 years after the death of Michael Longridge in 1858.

Fantastic description HPW! What playground for you boys! It must have been a canny playground for the occupants as well with its wine cellar, balcony proper ceilings and floors. I've just got to ask: Did you ever see any holly bushes in the grounds?

My garden is 2-3 acres! That's the bit nearest the house. Most of it I try to keep looking like woodland so most of those leaf trees are planted by me (saplings dug up on my travels) or self sown by wind and birds. I found the density of the forest close into the house on all sides rather oppressive when I came here and I've worked to open up and make more 'airy' the space around the house. The Hawthorn bush in the foreground is grown from a pip brought from England, Wooler to be precise! I've also planted in hundreds of Birch saplings. I like the way they move in a breeze. Fir trees are so stiff and lifeless to look at. I never tire of that view, which I also have from my kitchen window. It's beautiful whatever the time of year whether it be winter: or, my favourite, early autumn when the cold air pressing down on the lakes causes the moisture to rise into the air: Magical!

I'd never have managed that! Thank you! Lovely view, Vic. I can just see you sitting there of an evening with a cold beer. Is there snow on the peaks all year round? Every time I've flown over the Rocky Mts. I've seen snow but I think it's always been early autumn or late spring. Here's what i look at from my veranda. We've gradually opened up the forest right down to the bottom of the hill. I've lost count of how many trees that's involved but they've heated the house and water for thirty years.

I think you may be right. The photo shows a rather square sort of building with a door, the main entrance i would guess judging by the garden layout with the 'roundabout' (carriage turning point perhaps) as shown on the 1806 map. On the photo, to the right of the house you can see the remains of an adjoining wall/building and that would agree with the shape of the house on the map - where it seems to be at least double the size. Also "17 apartments" as in the newspaper cutting seems rather a lot for the house in the photo, even if they were just one room.

Thanks guys! It's not at all what I expected! I think I was expecting something bigger and more extravagant given the size and layout of the gardens.

I get a message saying that this file can't be opened, Vic.

HPW, I'm delighted to find someone who has visited Hollymount Hall! I never saw it myself and I can't find any photos. Can you describe anything about it for me? How big was it? Anthing near the size of Hartford hall or Dene View? On this map from 1860 it appears to have a long, tree-lined drive, leading from Front Street, which later became Hollymount Road and later Hollymount Avenue. It also seems to have had huge, well planned gardens. Were there any signs of either those left when you were a boy?

That would be this post by johndawsonjune1955 in the Railway History topic: “Go along towards the old brickworks and the Choppington Station railway sign is to be seen where it was dumped. its still on some of the stone it was fastened too. will take some work to get it out the ditch tho” John rarely looks in these days but I think he’s active on other sites. Maybe Eggy knows how to contact him?

That's high! I just had a quick look on Google Earth. Right at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. You must have an amazing view from your garden!!

Day 44 in isolation and still keeping out of mischief! Finally finding the time to summarise the work I've done on 'Hollymount'. That work's not quite fineshed. I really need one more visit to the uni library but that's out of he question due to this corona mullarkey. However, I can make a start by presenting what I've learned so far. It'll have to be done in installments, I'm afraid. The task was infinitely bigger (and much more interesting) than I envisaged. Long post! Make a cup of tea! Within the study of language, place-names are a science in their own right. There are people who devote their lives to the study of them. I am not one of those people. However, I have to admit that the theory, proposed by @Maggie/915 some time ago, that Hollymount may be a distortion of the expression holy mount, has tickled my imagination more than just a bit. It’s an attractive idea given that: a) we know that the body of St. Cuthbert once rested in our town and b) the Hollymount area of Bedlington lies high on a hill/mount above the river Blyth. Languages are constantly changing, not least in the area of the vocabulary: words come and words go, they take on new meanings, their spelling can change and even the way they are pronounced can change. Therefore, it’s not totally unreasonable to think that holy, at some point in history, could have became holly. The two words are very similar in both form (spelling) and pronunciation (sound) so it’s not such a big step from holy to holly. First a bit of background: The English language we use today bears no resemblance to the original language of Britain, Celtic, which was more or less wiped out by the Romans. However, the Welsh language and some of the Cornish dialects have their roots in the Celtic language and Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic are very close relatives showing many similarities. The main reason for the lack of resemblance is the many changes brought about by the numerous invasions Britain has suffered: Romans, Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Vikings, all have had a profound effect on our language – often by forcibly introducing their own language and excluding ours. The British themselves, I might add, have given tit-for-tat in forcing English on many of their colonies. Other significant reasons for change are the introduction of Christianity by Christian missionaries and the invention of the printing press both of which have played a big part in standardizing the language. Scholars have classified the development of the English language (that which came after Celtic) into four main periods related to the influences and the changes that occurred (all dates are approximate): Old English (OE) 700 – 1100 AD (Time of the Anglo-Saxon invasions and Christianization). Middle English (ME) 1100 – 1450 AD (Time of the Norman invasions and Geoffrey Chaucer writing The Canterbury Tales). Early Modern English (EModE) 1450 – 1700AD (Time of William Shakespeare writing his plays and Caxton’s printing press arriving). Modern English (ModE) 1700 onwards (Time of the Industrial Revolution). For most of us any authentic text originating before William Shakespeare’s time (1564 – 1616) is unreadable and even Shakespeare can be a bit of a struggle at times. However, after Shakespeare most of us can get some grasp of the content of old original texts because the language used begins to resemble the language we use today. That process of change is still going on and I, personally, don’t think it will be too many years before words such as fyi and imho start appearing in the English dictionary due to the influence of another ‘invasion’ - digital networking and social media. Place names are a part of our language and as such have not been able to avoid the changes outlined above. However, while their spelling, meaning and pronunciation may have changed their function, has not. A place name, since time immemorial, enables us to identify places, whether those places are towns, villages, counties, or a specific part of any of those: rivers, valleys, fields or forests. Today, identification is relatively easy due to the use of town-, road- and street signs. The introduction of signage has also changed the process of name-giving. Today it’s possible to name a place just about anything and we would still be able to identify that place and know where we are just by reading the signs. But, before the introduction of signs how did we do this? In Britain we have some very old place-names, or at least ‘parts’ of names, which give us some clues. These English names, broadly speaking, contain three almost standard elements: the natural and artificial features of the landscape, the names of people and the functions of settlements. Examples of such names today are numerous. Though not necessarily old: Beech Grove is a good example of a natural feature. Newcastle is an example of an artificial feature. Bedlington is an example of a person’s name (though discussions abound as to just whose name it is) and Newmarket exemplifies well the function of a settlement. What I am about to do is to look at the different periods in language development, to see if any of the changes which took place can explain a possible change from Holy Mount to Hollymount. To be continued …

What altitude is Grande Cache at, Vic? Must be high!

.... and I thought 'husband' meant I would be getting my own private pop group!

Hi @Jammy. Welcome to our forum! We have a special forum for this kind of thing. Chat Central, Good Jokes: Not for the faint hearted (adult content). Have a look in. You can spend many a pleasant hour there and have a good laugh! Vital in these Corona times.

Friday again already! Time for a spot of brain gymnastics! 1. What name do we give to the study of flags? 2. In which Dickens novel does Richard Carstone appear? 3. What is the boiling point of water on the Fahrenheit scale? 4. Who painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel? 5. In which year was Grace Kelly born? 6. The Colorado Beetle attacks which plant in particular? 7. With what is the organization CER N concerned? 8. What breed of dog is Scooby Doo? 9. Which part of Britain was called Vectis by the Romans? 10. Who, in a song, was thrown out ‘with nothing but a fine tooth comb? 11. Euclid is associated with which branch of mathematics? 12. Which boxer’s real name was Walker Smith? I’ll bet you didn’t know … The word bride comes from an ancient German word meaning ‘one who cooks’! Answers on Thursday.

Sortly before the huts were demolished, around 1957, there were children from the camps at Nedderton Village Junior school.

Answers to last Friday's quiz: 1. Anne Boleyn 2. Eric Clapton 3. Soup 4. Christ Church, Oxford 5. 9 noughts = 9 000 000 000 6. Danny De Vito 7. Steeleye Span 8. Vodka Martini 9. Benjamin Disraeli 10. Ken Bates, Chelsea 11. Six 12. ST 1 (Bonus 71 DXC) New quiz tomorrow.