Canny lass

I must say you’ve got a lovely day for it – The Midsummer national holiday! I hope you’ve got your Maypole decorated and ready to be raised! You haven’t forgotten to practice the frog dance have you? Here’s how it goes: Have a lovely day!

Well, there you go! The old man was right after all!

Hi Dorothy, I’ve been trying to pin down the exact row of houses known as Sawmill Row by looking at earlier census records and maps. I’m sorry to say that I’m none the wiser. The choice is still between the two streets I mentioned earlier. However, I found Sawmill Road in the 1891, 1881 and the 1871 census. While the name isn’t mentioned in the 1891 census (it’s simply given as Guidepost) there can be no doubt that it is the same street named Sawmill Row in the 1901 census. You can see this by comparing the residents. There are several residents who appear on both, including your family, and even some of their neighbours living in the same position on the street as previously. The Hall family seems to have been around the Guidepost area for many years. They appear on the street, same house, same birthplace, in 1891 and again in 1881. There is also a Hall on the street in 1871 but you’d need to look more closely at that as there’s not much to go on for an outsider.

It was a serious question, Vic. I'd like to read more from Brian Chambers. That, due to the humour rather than the content of the work. He managed to put a smile on my face and that's a rare sight the last six months. So, if anybody knows who he is or where I can find any oher works of Brian do let me know. P.S. It was my old man who thought he might be a football player.

Who is Brian Chambers? Football player?

That's fantastic Eggy! I haven't been in that area for over thirty years but, while I'm sure I wouldn't recognise anything today, the street layout hasn't changed a great deal. Freehold Terrace (now Freehold Avenue) and Ford Terrace are still there and it looks as if the road I believe to be Sawmill Row is still there. This is a wonderful opportunity for you Dorothy to tread in your ancestors footsteps. I love doing that myself, The street becomes a kind of interface between the past and the present. Have a walk there next time your in the area

Hello again Dorothy! There was something odd about the house number you gave so I went back to the census and had another look. Sawmill Row was a very short row of houses with only 24 dwellings listed in the census so I thought that 194 couldn't be right. There were no house numbers recorded in the census for that street and 194 appears as the enumerators schedule number (always the first column as there isn't any special column for house numbers). Many streets didn't get numbers - or even names - until the postal service was fully developed. Hope this helps your future research.

I might be able to help you here, Dorothy. I don't know if you are familiar with the area but Sawmill Row wasn't in Bedlington town but in the greater area of Bedlingtonshire. It was situated by the sawmill that once stood in Guidepost, roughly to the east of the junction between Sheepwash bank and Stakeford lane. The sawmill, but not Sawmill Row, appears on this OS map from 1866. Note that there are no houses in front of it facing Stakeford Lane and only one row of houses running north to south directly to the west of it: Census enumerators had strict routes to follow so in the 1901 census we can see that Sawmill Row is situated between the community of Guidepost (no street names given) and Ford Terrace - which is followed by Freehold Terrace. Freehold Terrace appears to be the elder of the two as it appears on early maps but is not named. However, the 1922 OS maps show both Terraces with name so they must have been built between 1866 and 1901. (Ford terrace to the south of Stakeford lane, then called simply 'High Street'): and Freehold Terrace to the North of High Street: Note on the first of those two maps that a new street has also appeared running at right angles to High Street and parallel to Blyth Terrace. I believe this is Sawmill Row but it is also possible that the street named Blyth Terrace was previously Sawmill Row as it stood on its own next to the sawmill. Unfortunately I can't find the name on any maps. Eggy, your a genius with maps. Can you do some sort of collage with arrows and pretty bits that show this as a then and now kind of picture?

Thanks guys! The lemons are still coming at me but but that swetened them up a bit.

Has this thread died or just gone to sleep? Life is giving me nothing but lemons and I desperately need a good laugh!

This is what this site is all about!!

That IAO is a real eye-opener! Thanks Malcolm for this little glimpse backstage. More transparency like this is needed - at all levels of politics, I might add. Keep up the good work.

Breakfast? Wouldn't dream of mentioning it!

Foxy, if only the British Government could make a decision and act on it as quickly as you everything would be alright with the world! Thanks!

That's a tough year you've had! I hope things are on the up and up now. Very sorry to here about your losses. It's never easy to lose a pet but it's good that we have memories of how they enriched our lives for the short time they were with us. And, don't forget to give yourself a big pat on the back for all the ways in which you have enriched their lives. A true animal lover, that's what you are!

I couldn't agree more, HPW! You don't have to wait for Stakeford lass to remove the post, you can report it to admin - just click on "report post" at the top right corner of the offending post and ask for it to be removed. It's such a shame when personal differences are taken up on the site and it doesnt do anything positive for the good name of Bedlington.

I don't recognise any of these as belonging to the Hennessy family that lived in Plessey Street from about 1950 onwards.

Happy birthday Brian! Is it still possible to get a 'cold' beer in the Australian heatwave?

Well, they did respond - eventually. 5 months left to get it debated!

Happy birthday from me too, Vic!

Thanks for throwing some light on that, timeslip1. Another mystery solved.

Have a look at this aerial view: It's not the best of photos but you can see clearly that the new Coop store (the light coloured building across the road from the institute) has been built. At the other end of the row (if you put your glasses on and zoom in) .you can just make out the shape and colour of Esther's green shed. I'd love to know if she'd had another place before this.

I lived in Third Street from 1950 onwards and Esther Rochester's shop (in the green shed) was always at the bottom of the garden of number 24 Third Street - the last garden on the row. The 'tute' was at the opposite end of the street and nowhere near the shop. However, she later moved her business into the prefab building opposite the institute but that wasn't near any gardens. Did she have another shop prior to the green shed at number 24?