loopylou

I don’t know if you still need this info @Canny lass but thought it may be useful in the genealogy regards. I briefly remember him myself but I was very little (4-5?) when I visited in the Hartlands. His first name was George and he was the son of Christopher (Kit) McGregor and Elizabeth (Lizzie) Tweddle. Lizzie was the daughter of George & Grace Tweddle. Both Kit and Lizzie lived at 9 Cragg’s Buildings in 1921–Kit being a boarder. Geordie was born on 18 July 1923 at Craigs Buildings. His parents at the time lived at Liddle’s Yard. By 1939 him and his parents lived at Yard Row. They then moved to the Hartlands. His grandmother Grace died at 101 Hartlands in 1957. Geordie died in Sep 2008, there is a headstone in Netherton Lane Cemetery. I’m not sure about Kit and Lizzie, though. His uncle (George Tweddle) has a headstone at Netherton and is buried with Grace Tweddle.

*50-60s, sorry.

@Canny lass I wonder if there was one family/household per room at that time, hence the ability to squeeze nine families in there. Agreed about Millfield Cottages, there’s no glaringly obvious of the name connecting to the buildings (Craggs & Clark’s being previous landlords), and certainly could be that they were properties further down Puddlers Road. The Brewers Cottage is quite interesting, there was mention of Henry Clark owning/managing a brewery at Bedlington Iron Works, so they could be connected. I’m starting my way through the Puddler’s Raa thread, what an interesting read 😁 Directly from a family member of mine (whose siblings were born in Craggs recalls going to an aunts house in the 1950s, says the cottage (most likely #3) was nearer to the Bank Top Hotel and remembers that it had two rooms. Thinks the remaining properties were demolished in the 50s too.

Great work @Canny lass 😄 I agree that this is likely what the buildings were laid out as. A good thing that the enumerator was so detailed. Still such a mystery! A quick peek on the 1881 census brings up also detailed addresses of the area. After Liddle’s Cottages (Liddle’s Yard?) there is “Clark’s Cottages” followed by the Puddlers Arms, then “Millfield Cottages”. After “Millfield” follows Puddlers’ Row. I was wondering due to these two addresses surrounding the Puddlers’, the “Clark’s Cottages” may be a reference to BLUE in Craig’s Buildings, and then “Millfield Cottages” refer to the RED part of Craigs. These addresses aren’t brought up again.

It is certainly a mystery @Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)! Thank you for the info it is very helpful. Will have a look at those. I knew about Puddlers Row but was not aware that Glassey Terrace was formerly a Puddlers-related name too. 😄 One thing that confuses me is the way that Cragg’s Bdgs is labelled in the 1911 census. It makes it look like the Puddlers Arms is in the middle of the block and was later renamed to be part of Craggs. Rather than the Puddlers Arms being demolished and replaced with Bank Top Hotel. After Bank Top Hotel the addresses go as; No. 1 Craggs (missing, a shop? Uninhabited?) No. 2 Craggs Buildings (Weightman) No. 3 Craggs Buildings (Elliott) No. 4 Craggs Buildings (Kinghorn) following these are Old Puddlers Arms (Mawson) Old Puddlers Arms (Thain) Old Puddlers Arms (Cole) Old Puddlers Arms (Burrell) All of these addresses ”Old Puddlers Arms” have two rooms each, which equates with the eight rooms described in the auction. then confusingly Craggs Buildings (no number) (McMullen) No. 2 Craggs Buildings (Thompson) No. 3 Craggs Buildings (Hutchinson) No. 4 Craggs Buildings (Campbell) No. 5 Craggs Buildings (Hadaway) Craggs Buildings (no number) (Parker) These also had two rooms each. Then after follows River View. It would appear that No. 2/3/4 are duplicated, but I do not think that these are the same properties, rather that the end six properties later become No. 9-14 of Craggs.

@Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) Thank you 😄 Cragg’s Bdgs comes up a lot in my family history. I’m surprised Puddlers Arms doesn’t have much information about it but I guess if it stopped being a pub in the 1890s it makes sense. I think there might be misconceptions that the Puddlers Arms was *on* the site that the Bank Top Hotel is, when it was a few doors down (I thought this at first 😁). But maps do have Puddlers Arms in one version and the Bank Top in nearly the same place next. So I can see how that would happen. (On another bit, I know there is a Bedlington Facebook group for things like this? Would this info be useful?)

I think this is how Craggs Buildings may have been numbered. It seems it was named this due to the former license holder of the Puddlers Arms being a J. W. Craggs. He had the pub in 1887 before dying in 1889, aged 43. No. 1 started where the Bank Top is now, and continued down to No. 13/14 next to River View. No. 1 - 4 are the cottages that separated the Puddlers from Bank Top Hotel. The 1881 census lists an address “Clark’s Cottages” inbetween “Liddle’s Cottages” (Liddle’s Yard) and “Puddler’s Arms”. I think it’s likely Clark’s Cottages referred to No. 1-4. A former landlord of the Puddlers was Henry Clark. No. 5 - 8, an auction piece on 22 Oct 1864 (Newcastle Daily Chronicle) lists the Puddler’s Arms as having “eight large rooms”. Possibly that the Puddler’s was split into four two-room flats. No. 9 - 14, the same auction piece lists the Puddlers Arms as having “three houses, with four rooms each, adjoining the above.” I believe these were split into the six two-room apartments of No. 9 - 14, as a later auction piece on 27 Feb 1869 (Newcastle Daily Journal) now describes the attached property to Puddler’s Arms as “six double cottages”. Photo with the door numbers included.

Possibly this?

@Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) I think the bungalow you reference as River View in the older picture is actually the second one in, number 2? Maps has a no 1 River View which nearly lines up with a corner house in Tomlea Avenue . But the current end house (2) is a bit further down. I assume a few got demolished over the years.

It looks like that between 44-49 (presumably 1944) that the middle block was demolished after the fire but the outer houses kept. Then at some point between 1949 and 1959 the lower houses also demolished, keeping the ones closest to Bank Top Hotel until River View Close was built.

@Canny lass yes, no one ever seemed to stay in one place. 😄

I don’t know if there are photos of Cragg’s Buildings out there, but there were some in the papers in 1943 after it was on fire. (No. 5, 6, 7 and 8).

@Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) thank you for the advice, very helpful. There’s a lot of stuff on here to look around at 😁

Sorry I don’t think I worded it right. Oh dear 😅. I did mean door numbers, not the schedule in censuses—I meant to infer that at some point in time the Rooneys seem to live at nearly every door number (3, 6, 8 etc) and the numbers are always changing because they switched houses that much. It is quite interesting to see how everyone in such a small space was connected, because there was quite a lot! In 1939, No. 9 (Tweddle) & 10 (Bell) families connected to the Rooneys as the Tweddle’s adopted a grandaughter of Ellen Rooney. I think the Tweddle’s had been at Cragg’s since about 1914 too.