75 replies to this topic

[thompson]

Does anyone have any idea about what used to be in Barrington.
Was there a pit there, and when did it close?
Was that the only industry?
I am researching my family tree, and have relatives that lived in Office Row in the early 1900s.
Are these buildings still there? Did they belong to the coal board, or who else owned them?
My relative was described as a servant girl, living in office row, but I assume Office Row would not be where she worked, only lived.
Would love to hear of any history of this street, and/or Barrington.

[Monsta®]

thompson, on Apr 18 2007, 01:55 PM, said:

Does anyone have any idea about what used to be in Barrington.
Was there a pit there, and when did it close?
Was that the only industry?
I am researching my family tree, and have relatives that lived in Office Row in the early 1900s.
Are these buildings still there? Did they belong to the coal board, or who else owned them?
My relative was described as a servant girl, living in office row, but I assume Office Row would not be where she worked, only lived.
Would love to hear of any history of this street, and/or Barrington.

yeah bedlington pit was located there, and i think office row must have been pulled down cause its not on any maps! think it might have been the old colliery rows opposite nettos, try http://communities.n...mberland.gov.uk there's loads of old photo's and maps.

[Blank]

monsta, on Apr 18 2007, 06:10 PM, said:

yeah bedlington pit was located there, and i think office row must have been pulled down cause its not on any maps! think it might have been the old colliery rows opposite nettos, try http://communities.n...mberland.gov.uk there's loads of old photo's and maps.

Thats a really interesting site monsta, well done.

[Sw@lnalla]

thompson, on Apr 18 2007, 01:55 PM, said:

Does anyone have any idea about what used to be in Barrington.
Was there a pit there, and when did it close?
Was that the only industry?

Are these buildings still there? Did they belong to the coal board, or who else owned them?
My relative was described as a servant girl, living in office row, but I assume Office Row would not be where she worked, only lived.
Would love to hear of any history of this street, and/or Barrington.

Barrington was a separate colliery and village. http://www.dmm.org.u...lliery/b035.htm Very little of it remains although I have seen some relevant local publications in my local newsagents recently.

monsta, on Apr 18 2007, 06:10 PM, said:

yeah bedlington pit was located there, think it might have been the old colliery rows opposite nettos,

Opposite Nettos?..... Barrington ......... Toony

[phila]

Blank, on Apr 18 2007, 06:48 PM, said:

Thats a really interesting site monsta, well done.

I was born in Office Row, No. 8, in 1953, although we lived in the next street this was my Grandmas house.
The pit was closed by then but Bedlington A and D pits were still open where my father worked.
Barrington was a series of terraces with 'semi detached' outside toilets with coalhouses on the side. Street lighting had been gas shortly before I was born according to my grandma but I never saw it. I broke my collar bone playing football in Office Row. As there were no telephones my Grandma was assigned to have a slate board outside the house for anyone to write the need for a doctor on and the doctor would call to look at it each morning then call on the sick. I remember Dr Robson from Guidepost doing this.
We used to play on the pit heaps and go collecting blackberries there when in season. We also used to go to get bullrushes from the pit ponds, something I would go mad at now if my kids did it.
There was a football field next to Office row used regularly and I have some old photos of me and some of my brothers there. There were some bigger houses at the North end of Office row got to through an opening in the wall at the bottom of the street. I think I can only remember these being derelect and used as a sort of 'camp' for melting lead from the roof etc. Perhaps these were the houses that could have had people working there. They are in the background of the attached photo but they dont look derelect.
All the gardens were big and used for growing vegetables. Nobody used their front doors.
There was a little store for groceries etc in the next street.
There was a school on the main road that turned into a glove factory years later and my mother worked there for a while.

[Pete]

phila, on Apr 20 2007, 08:45 AM, said:

attachment
I was born in Office Row, No. 8, in 1953, although we lived in the next street this was my Grandmas house.
The pit was closed by then but Bedlington A and D pits were still open where my father worked.
Barrington was a series of terraces with 'semi detached' outside toilets with coalhouses on the side. Street lighting had been gas shortly before I was born according to my grandma but I never saw it. I broke my collar bone playing football in Office Row. As there were no telephones my Grandma was assigned to have a slate board outside the house for anyone to write the need for a doctor on and the doctor would call to look at it each morning then call on the sick. I remember Dr Robson from Guidepost doing this.
We used to play on the pit heaps and go collecting blackberries there when in season. We also used to go to get bullrushes from the pit ponds, something I would go mad at now if my kids did it.
There was a football field next to Office row used regularly and I have some old photos of me and some of my brothers there. There were some bigger houses at the North end of Office row got to through an opening in the wall at the bottom of the street. I think I can only remember these being derelect and used as a sort of 'camp' for melting lead from the roof etc. Perhaps these were the houses that could have had people working there. They are in the background of the attached photo but they dont look derelect.
All the gardens were big and used for growing vegetables. Nobody used their front doors.
There was a little store for groceries etc in the next street.
There was a school on the main road that turned into a glove factory years later and my mother worked there for a while.

Phila, is the football pitch in the picture the same pitch that Barrington school used to play on. I also remember a tin/wood hut that used to be the co-op. I never lived at Barrington but I went to Barrington school 1950.

[Monsta®]

phila, on Apr 20 2007, 09:45 AM, said:

attachment
I was born in Office Row, No. 8, in 1953, although we lived in the next street this was my Grandmas house.
The pit was closed by then but Bedlington A and D pits were still open where my father worked.
Barrington was a series of terraces with 'semi detached' outside toilets with coalhouses on the side. Street lighting had been gas shortly before I was born according to my grandma but I never saw it. I broke my collar bone playing football in Office Row. As there were no telephones my Grandma was assigned to have a slate board outside the house for anyone to write the need for a doctor on and the doctor would call to look at it each morning then call on the sick. I remember Dr Robson from Guidepost doing this.
We used to play on the pit heaps and go collecting blackberries there when in season. We also used to go to get bullrushes from the pit ponds, something I would go mad at now if my kids did it.
There was a football field next to Office row used regularly and I have some old photos of me and some of my brothers there. There were some bigger houses at the North end of Office row got to through an opening in the wall at the bottom of the street. I think I can only remember these being derelect and used as a sort of 'camp' for melting lead from the roof etc. Perhaps these were the houses that could have had people working there. They are in the background of the attached photo but they dont look derelect.
All the gardens were big and used for growing vegetables. Nobody used their front doors.
There was a little store for groceries etc in the next street.
There was a school on the main road that turned into a glove factory years later and my mother worked there for a while.

you'd know better than me! i wasn't even born then!!!

that glove factory is now a pub!

[Sw@lnalla]

monsta, on Apr 21 2007, 12:32 PM, said:

that glove factory is now a pub!

WOW

[phila]

Pete, on Apr 20 2007, 08:10 PM, said:

Phila, is the football pitch in the picture the same pitch that Barrington school used to play on. I also remember a tin/wood hut that used to be the co-op. I never lived at Barrington but I went to Barrington school 1950.

The glove factory wasnt a school. My father tells me it was a memorial hall and that Barrington school was on the road from there to Bedlington Station. My mother went to that school about 1943. I dont think that schools used it but more Sunday teams etc. Office Row was just to the right of the photo in line with the two houses shown.
I lived in Double Row and the wooden shop there was called Robertsons or Robinsons. The pit was closed but the miners walked over the fields to Boomer Pit.
A chap called Dody Crackett lived in one of the big houses at the bottom of Office Row and he used to look after animals, safety etc for the pit. I remember pit ponies being put out in the fields at holiday time on the road down from the top road railway crossing.

[Pete]

phila, on Apr 23 2007, 02:43 PM, said:

The glove factory wasnt a school. My father tells me it was a memorial hall and that Barrington school was on the road from there to Bedlington Station. My mother went to that school about 1943. I dont think that schools used it but more Sunday teams etc. Office Row was just to the right of the photo in line with the two houses shown.
I lived in Double Row and the wooden shop there was called Robertsons or Robinsons. The pit was closed but the miners walked over the fields to Boomer Pit.
A chap called Dody Crackett lived in one of the big houses at the bottom of Office Row and he used to look after animals, safety etc for the pit. I remember pit ponies being put out in the fields at holiday time on the road down from the top road railway crossing.

Your right the school was never the glove factory, there was also a shirt factory in Barrington. The school was as you say on the road from Bedlington station, it was just up from the brick yard and to the left and behind the school there was a rubbish tip.

The headmistres's name was Miss Scot, that was in the fifties she eventually left and went to the Station school.

I don't remember Dody Crackett but I do remember a lot of people that lived at Barrington as I went to school with a lot of them.

They brought the ponies out of the pit during the two weeks holiday and they were taken to Barrington in the fields for the two week period. On the way to the fields where they used to keep the ponies there was a training area, it was a circular track and the ponies would be tied to a tub and they went round in circles, getting them ready for work down the pit.

Boomer pit was just over the back from Barrington I worked there until just before it closed. The back shift gaffer was Steve Martin, not sure if it's the same Steve Martin that does the history about Bedlington. The first shift gaffer was a guy by the name of Rhonnda Richardson.

Barrington school was made of wood and the old air raid shelters were still there when I was at that school, it had six classrooms.

[Blank]

Its intersesting to hear about what Bedlington used to be like, thanks for sharing your memories everyone!

[big cahoonies]

Blank, on 25 April 2007 - 11:45 AM, said:

Its intersesting to hear about what Bedlington used to be like, thanks for sharing your memories everyone!

Hi iwas born in barrington 1955 in double row(born at home)i lived thier till i was 11, if i can correct a few things, the shirt factory was the glove factory one after the other ,the post office was a house on office row which also sold a few groceries,the football field was used by the school when playing other schools,the school was where the tyre place is now,next to the house that still stands on the road side.there was also a brick works at barrington which used the clay from the quarry at barrington.the cracket you refer to i new and his son lives or lived at choppington colin cracket.i remember the coop it was not much more than a shed.i used to ride the pit ponies when they came up for there holidays.
i can remember stories of a german fighter plane being brought down near there during world war 2.
if any of the old timers are on here my father was Taffy Jones everybody new him.
if anybody needs any info on who lived where just ask and i will ask my brother he can recount all the families,Bazz.
if anybody has any old photos of barrington please mail them to me as we are collecting old photos to show our kids,thanks.

Edited by big cahoonies, 12 February 2010 - 10:50 PM.

[big cahoonies]

big cahoonies, on 12 February 2010 - 10:47 PM, said:

Hi iwas born in barrington 1955 in double row(born at home)i lived thier till i was 11, if i can correct a few things, the shirt factory was the glove factory one after the other ,the post office was a house on office row which also sold a few groceries,the football field was used by the school when playing other schools,the school was where the tyre place is now,next to the house that still stands on the road side.there was also a brick works at barrington which used the clay from the quarry at barrington.the cracket you refer to i new and his son lives or lived at choppington colin cracket.i remember the coop it was not much more than a shed.i used to ride the pit ponies when they came up for there holidays.
i can remember stories of a german fighter plane being brought down near there during world war 2.
if any of the old timers are on here my father was Taffy Jones everybody new him.
if anybody needs any info on who lived where just ask and i will ask my brother he can recount all the families,Bazz.
if anybody has any old photos of barrington please mail them to me as we are collecting old photos to show our kids,thanks.

[doglover]

I also went to Barrington school. Yes it was wooden with the toilets outside in the school yard.There was also the old air raid shelters in the school field at the back. Great memories of smashing times at the school. We used to catch newts and water beetles from barrington pond. I am sure there was a church in Barrington because I can just remember going to relatives wedding there when I was very small.

[sizsells]

I have fond memories of Barnton we lived in Alexander Row I went to the school until it was decided to close it (Mrs Topping was the headmistress if my memory serves me correctly) and we were all sent to the far reaches of Bedlingtonshire to continue our education I among others was sent to the Station School.
I remember the co-op and and I also remember a little shop which only sold sweets and pop it was just like a wooden shed I forget the name of the street it was on but it stood at a right angle to Alexander Row and you had to go through a cut to get to it, there might have been two streets at one time but one was getting demolished because the footballers used one of the dissused houses as their changing room.
I remember the rag n bone man coming round and a french bloke selling onions mind you he had an Ashington twang about his dialect lol.
I remember not so fondly the oot side netties and believe me they were cald in winter
my mam used to cook all our meals on the fire using the old black ranges we bathed in a tin bath in front of the fire on a first come first served basis the kettle was constantly on topping the bath up as the water cooled.
On a winters morning I remember Ice on the inside of my bedroom window.
The front door was normaly locked as it was rarely used but the back door was always open even if we went out, thieving from a neighbour was very rare. However I do remember a spate of thefts from a few houses in the street and no one could figure it out until someone worked out that as the houses were in a row and there was an empty house in the middle unlike today in the loft space you could go virtually the full length of the street undetected if you were quiet and these buggers were dropping down through the loft hatches stealing things and going back up this went on for about 2 weeks... I remember the day they were caught after they were sorted out vigilante style by very angry pitmen and their wives the police were called I know these 2 fellows never ventured near Barnton ever again mind you it was a punishment to behold.... at times I think it should be done now.... .Happy days as they say lol

[big cahoonies]

If they were to rbuild it exactley as it were cald netties anal i would move there tomorow very happy days.................

[doglover]

I was remembering about Barrington school. I was there when Mrs Gorman was my teacher and I remember Mr Hunt. We used to have to cross three railway lines with no gates through the pit to get to school and that straight road seemed such a long way. Can you imagine nowadays parents letting them dothat they would take to their beds annd Im sure I remember coming home from school along that road in the dark in the winter.

[Cympil]

I`ve been trying to find some photo`s of the school but these are the only images i could find. The information given with the painting read `The school was a wooden structure with seven classrooms. The painting shows Jo Daison ringing the bell and Bedlington Brickworks in the background.



The next image is a class photo taken in the 1930`s. The Headmaster Ben Berkley (front row, first right) and Jim Wood, teacher of class 3 (middle row, 3rd from right)

[Pete]

doglover, on 13 February 2010 - 07:04 PM, said:

I was remembering about Barrington school. I was there when Mrs Gorman was my teacher and I remember Mr Hunt. We used to have to cross three railway lines with no gates through the pit to get to school and that straight road seemed such a long way. Can you imagine nowadays parents letting them dothat they would take to their beds annd Im sure I remember coming home from school along that road in the dark in the winter.

I remember Mr Hunt and Mrs Gorman, I believe Mrs Gorman's name was Miss Hamilton before she got married. There was also Miss Anderson and Miss Tallantyre, Miss Scot was the headmistress, she moved to the station school and was replaced by Mrs Topping who was from the station school.

One of my long lasting memories of Barrington school was the day the King died, we were all ushered into class 1 and sat round an old radio to listen to the official anouncment of his death.

I do not remember the schools closing in them days when it snowed or is that just a modern day thing?

[Sierra Delta]

My dad lived in Alexander Row and his family were one of the last to move out. He used to tell me many a story from the 'Raas'. Times were hard back then but he used to say that he had spent some of the happiest times of his life at Barnton. I have enjoyed reading your postings. Thank you