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Nice to find out that the clock house was most probably a workmen’s institute. I would have loved to have seen the iron works in it's heyday. Joe

I've just come across this interesting site created by Derek Johnstone about those local lads who died fighting in the Great War (I don't know if this has been posted on this forum before). https://docplayer.net/152715054-Bedlington-soldiers-who-died-in-the-great-war.html

I knew I had one somewhere! The larger building to the right of Viaduct Cottages (sorry, I said Keelmans Row earlier. That was a mistake)

The Seven Sisters and The Bandstand = my childhood. I was born 1948 and in the late 1950's spent days in the river next to the Bandstand. We were forever rebuilding a small dam across the river from the Free Woods side to the Bebside side where there was a wide slab of rack that was used to dive from but the dam was necessary to make the water deep enough to dive into.

You might try the Northumberland Archives,Michael, https://northumberlandarchives.com Thomas Davison has popped up in my reasearch earlier on documents related to Bedlington Colliery - last one dated 1857.

Canny Lass. Your comments have got me interested enough to investigate the toll house a bit further. In the 1950’s I walked through the Ha’Penny woods a number of times so I must of passed the Toll House but I cannot remember ever seeing it. In the 1901 census, there are on 4 properties around furnace bridge on the Cowpen side of the river, recorded in the following sequence- Bridge End House with 4 families; Bebside Gardens with only 1 resident; Clock Tower with 2 families; Rose Cottage with 1 family. These 4 properties are shown in old maps from this period. The toll house has to be one of these buildings and it can only be Rose Cottage. Comparing the old photo of Rose Cottage with the toll house in the newspaper cutting , the windows, chimneys and gable ends are the same, the only difference being the fancy roof above the entrance door which could easily have been modified. The location is exactly where the toll house was situated - at the entrance to the woods on the footpath and there were no other building where a toll could have been as can be seen on the old map. Bebside gardens is the only house that is unclear but I believe it was the building that Joe asked about that started off this topic i.e the building next to the bridge opposite Bridge End house. The single occupant of Bebside Gardens in the 1901 census was a ‘gardener’ and next to the building is a huge garden. A gardener living in Bebside Gardens alongside a large garden!

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In my family too but they were in coal-mining. They've probably tread common ground. Re the location of the Rose & Crown Inn in the photo:

Two earlier photos of the Rose & Crown showing the wooden bridge. The Bedlington Coal Company built the first Bedlington Viaduct in June 1850 as part of its line from Newsham to Bedlington. It was a timber trestle bridge designed by Robert Nicholson, 80 feet high and 770 feet long. (From article “Bridges on the Blyth”) In 1930 the old wooden structure was demolished by the London and North Eastern Railway and was replaced by the present iron bridge (The Black Bridge). (From article “Bridges on the Blyth”)

Hi Alan (Eggy) Thank you. I actually had that one of the Rose & Crown, although it is nice image, it shows very little of the actual building concentrating more on the man . Very much appreciate the heads up on the others though and getting back to me. Hi Canny lass Thank you you very much for the maps and photo's it helps a lot with positioning etc.. So from your description I would assume the closest building to the viaduct is the Rose & Crown. It is lovely to be welcomed on to the page and to be given so much information. It is very much appreciated. Bedlington and Horton play a major roll in my families history and its journey into Iron and Steel. I look forward to talking to all more in the the future Kind regards Brian

The river must have been a site to see, dredged and wiidened for the ships to load and unload. the sketch by C Bergen is great, showing the area as it once was and the coal tubs ready to be unloaded. You can also see the clock tower, it makes the clock house look more like a church. Thank goodness there are pictures to show how it looked in the past. A picture is worth worth a thousand words. Thank you so much for all your great pictures. Joe

The sketch and 2 photos are all looking upstream towards the furnace bridge. The sketch by C Bergen (presumably Christopher Bergen who wrote the article about the ironworks) shows the chimney and attached buildings are built on the quay, and the 1902 photo shows they have been almost completely demolished, except the chimney. However it does look like there a small building remaining next to the bridge that could be the small building mentioned by Joe. The sketch shows a ship being unloaded or loaded so the buildings must have been warehouses for storage of goods that have been unloaded or are for loading onto ships berthed at the quay. Even today you can see the steel mooring rings anchored into the side of the quay.

@MichaelDavidson - Have you ever looked at the info on the Durham Mining Museum (DMM) site? The site is ran by a charity and I believe all those that help on the site are volunteers. The site has info on all Northumberland and Durham collieries and included in the info on the 2 Bedlington collieries - 'A' & 'D' pits - are the list of owners from 1850 that you have mentioned above and then the owners from 1950 until their close = 1860s - Bedlington Coal Co. 1890s - Bedlington Coal Co. Ltd. 1947 - National Coal Board (N.C.B.) This is a direct link to the Bedlington colliery page on the DM site :- http://www.dmm.org.uk/colliery/b022.htm

@Bhx7 - have you checked back through page one of this topic? There is an image of the Rose & Crown pub. The image is showing a local Man, Matty Whinthrip, with his Horse and Cart outside the pub. The photo is from a book by local historian's Stephen B. & Evan Martin. Also on page 1 of this topic there are a couple of photos showing the wooden bridge and the steel bridge that replaced it. There are buildings in each photo and one of them must be the Rose & Crown. Hope that helps.

Welcome to the forum, Bhx7! You are correct. The Rose & Crown Inn was located to the west of the viaduct and situated between Keelmans Row and Rose & Crown Row. (Ignore the red star) Census enumerators were creatures of habit who followed a strict route. In the 1901 census, having left the Sea View/Paradise Row area (Bottom right corner of map) he entered the Iron Works area and followed his route including Fergusons Row (where my father was born, 1900) proceding through Old Factory Yard and its offices, he then makes his way downhill to the riverside where he records in the following order as he walks towards the bridge at the foot of the hairpin bend: Green – Rose & Crown Inn (marked P.H. ’Public House’ on the map) Orange – Rose & Crown Row (nrs 1-6) Pink – Bridge House Yellow – Clock House Blue – Rose Cottage, the last dwelling in his district (Cowpen 16)' The Rose & Crown Inn is actually named on this second map from 1897 just 4 years before the census. Thanks to Eggy for the art-work on this last map. As you see, he's much better at it than I am!

Answers to last week's quiz: He tried to assassinate Hitler Doha Bojangles Royal Naval Air Service Mexico Spider Ernie Els Spencer Bay of Bengal James Mason Rangers Luxembourg New quiz tomorrow.

@Joe Ridley - a member called @Reedy (no longer comments within this group) created a topic - Bebside Furnace 1940 - 1952 within History Hollow back in 2013. Within that topic were a few photos including one that showed the small building you are asking about and someone did ask if it was the Toll House. Reedy created the topic as his dad used to live in the area and he was documenting what he remembered so reedy asked his dad about that small building and this was his reply :- This is approximately where the two Toll Houses for the Ha'penny woods were situated :- There are a couple more photos that i will dig out and hopefully post later today.

Joe - quick answer is :- the small building - I will have to dig out the info that other people have posted. The Furnace Bridge was not a Toll bridge - Info on all the bridges on the river Blyth = https://www.bridgesonthetyne.co.uk/furnace.html On that site there is info on all the bridges over all the bridges in our area. The Ha'penny (half penny) Woods did have two Toll houses. One just past the Clock House, on the right of the photo you posted, and one at the entrance to the woods from just over the bridge at the bottom of the Bedlington Bank. I will dig out some photos.

I tried to edit the last post but when i pasted in my text, after the file, the wordsa nd letters ran amok changing font and size here, there and everywhere. I tried to write it direct on site but time ran out for editing. I'll have another go at pasting it in this post and see what happens BUT I'm not going to try and rewrite it if the same thing happens! I looked at the 1911 census and the 1939 register and compared the number and placement of dwellings in relation to three fixed points on Glebe Row: Fountain Inn at the northern end of Glebe Row, Tankervlle Arms and the Alma Inn situated towards the southern end of Glebe Row. We can assume that the position of all three has remained constant. This information was then plotted on a map dated 1922 where individual buildings could be clearly seen. For the 1911 census I give the familiar address – that given by the resident. For the 1939 register I give the official adress - that given by the enumerator as this is the only one available. However, in the 1911 census, all dwellings situated between Arcade and the Alma Inn have the official address, Glebe Row but the residents choose to call it anything from Tankerville Yard to Front Street. Between 1911 and 1939 the number of dwellings in the enumerators area between Fountain Inn and Alma Inn increased only slightly from 59 to 68 dwellings. In 1911 the area from Fountain Inn to, but not including, Arcade lists 28 dwellings. The same area 1939 lists 36 dwellings. Most of this increase can be accounted for by two roomed dwellings being divided into one room dwellings and the five roomed dwelling adjacent to Olivers Buildings becoming five separate dwellings. The area from, but not including, Arcade to Alma Inn lists 27 dwellings in 1911 and this is reduced by one, to 26 dwellings in 1939. In other words there hasn’t been much change and Arcade appears to be consistently situated adjacent to the same yard, Renwicks Yard which is the second ’yard’, respectively the third on the 1911 and 1939 records as the Alma Inn yard was a later addition. Worked fine! I clearly didn't choose 'plain text' when posting.

They have been asked if any photos or info but no response at the moment

Yes, all the shit pubs, barbers, takeaways, tattoo parlours and supermarkets have made Bedlington the place to be when it comes to Northumberland 'villages'. Step aside Bamburgh, there's a new kid in town. (I mean village).

'Villagey'?!

Yes Cliff Waldock is my Uncle he played for Bedlington Mechanics - Ashington - Crook Town - Seaton Sluice and he is still going strong and attended the Gym until this Covid Pandemic came to our Door Step Uncle Cliff is in his late 80's and lives in Gosforth,..a photo in the Group says Cliff Waldock he has an over coat on it's not him as he is 6'3'' unless all the back line are 6'6'' or more