Jump to content

James

Members
  • Posts

    203
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    49

Everything posted by James

  1. According to one of the "Bedlingtonshire Revisited" booklets, there was a branch of the Bedlington Coop at Netherton Colliery
  2. Some of the names of the rows are incorrect. The photo has been enlarged and cropped and has cut off Shiney Row which can be seen on the extreme left of the main photo. Telephone Row and Cross Row are correct but - Shiney Row should read Doctor Terrace. Doctor Terrace should read North Terrace. North Terrace should read New South Row. This is an interesting photo as it shows two winding houses. It shows a new brick built electric winding house (it was later painted white) and in front of it the old steam driven winding house. As I mentioned in a previous posting the steam driven winder was replaced with the electric winder in 1921. So there was loss in production, the new winder house was built behind the old one. The pulley ropes from the old winder were then passed through to the new electric winder and the old steam driven winder house with its chimney demolished. (Information taken from James Tuck’s book “The Collieries of Northumberland”) This photo show both winding houses in 1921 so it was taken exactly 100 years ago this year!
  3. James

    Dr Pit 2.jpg

    Dr Pit in 1912 with the surface workers posing for the photo. Note the guy on top of the headgear next to the “pulley wheels”. This old winder house was for the steam driven winder and was replaced with the electric winder in 1921. So there was loss in production, the new winder house was built behind the old one and the electric winder commissioned. The pulley ropes from the old winder were then passed through to the new winder to the electric winder and the old winder house with its chimney was demolished. (Information taken from James Tuck’s book “The Collieries of Northumberland”) We know that any photo of the Dr Pit showing the white brick built winder house was taken after 1921.
  4. The Old Colliery Row, better known as “The Aad Pit Raa” was built in 1840, 15 years before the Dr Pit was opened. According to Stephen Martin’s book it was built by a farming family, The Swann Brothers to rent to miners who were moving into Bedlington to work on collieries that were opening up in the vicinity. The Colliery Row was initially leased then sold in 1892 to the Bedlington Coal Company. The row was demolished along with Bell’s Place in 1950. Hollymount Square was built on this area immediately after the demolition of the rows.
  5. Of all the photos I’ve seen of the Dr Pit, this is the only one that shows the Drift. The Drift entrance can be seen on the extreme right of the photo with its screening plant. The Drift was an inclined shaft that was in operation between 1947 and 1960. It was opened to mine coal under what is now the golf course but it was decided that it would be cheaper to mine these reserves by opencast methods so the drift was closed.
  6. James

    Shiney Row

    In the 1980’s Stephen Martin wrote 7 booklets that together formed the “Bedlington Villages History Series” The titles are – Bedlington, Sleekburn, Stakeford & Bomarsund, West Sleekburn, Choppington, Barrington, Netherton. (Perhaps there is also one on Cambois?) Unfortunately I only have 3 of them – Bedlington, Netherton and “Bomarsund & Stakeford” I think it is a good idea to open an album on the Doctor Pit and Rows. There have been lots of photos posted in the history forum over the years and it would great to see them in an album. I have quite a few so as soon as the album is open I will post them.
  7. James

    Shiney Row

    Probably the building work was not completed until after the 1871 census. Number 49 was bigger than the others because it was the undermanager’s house. In the 1911 census, Thomas Croudace, the Dr Pit undermanager was living there. His son, Charlie Croudace was the colliery manager for many years until 1955 when he was succeeded by George Hetherington. The pay office was built onto the gable end of No 49 where I received my first week’s pay of just over £4 in 1957.The building dates and number of houses of all the rows according to Stephen Martin’s book on Bedlington are as follows- Cross Row. 12 houses built in 1855 to accommodate the shaft sinkers. Shiney Row – 1870, 49 houses. Doctor Terrace – 1874, 49 houses. New South Row – 1886, 24 houses. Telephone Row – 1886, 20 houses. North Terrace - 1906, 50 houses. A total of 204 families.
  8. Bates Colliery behind the offices around the wash plant area taken late 1950's
  9. You can see from this angle that there was quite a large extension to the hall not visible in the first photo.
  10. There were two members of the Weeks’ family that lived in Lairds house. The first was John George Weeks, born 1844 and his son Richard James Weeks, born 1884. Each of them held the position of Agent for the Bedlington Coal Company. (Information obtained from one of Evan Martin’s books and the Durham Mining Museum.) The Bedlington Coal Company transformed Bedlingtonshire and there is no historical reference to the company anywhere that I have seen. The Bedlington Coal Co. Ltd Challenge Cup, a solid silver model of a Bedlington Terrier was donated to the National Bedlington Terrier by Richard Weeks in 1936 and is still the top trophy presented at their annual Championship Show.
  11. Thanks for the information Eggy. It looks like the swimming baths were open for about 47 years; 1926 to 1973. After it closed it was converted to a paddling pool but this didn't last long and now it is a children's play area. The two photos are taken from roughly the same position about 40 years apart.
  12. Bill The structure in the photo is a few meters downstream of the dam I mentioned in my previous post. As HPW states they are what are left of the supporting columns for two huge pipe that carried water from the dam down to the waterworks at Humford, located on what is now the car park. If you walk from the dam down to Humford on the Bedlington side of the river, remains of the pipes and the brick supports can still be seen here and there. According to Stephen Martin’s book on Bedlington, the steam driven pump station was commissioned in 1876 and pumped filtered water to the reservoir behind the Red Lion and operated for 50 years. The (empty) reservoir is still there and can be seen from the back entrance to the Red Lion. Before the waterworks, water in Bedlington was obtained from wells and springs. As we know, after the waterworks closed in about 1925 they were changed into an open air swimming pool (Humford Baths) so the pipes from the dam then supplied water to the baths until they closed. Anyone know when the baths were officially opened and when they closed for the last time? The photo of the waterworks was taken over one hundred years ago.
  13. Hi Bill I know the walk you describe in your post (did it last year) but didn’t see the structure you mention. I have attached a plan with the Hartford Woods shown in green. The footpath leads through these woods. As you say, to get there, you have to walk over the stepping stones at Humford Mill to the Hartford side of the river, turn right over the wooden footbridge that crosses the Horton Burn and into Hartford woods and follow the (difficult) footpath that leads to Hartford Bridge. Can you give a rough idea of the location of the structure you saw on your walk? There are two distinctive features on the walk; first the huge concrete culvert that was built to drain water from Brentford Nylons and the other is the dam that used to supply water to the swimming baths. Is it near any of these two points or at the end of the walk, i.e. the field that leads to Hartford Bridge (opposite Hartford Hall)? Any other pointers would help, e.g. at the top perimeter of the woods along the fields, or near the river. Another possibility is that when you state at the “top of the bank”, perhaps you followed the footpath through Horton Dene which is a fairly steep walk along the burn towards Hartford Colliery (East Hartford)
  14. The attached document is taken from Stephan Martin’s book ‘Bedlington”. He seems to be referring to the same football field as you are but he states it was at Millfield. This would make sense as it would have been an ideal spot for a pitch. Regarding your question about any building work around Hollymount that could of taken place in the 1920’s, there is a map in an earlier post, showing an open area behind Hollymount Hall. This is where the words Holly Mount are printed on the map. Haig Road, Beatty Road and Cornwall Crescent were built there after WW1 and it is possible that a football field could have been here. This is next to the Bedlington Terriers’ pitch
  15. Reedy – This is a photo of the Anderson Boyes Arc Shearer coal cutter you mention in your post. They were used at the Doctor Pit Drift from about 1948 to 1960, in bord and pillar sections mining the 6 foot thick Main Coal seam. The district was called the ‘West Winnings” and was under what is now the golf course. It was decided that it would be cheaper to mine the Main Coal seam by opencast mining, so in 1960 the “drift” was closed.
  16. I have attached a couple of photos of the headgear from different viewpoints showing the unusual arrangement of the pulley wheels at the “Little Pit’. In James Tuck’s book “The Collieries of Northumberland”, there is a chapter on “The Auld Pit” and he says this is known as a ‘Tandem Headgear’ and that the only other tandem headgear in Northumberland was at Seaton Delaval colliery. He also mentions that the ‘Little Pit’ had 2 small diameter shafts but until I read your posting I didn’t appreciate that the reason for the tandem configuration was to position the pulleys over two separate shafts situated next to each other - Thanks HPW for your excellent posting. There must have been a ventilation shaft, so the ‘A’ pit would have had 4 shafts in total.
×
×
  • Create New...