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Topic: Deaths at Seaton Sluice-burial place(s)? (Read 3105 times)
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Annied22
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 33
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Hi Gary,
I've just got back and now have pics of my immediate family's burial plot and also a cousin's. Didn't quite need a machete, wellies and rubber gloves did the job nicely, although I had a minor panic on my way back to the car when I momentarily thought my car and house keys had dropped out of my pocket when I was attempting basic gymnastics removing dead branches and ivy from the plots! Unfortunately, the pics of the Dickinson plot aren't quite as sharp as I'd hoped, so I'll have to go back sometime and try again. I think I'll wait until I have company though. I'm not nervous by nature, but it's extremely isolated there and I'd like to have a better look around without feeling the need to look over my shoulder all the time. (I have to thank you by the way, for putting the idea of going there NOW into my head!)
It was nothing like as bad as when I was there in the summer, but I'll post a general pic I took just so's people who don't live close by can see what we're on about. Come the summer, it'll be thigh deep in nettles along with everything else and completely impenetrable.
Along with those of my own family, I did notice several of the old Seaton Sluice names in the area around the Hartley Pit Disaster Memorial by the way.
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 general-small.jpg (74.79 KB, 550x413 - viewed 140 times.)
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« Last Edit: Thursday 29 January 09 13:54 UTC (UK) by Annied22 »
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Dickinson, Forster, Crisp, Davy, Sankey, Herdman, Watts, Elder, Seaton Sluice
Vezey, London
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micksharp
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 30
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.natio
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Well done Annie, glad you found your family's plots.
Those photos look really good but I think there are an awful lot of smaller stones that don't even make it up above the vegetation! Having said that, I'm now pretty sure that my great granda is more than likely in an unmarked grave. Gary, if you do come across a Mary Sharp (d.1929) or a Luke Sharp (d.1932) then please let me know.
Thanks
Mick
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Sharp (Yorshire, Durham Northumberland)
Millar, Miller (Bannockburn, Edinburgh)
Brooks, Middleton, Liddle, Sutcliffe
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meadbh
RootsChat Member
Posts: 107
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Hello Gary,
I have a photo taken in the 1930s of the family burial plot of my gt-grandparents, Samuel and Jane BIRD, of Bates Cottages, Holywell. Unfortunately the angle at which it was taken doesn't give much clue as to its location but it was a huge headstone and I thought it would be simple to locate. I was horrified at the state of St Alban's churchyard when I first went looking (unsuccessfully) a couple of years ago. I tried again (unsuccessfully!) last October when things were marginally better as I think there had been a 'clear-up' day with volunteers earlier in the year. If you do come across a stone dedicated to the BIRD family -Elizabeth Jane (d 1905), Jane (d 1909), Samuel (d 1926) and Thomas (d1937)- I would be very grateful to hear about it.
Good luck with your work.
Kath
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micksharp
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 30
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.natio
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Hi Kath
What was your great granda's occupation?
Before I went to the graveyard I would have thought that, being a miner, my great grandad would have been quite poor and could not have afforded a stone. However, there are loads of miners, blacksmiths, even joiners in there who have what I would call quite grand stones!
Makes you wonder what happens to them!
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Sharp (Yorshire, Durham Northumberland)
Millar, Miller (Bannockburn, Edinburgh)
Brooks, Middleton, Liddle, Sutcliffe
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Annied22
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 33
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Hi Annied
Its Just as well you didn't bump into me yesterday, I must have looked a right site all wrapped up with my woolly hat on. Gary
I was no oil painting myself!!
I remember getting quite a surprise when I found my family's plot and discovered it was a double one with an impressive headstone. My great great grandfather had been a bottle factory labourer and then, when the bottle factory closed down, a general labourer at the pit. He also had 8 children and money must have been extremely tight, so like you, I wasn't expecting anything nearly so grand. The Johnson's, to whom I'm also related and who have a similar background, are close by and their plot is much the same. My guess is that they'd all signed to to a savings/insurance scheme with the Co-op!
Mick, I originally found my great great grandfather's plot 25 years ago, so I knew pretty much exactly where to look this time. I'm sure I saw a Sharp headstone in passing, so will take a better look when I'm there next time.
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Dickinson, Forster, Crisp, Davy, Sankey, Herdman, Watts, Elder, Seaton Sluice
Vezey, London
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meadbh
RootsChat Member
Posts: 107
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Thanks, Gary
There is a stone to a family from Bates Cottages, in an accessible place by a path, but unfortunately, not my lot!
Mick, My gt-grandfather was a humble miner, one of many who came from Norfolk to work in the North East. I was surprised when I saw the photo of the family plot he'd purchased, with a beautiful headstone and grave surround. Pity that it's now hidden somewhere in the so-called 'conservation area'. Th first time we went we were smartly dressed as we were going on to visit relatives in Holywell; last time we knew better and took wellies and old trousers!
Kath
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micksharp
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 30
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.natio
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Gary
I have to agree with you on all of your points, and not only because I can't find my great grandparents in the graveyard. Anyone can turn anywhere into a nature reserve - you just neglect the area and put up a board saying that the area has been selected for transformation into a nature-rich reserve, then take all the credit from the local wildlife enthusiasts. There appear to be similar nature reserves all around that area, especially at nearby Backworth where former colliery land (where I would imagine many of the St Alban's churchyard miners worked) was ripe for reclamation.
A local librarian warned me before I went there that the part of the cemetery belonging to the church was a mess, but I would have thought that North Tyneside Council had some responsibility to maintain all of it to a standard where graves were actually visible? It is a burial ground after all, and a tie to our own personal pasts.
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Sharp (Yorshire, Durham Northumberland)
Millar, Miller (Bannockburn, Edinburgh)
Brooks, Middleton, Liddle, Sutcliffe
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