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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Northumberland => Topic started by: jora on Friday 22 February 13 11:07 GMT (UK)
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I have been searching online for a photograph of Malvin's Close, but have come up with nothing except a sketch which appears in the Northumberland County History.
I am particularly interested in the time it was used as the offices of the Cowpen Coal Company.
Any help by the Blyth experts would be very welcome.
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I have checked the pictures I have of Blyth but none give a clear view of the house, and the aerial shots I have only really show a wooded area around where the house was 1930 - 33. This one will be difficult to get images of.
The old house as far as I am aware still stands.
Philip
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I understand Malvins close house has been demolished. I published a photo awhile ago and some chatters thought it may have been taken outside Malvins close house. Don't know if it was but here's the link http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,335181.msg2148181.html#msg2148181
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Thank you all for your help.
I have looked on Google maps but there is not a very clear view which might help.
The photograph is attached. I believe it was taken in the early 1900s.
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Brief overview of Malvin's Close.
A William Mavin (Malvin?) 'acquired' a farm in Cowpen from a Cuthbert Hedley of Morpeth in August of 1569.
A dividing up of Cowpen took place in 1619.
Sir Ralph Delaval, East Division tenant of Malvin's Close 66 acres
Lewis Widdrington, Middle Division tenant of Malvin's Close 19 acres pasture
Edmund Hannay bought Malvin's Close 1764
William Hannay (Edmund's grandfather originally from Kelso)
Edmund Hannay died 26 February 1800 aged 73
The house passed down his family line till eventually
Edmund Hannay Watts SOLD Malvin's Close in 1873 to the Cowpen & North Seaton Coal Co. later the Cowpen Coal Co.
Only one property within the grounds of the Malvin's Close plot still exists and that is the house next to the 'E' of Close on the 1898 map. That is brick built and looks to be very old. Cowpen Hall was described by Warburton in 1715 as a "handsome seat, built with brick". So I am beginning to doubt that your stone built house in the photo is Malvin's Close.
P
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Thank you for all the information - it is much appreciated.
The family of two of the children in the photo lived at Malvin's Close for many years up to the 1920s, but the children and their parents lived in Delaval Terrace, later in Quality Row in Cambois. I thought there might be a remote chance that Malvin's Close was the location.
I think it will just have to go down as unidentified. I wish they had written something on the back of the picture!
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Good info Phil; so the football pitches are laid over a brick works. What was actually at the spot where Aldi now is I know there was council offices but was there an old house, my childhood memories tell me old house, trees, scary at night and it was Malvin's close; not right with name of house is my memory confused?
Jora, have you got the children in the 1901, 1911 census' could they give a clue to location?
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Re the Malvins House. As a child I always saw this house as a Grand looking property,
The photo of the house does not look as good as the house always looked in reality.
It was always kept in pristine condition. I am 76 and do not believe this to be that of Malvins House, which as Fremund said was demolished a few years back. It was a nursing home before it finally it stood empty for a number of years. Dolly
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Re ALDI and what was there in the past. On the 1898 Blyth map there was a settling pond of some sort probably associated with the Cowpen 'A' pit, and open fields. By 1922 there was a 'yard' there along with some allotments. When exactly they appeared I don't know. On the 1937 map the yard is referred to as the Corporation Yard.
As a boy growing up the 1970s my father worked for Blyth Borough Council. He worked in various departments across Blyth, one of them being housing in the depot at that yard. The yard contained a weigh bridge (I used to love watching the lorries being checked) and the general stores for Blyth Housing. All the equipment the crews needed for repairing the housing stock at that time were stored at that yard. During the school holidays on a number of occasions I went to the yard with my dad. The gritting wagons, refuse wagons and various other vehicles and vans were parked up there over night. One of the jobs I loved to do was in the joiners shop. They had me sweep all the wood shavings into the centre of the floor where there was a large 'drain' which had an extractor come vacuum attached to it. The shavings were sucked up into a big storage tank that was outside. I convinced myself as a boy that it was where they got the shavings for the vomit biscuit tins in schools! An endless supply for sure. My family left Blyth in March of '81, so what happened to the council depot after that time I have no idea, excepting of course that there is now a small shopping center there. Oh, there never was a large house built on the site of the depot, it was always a commercial yard.
I also remember on the opposite side of the road there being a secondhand car dealership. The owner for a time had a 1970s blue Corvette Stingray and his wife crashed it and was killed. Not sure of the facts. You know how with time the memory can play tricks with oneself, so don't quote me on it. I'd need to go read newspapers of the day to reacquaint myself with the proper facts. The building is still there and now looks to be a private house.
Yes, the football fields are partially built on the old brick works along with Cowley Place and Edendale Avenue.
P
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Good info Phil; so the football pitches are laid over a brick works. What was actually at the spot where Aldi now is I know there was council offices but was there an old house, my childhood memories tell me old house, trees, scary at night and it was Malvin's close; not right with name of house is my memory confused?
Jora, have you got the children in the 1901, 1911 census' could they give a clue to location?
Re Aldi It was the Town tailors factory
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For all mentions of Aldi ( except last one) read Lidl !
Michael
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Before Cowpen Estate was built (c1951 onwards) many Bebside Colliery village folk and others used to
walk to Blyth by various footpaths/tracks.
Part of one of these routes was marked on the 1898 map posted by Philip ( at message number 4 ). The path marked "FP" ran along what is now Dean View Drive, went through the little clump of houses at Malvins Close, and then followed unpaved track which today is Albion Way, then though Cowpen Colliery yard and down Waterloo Rd into Blyth
In early 1950s in preparation for the building of Cowpen Estate,there was big operation of landfill going on generally where sports fields are now. I remember the wind blowing away much of the rubbish dumped by the refuse lorries.
The folk living in Malvins Close must have hated the pedestrian traffic passing by their front windows and must have been relieved when the making of Albion Way diverted that traffic away.
Blyth Library has Electoral Registers from 1929/30 ( A mystery where earlier ones are ! )
In 1929/30 Malvins Close consts of numbers 2, 3, 4 and 5 and Harpenden House
( Emmerson family)
Number 4 disappears in 1930/31. In 1931/32 MC is numbers 3, 5 and 2, Harpenden Hose and Fallowfield House.
In 1936/37 the estate of Malvins Close, appears ( Kings, Queens, Dukes and Earls Gardens)
This was built in between Cowpen Civil cemetery and Malvins Close, in field on 1898 map marked with "U" and "D" ( for Urban District)
In 1952 the "original " MC consists of West View, Harpenden House. Fallowfield ( "House" dropped),
The Cottages and Malvins Close House.
Michael
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I grew up in Malvins Close and my Mum still lives there.
Re the Carter family in Malvins Close House, Mr. Carter was t town clerk and I believe he rented the place from the council. His son roughly my age (60) was called Chris.
The Cottage was at one time a working farm but in my time, the field opposite was often used for the pit ponies' annual holiday. This is to the North of the three smaller houses. My Dad told me that these houses were built to house local colliery management but I cannot confirm that.
Opposite Bolam Avenue on the North side of what is now Albion Way was another house as I recall, surrounded by trees and empty.
The picture in the link in #2 does look like MCH, as opposite was what we called "The Orchard" used for apple scrumping and getting conkers.
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Many thanks to all who have replied to this topic.
The family I am interested in is the Dawson family. Since first posting I have got the death notice from the Courant of Robert Dawson in 1895 -
"Blyth, Melvin House, Cowpen Colliery, on the 28th ult in his 73rd year, Robert Dawson, engineer for Cowpen & North Seaton Coal Company for the last 38 years."
I also have the death certificate of his son, also Robert Dawson who died in 1921, Superintendent Engineer at Cowpen Colliery, at Office Buildings, Cowpen Colliery.
The 1911 census gives the order of enumeration of the houses in the area as Albion Brick Yard Cottage, followed by 2 Office Row (4 rooms), Office Row (2 houses of 7 rooms each occupied Robert Dawson and his son-in-law, both engineers), then Foster Memorial Homes for retired miners.
I am attaching the sketch of Cowpen Office Buildings taken from the Northumberland County History. I was wondering if the part of the building at the extreme left is the house in my photograph. It is not clear from the original photo whether it is detached or not.
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The sketch looks a lot like MCH, in my time it had a brick wall around it, stabling to the rear and the farm to the left of your highlight. Note that in 1881 Robert Dawson (58), his wife Mary (56), their four kids, John, Margaret, Robert and Henry (12, 8, 5 baby) are living with Robert (his son 34) his wife Mary (33) four kids, John, Margaret, Robert and Henry ((12,8,5, baby) along with the servants and Agricultural labourers George Stevenson (71) his son George (29), his wife Margaret (21) and 5 month old George. Add to this Edward Arkle (71) a labourer and Isabella his wife (62). The census then deals with Harpenden House, Fallowfield House etc. Both Dawson are engineers from Easington
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I forgot, the sundial in the sketch, I think that was above the front door as this faced South.
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I have been searching online for a photograph of Malvin's Close, but have come up with nothing except a sketch which appears in the Northumberland County History.
I am particularly interested in the time it was used as the offices of the Cowpen Coal Company.
Any help by the Blyth experts would be very welcome.
I have a detailed photo of these offices, much higher than the resolution size allowed for posting on here. The photo I have does match the (non detailed) sketch. The original building was constructed of stone, then later, a brick extension building was erected. The only existing evidence today, of Cowpen Colliery, are the 'management staff' houses along Cowpen Road, where the bottom of Albion Way ends at a round-a-bout. Notably, the two end house's which have decorative roof finials, and all houses built of typical colliery bricks.
Please get in touch...... George
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As Dolly Dimples wrote on page one, Malvins Close House was a nursing home for some time, not so long ago.
My Mum was there, after a stroke, from 1997 to 2002, when she died at age 87 and always seemed to feel secure and happy. I used to visit her 2-3 times a week, as we were living in the NE at the time, she was very well cared for there. Very good meals! The staff catered a good buffet for the family etc after her funeral.
The house was more like the drawing above, there was a beautiful garden in the front. I heard it used to belong to the pit manager.
I looked recently on Google maps and it does seem to have been demolished now. I heard that when stricter safety regs and standards were introduced it was no longer economically viable - a sad sign of the times.
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Thank you George for your interest.
I am now almost 100% certain that my photograph is of Malvin's Close House, thanks to the information given on this forum. Little details all seem to add up, such as blythboy remembering the wall round the building. A good photograph would be icing on the cake!
Thanks again for all the help received.
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I have resized this photo of the offices which seems to match the sketch. So therefore, we can deduce from this that the Malvins House is more likely to be your photo and not to be confused with the NCB offices further down the road near Cowpen Road.
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Here is another photo of the offices from a different angle. Hope this helps clear up your location query for you juro.
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The photo above isn't the one I used to visit.
Seems that Cowpen Colliery offices and Malvins Close House were 2 different buildings.
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Hi all, there are some photographs of Malvin's Close House and it's demolition here -
http://www.delboyenterprises.co.uk/blythpics/malvins_house.htm
:)
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Thanks for the pictures - yes that's where my Mum was from 1997 to 2002 when she died aged 87.
Her room was the one on the ground floor, far left.
It's sad to see such a beautiful building being demolished, but people need houses.
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What wonderful nostalgic photos of my home town, a real treat!
Thank you, Dolly x
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Re TriciaK's comment on "people need house" - very true but the only things that seems to have been built in Blyth since I left (1974) are swathes of houses on greenfield sites. Does no one have the wit to have converted into apartments/dwellings Malvins Close House, the old Grammar School and all of those empty rooms above the endless banks, charity shops, pawnbrokers etc that now constitute the centre of Blyth? In any event, shouldn't some of these buildings have been listed?
What is required is someone to entice a major employer paying good wages into the town, what we have now is a dormitory suburb and a dead town centre. Along with the traffic nightmare as people leave and return to Blyth.
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A real photo postcard of Malvin's Close.
Thanks to Joan for sharing the image with me and letting me put it up on here for you all to enjoy.
P :)
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A real photo postcard of Malvin's Close.
Thanks to Joan for sharing the image with me and letting me put it up on here for you all to enjoy.
P :)
This must be pre-war as their are iron railings as oppposed to the brick wall I recall from the mid 50s onwards. I still do not understand why the knocked this down, the farm , Fallowfield and Harpenden House, promised development and all that is their now is a metal fence with a builders name on it. Blyth institutional vandalism at its worst.
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Yes there was a high wall, not railings, when I used to visit. Iron railings were often taken down during WW2 to be used for munitions etc.
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My great grandfather Robert DAWSON, was chief engineer for the Cowpen Coal Company for many years and lived in Malvins Close. I have a copy of a photograph of the house taken at that time.
Maurice Dawson
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Thank you for replying to my original request.
This is the family I am interested in.
I will send you a personal message.
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Have you got my contact details? I will be pleased to help as much as I can. I've never used this form of communication before.
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I realise that this is an old post for information that I came across quite by accident.
I was the last owner of Malvins Close Care Home and it was me who sold it to property developers in 2004 which eventually saw it demolished in 2005. I had grand plans to build a new Care Home on the site of the Cottage and stable block. I battled with the council to get the planning permission and had intended to build the new home then convert the existing house up to the latest standards for homes and join the two together. Sadly the Care Home market took a bit of a dip and if I'd pursued this plan I would have lost everything. Eventually I was faced with a huge repair bill to re roof the house. The gardens were an ongoing money pit and there were new purpose built care homes in planning for the area. There was a problem recruiting the type of staff with the compassion to deliver great care to the elderly people we looked after and the Council fees were not keeping pace with the rising costs of running an efficient care home. I was approached by developers who offered me an alternative to developing the site myself. There's not a day goes by that I don't miss the Care Home, the excellent staff I had and the lovely people we had the opportunity to look after. I think I've still got a copy of the deeds for Malvins Close House, Malvins Close House East Wing and the Cottage and stables. If that would help with your research please let me know and I'll see what I can find. I know that I've got post cards from around 1993 and an aerial photo of the site from around the same year. I hope this helps.
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That's interesting, local-lad. I had an idea that was why the house was demolished. I've sent a copy of your post to my sister who also used to visit.
Hope you're doing alright now.
Tricia.
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I can cofirm that my great great grandfather, Robert Dawson, lived at Malvins Close House until his death in June 1895
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My great grandfather was Robert Dawson who was the chief engineer for the Cowper Coal Company in Blyth. He lived in Malvinas House. My Grandfather was his son John who became the engineer at Noth Seaton colliery.
Maurice Dawson.