The FOLLY.
Blyth today is dry. But it was a very wet place before the banks of the River Blyth were as well defined and controlled as they are now.
( To cut a long story short look at the maps on
communities.northumberland.gov.uk
>Blyth>Plans>Ordnance Maps, especially Armstrong's 1769, Fryer's 1820, Greenwood's 1828, to see various streams running through Blyth)
A tidal river/stream/burn called the Gut virtually split what is modern-day Blyth into two.
Broadly speaking it ran northwards from about Plessey Waggonway ( now Plessey Road) between Beaconsfield St and Croft Road, to run through what is now the Bus Station,
through the old Gas Works and into the River Blyth.
(The Gut marked the boundary between the ancient parishes of Horton and Earsdon)
At high tide a wide area was under water, at low tide the Gut was narrow, but the area was messy.
Trivia Angle... Where the pedestrian road crossing is today ( adjacent to PoundStretcher or Blockbuster,) there once was a bridge to allow a dry crossing of the Gut.
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At various sites in and around Blyth there were Salt Pans activity ( boiling sea water to produce salt) Cambois, High Ferry, South Blyth.
What was Crofton Field ( near Plessey Rd/Park Road) was filled twice a day with sea water from the River Blyth.
An entrepreneur decided to start salt production on the site.
Unfortunately it was not a success because the water had travelled so far from the river over shallow land, and most of the salt content was dissipated before it reached his boiling pans at Crofton.
So the area became known as "The Folly" , then the road got the name Folly Road, later changed to Park Road.
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This info from Bob Balmer, connected with Blyth Library.
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Today Union Street marks where the Gut flowed.
Misc. In the vicinity of the Folly there were two roperies.
Michael Dixon
