Blyth address - ? no longer there

[Northerngirl]

Hi

I've just received a birth certificate to find that my grandparents were at Dock Street Blyth in 1927.  I've looked on Streetmap and the 1901 census to see if I can find it.  Unfortunately I've not been successful.  I wonder if it was so old that it was demolished or perhaps was flattened when the dock yards became defunct.

Any idea of where - presumably near the docks - would be of help.

Yours J.A.

[JenB]

In the 1891 census Dock Street followed Wellington Street, which still appears to exist, see http://tinyurl.com/342rrg (abbreviated to 'Well. St.'). It was in Cowpen Enumeration District 5.

Perhaps it has been re-named?

I expect Michael Dixon will be online later, he is the authority on the Blyth area 

Jennifer

[Michael Dixon]

Dock St lay between Wellington St and Grainger St( and Davison St) all on the eastern side of the main road that became Regent St.



Wellington St's name was changed to Burt St, so then these streets ran.. Burt, DOCK, Grainger, Davison.

Today there is nothing between Burt St and Davison St.

Dock St was immediately opposite Beaumont St on the western side of Regent St.

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As mentioned by Jennifer, this area of "Blyth" ( generally called Cowpen Quay)lay within Cowpen census ( and ecclesiastic and administrative)  area . The other half of "Blyth" once lay within the Newsham/Earsdon jurisdiction area. This was in the days when "new boy on the block" had no clout.

But in c1912 the two district councils of Cowpen and Blyth amalgamated. One of the several chores was to sort out street names. The merged authority had two Wellington Street, two Market Steets, etc.....

Enough already.

Michael Dixon
ex-Bebside/Cowpen/Blyth , but now a toonie

[Michael Dixon]

Oops !

I should have added that you can see these streets and their proximity to the shipyard and river at the very useful web site Northumberland Communities

communities.northumberland.gov.uk

Choose "Blyth" community, from left-hand side menu click on Ordnance Maps.

See the 25" version of 1897 (very clear) and ditto for 1920 (almost clear).

A browse at the 1860 edition will show a time when there were no streets beyond (northwards) of Wellington St
(Also some older maps in the "Plans" section of the menu)

Michael Dixon

[Northerngirl]

Thank you to both Jen B and Michael.

The beauty of this site is that a fresh pair of eyes and some very expert local knowledge are very welcome resources.

It's funny that you mention Beaumont Street Michael - perhaps you really are psychic - as I have been looking at the 1910 for the Blyth/Cowpen to try and find any Irish (and particularly Co. Mayo) names to try and fathom if my grandparents could have come to stay with family or friends from the Erris Head area.  There are a few possibilities in Beaumont Street and some names found in the St. Bede's RC marriage and baptism records which could be connected.  There is one name in particular who rents a workshop in the Low Quay area who is found in the RC records at Bedlington and may have employed my grandfather to pick out stones - 'stone man at coal mine' .  My grandparents cousin married at St Cuthbert's in 1912 which is interesting as it coincides with the amalgamation of the Blyth/Cowpen townships and may be why I found the baptism records at St Wilfred's and not St Cuthbert's.

Thanks once again for the input.  Back to the A-Z and a quick look at the site you recommend.

Yours J.A.

[Michael Dixon]

By 1900s the "ancient" parish sway over surrounding areas had dissipated. So Blyth was independent of Horton and Earsdon parishes and independent of the "townships" of Cowpen and Newsham.

St Mary's in the market place, once a "chapel of ease" of the "mother" church at Horton, became an independent parish. Likewise St Cuthbert's, at the "south Blyth" end of Blyth, once a chapel of ease of Earsdon Parish, became independent parish

So the above pertains to the Church of England.
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The Catholic church was not part of that hierarchy. First in the area was St Cuthbert's church at Cowpen Village/Cowpen Newtown, built 1840s, This served RC folk in surrounding area, including, Cowpen, Bebside , Blyth, Bedlington, Seaton Delaval etc.

( In era 1811 - 1820 a French RC priest was serving catholics without a standing church.. using houses etc... supposedly the Sidney Arms pub)

At that time , after 1840, nearest alternative RC churches were at Morpeth, North Shields and  Newcastle.

St Wilfred's opened in Blyth c1860.

Bedlington catholics continued to cross the River Blyth to use St Cuthbert's, Cowpen.

Bedlington catholics got their own church, St Bede's in c1876.

But for whatever reason, when the Bishop visited St Cuthbert's , Cowpen to confirm the children, on 25 May 1879, he did 70 Bedlington children and adults. I have a list of their names and ages.
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A wee bit of trivia... RC churches at Cowpen, Blyth, Bedlington etc, were staffed not by secular priests , but by Benedictine (O.S.B) priests.

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Of the Irish arriving in the counties of Northumberland and Durham in mid 1800s, most were from County Mayo ( then Sligo, etc)


Michael Dixon
(bapt/confirmed at St Cuthbert's, Cowpen,  before the Devil got me ! )

[Northerngirl]

Hi Michael - thank you for the information.

I know that the St Bede's marriages were only sanctioned by the registrar's to be solemnized  on 13th August 1885.  Which would account perhaps for the bishop blessing the Bedlington folk at St Cuthbert's.


The OSB's were indeed there and a cousin in law of a cousin  (the one who married in 1912 - no doubt his wife was a cousin of a cousin of a cousin of a cousin of a cousin of his!!!- you know how it goes in Ireland) of my grandparents was one of the priests at St Cuthbert's.  The records for the churches are stuffed with details of confirmations and marriages and I've managed to pick up some of the Latin phrases. 

It would be interesting to see if any of the Erris Head lot ended up in Cowpen. 

My aunt and two uncles were baptized at St Wilfred's and unfortunately I only have the index of the baptisms (my mother tells me that the OSB's took the records with them when they left).  It would have been nice to see who the sponsors were as they may have been the Blyth cousins who I can't trace yet but think were in the Beaumont Street/Waterloo district in the 1910's.

Thanks once again for the help though.

Yours J.A.

[Michael Dixon]

J.A.

I have accessed original record of my own confirmation (28 FEb 1951) at Cowpen St Cuthbert's.. and later those ose of my two brothers.

These records and Bapts/Marriages and Deaths are freely available in the Northumberland County Record Office ( within the complex at Woodhorn)

What does seem to be missing ( well at least not deposited at CRO)  are records from between 1840s when St Cuthbert's was built,  to the first baptism in spanking brand new Baptism book on 1st Jan 1856.

What are the names of your Irish folk ?

Michael Dixon

[Northerngirl]

Hi Michael

I like yourself, have accessed the films at Woodhorn and have gleaned lots of information.  I've also looked at the Blyth records but more briefly. 

The family name is Mills which is quite rare in Mayo and seems to be from the Belmullet, Dereens and Erris Head area.  It seems then that there is a possibility that they can all be traced to be related - or certainly the RC Mills of Mayo. 

I have a feeling that some of the Mills family migrated from Erris Head to the Blyth/Bedlington area and I have been trying to trace them through the census and RC records.   The other names in the family are Mullarkey/Mullarky and Ginnelly.  The former are found very much in the Bedlington area and may be part of my family.  The latter - the Ginnelly are not found but it would be interesting to try and trace if they came to as far north in Northumberland (at least some of them ended up in the Newcastle area) as Bedlington or Blyth even if it were as sponsors/witnesses as marriages and baptisms.

The other names featured in the Erris Head area are McAndrew, King, Lavelle, Lally, Noon/Noone, Rodgers and Barrett.  I have found some of these in the Blyth/Bedlington area too.  There is also one link that would be nice to find and that is the marriage of a Mills to an Andrew Hall in the Ashington area - (Morpeth registration area) in 1892 but alas the Ashington records only start at 1896 or thereabouts. 

The first names may be more of a help as they tend to run in the Mills family.  They include Honora, Darby (Dermot) Sabina (Sylvia) and also the more frequent names of James, Michael, Anthony, Maria, Margaret and Catherine.   The name Luke is also found in the Mills family but I am not sure if this name belongs to my family. 

As always Michael thank you for your input and any clues would be gratefully received.

J.A.