The Northumbrian - Issue No. 175 - April/May 2020

Issue No. 175

April / May 2020

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Welcome A

month ago, I was wondering what all the fuss was about. A fortnight ago, I was getting a bit twitchy. Today (March 20), I am wondering if anything will ever be the same again.

I wouldn’t presume to attempt to offer words of wisdom in this situation, because I am not qualified to provide them. All I can say is that the more we keep calm while not being allowed to carry on with normal life, the better; but then you know that already.

I am increasingly finding myself turning to the older members of my close-knit village community for wisdom. A fine bunch they are; rural, hearty folk full of vim and vigour who are as likely to panic in the face of national crisis as they are to jump off a cliff.

When I have knocked on their doors this week, it has been to make enquiry after their welfare and extend offers to shop, go to the pharmacy and the like. But this is not a one-way street.

In return, I get to soak up the stoicism which comes with the experience of war and post-war years, the challenges which have followed in the decades since, and the years of experience which put everything - global pandemic included into perspective.

Calm in the eye of a storm is a condition peculiar, I find, to the young, who consider themselves immortal; and to the elderly, who are well aware the end is nigh, so they might as well get on with it. They just keep buggering on, as Churchill put it, with the calm resolve of people who have generally seen worse.

Doubtless, the coming weeks will bring immense challenge and - very sadly - grief to many families, but bombs are not dropping from the sky and we’re not reduced to powdered egg just yet.

Stay as safe as you can dear reader... and keep buggering on.

Jane Pikett, Editor

Some of our contributors JOHN GRUNDY The ordinary household goods which paint a rich picture of Bellingham’s heritage. Page 8

ANTHONY TOOLE Tony is Biddlestone-bound, exploring the Selby family estate and its links with Rob Roy. Page 18 MIKE PRATT Mike reflects on the thought processes prompted by a fossil which holds clues to billenia of history. Page 26 IAN KERR Ian celebrates the puffin, beloved seabird of the Northumbrian coast.

Page 28 SUSIE WHITE Susie uncovers some of the wonderful secrets of Bradley Gardens, a hidden Tyne Valley gem. Page 34 DEAN BAILEY Dean travels north of the region in search of the perfect potato for chips.

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Consulting Editor Stewart Bonney Editor Jane Pikett

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GONE IN SAINTLY FISHINGFOOTSTEPS Northumberland in all its glory: Wildlife and wild country, Northumbrian heritage and history, and the people whoAmake it special journey in the steps of people past and present who make this place what it is

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Issue No. 175

April/May 2020

F I N E W R I T I N G • G R E AT P H O T O G R A P H Y • Q UA L I T Y R E A D I N G

The region’s best-selling countryside magazine FEATURES

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Stuart Miller

John Grundy Exploring the illuminating ordinariness of exhibits at Bellingham Heritage Centre

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As we grapple a pandemic, we explore cholera’s arrival in the Victorian North East

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Susie White Uncovering the beautiful secrets of Bradley Gardens

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Ian Kerr The story of Holy Island’s Snook

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Dean Bailey In search of the perfect chip

Location of key features by page numbers

Jane Hall

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Steve Newman

The until recently hidden story of Bamburgh’s wartime hero

A walk on Low Newton’s not-so wild side

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Anthony Toole Tony takes a walk in the footsteps of Rob Roy (possibly...)

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Roy Keorner The strange story of son and heir Thomas Garbutt Knott

PLUS

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GARDENING �������������������������������� 38 GALLERIES ���������������������������������� 46

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Mike Pratt Thoughts prompted by a fossil

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Ian Kerr Celebrating our beloved puffin

REGULARS

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Steve Newman Exploring the archaeological wonders of Inner Farne The Northumbrian

NEWS ��������������������������������������������� 56

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BOOK REVIEWS ������������������������� 59 FEEDBACK ����������������������������������� 62

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Pandemic panic is nothing new A virulent disease prompts unprecedented panic and economic collapse. Not coronavirus, but cholera, which first entered Britain through Sunderland in 1831. As we grapple our own 21st Century pandemic, STUART MILLER relates the story of another

The Blue Girl: Ellen (aka Isabella) Hazard is depicted as the classic victim of cholera. This was originally published in The Lancet in 1832

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he diarist Charles Greville, on the outbreak of cholera on Wearside 1831-1832, said: “The conduct of the people of Sunderland was more suitable to the barbarism of the interior of Africa than to a town in a civilised country.”

Notwithstanding the racism of the time, when the startling events of that brief period are considered it is clear that Greville’s judgement was very unjust.

By the early summer of 1831, a cholera epidemic which originated in India in the mid-1820s had spread across central Asia, Russia and reached the Baltic. In June it appeared at Riga, where hundreds of British ships were waiting to sail, that fleet including many colliers from Sunderland.

The government extended a 15day quarantine regulation, which had been introduced in April to cover ships from Russia, to include vessels from

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Germany and the Baltic. The government also provided for the establishment of local Boards of Health to institute basic precautions and report cases of cholera to the Privy Council.

In October, the respected Ulster physician Dr William Reid Clanny, inventor of an applauded miners’ lamp, and Dr James Butler Kell, an army surgeon with the 82nd Regiment stationed in Sunderland, concluded that a river pilot called Robert Henry had died of so-called ‘Asiatic’ cholera.

Kell was one of the few doctors in the UK who had seen cholera before, having been in Mauritius in 1829 when the British garrison was afflicted by the disease.

Thus, he would recognise the symptoms of muscular spasms, violent diarrhea and a darkening of the features.

But the Board of Health would not

accept this diagnosis, perhaps partly as a result of a generally held bias against under-estimated army doctors.

The dubious distinction of assumed first victim, therefore, is taken by 12-yearold Isabella Hazard, who lived ‘a musket shot away’ from Robert Henry and died on October 17. Her burial register entry was marked as ‘the first victim’ by the vicar of Holy Trinity Church who proceeded to indicate all cholera victims with a cross.

The first official victim, however, was 60-year-old keelman William Sproat, who lived in a low, damp cellar near the Fish Quay. He was quickly followed by his 10-year-old granddaughter, his son William and infirmary nurse Eliza Turnbull, who had helped to bind and carry his body to the dead house. Thereafter, the number of cases multiplied rapidly, mostly in the overcrowded riverside parish of Sunderland. On November 9, they included the famous Jack Crawford, hero of the Battle of Camperdown.

The initial reaction was rapid. On November 1, the Privy Council was notified by the Sunderland Board of Health. The government sent the experienced Dr Daun and Lt Colonel Keogh to supervise.

The gentlemen and medical practitioners of Sunderland and Bishopwearmouth visited and reported on all cases, and took steps to clean the filthy streets. Keogh declared a 15-day quarantine on all vessels seeking to leave the harbour. However, this triggered a sequence of events which led to Greville’s sneer mentioned above.

Closing coal exports from Sunderland was devastating for the local economy.

Pits, coal keelmen, ballast keelmen and collier crews employed thousands, as did support trades supplying the ancillary needs of the trade, from sailmakers

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A Sunderland Magistrates notice, which accepted the reality of the epidemic

and rope makers to tavern owners and prostitutes. This was also the point in the year when the price of coal in London was at its highest. Tyneside entrepreneurs would take advantage of Sunderland’s closure, while miners and keelmen had a reputation for violence in response to unemployment or pay cuts.

The medical men were divided. Some were contagionists who believed disease was generated from crowded populations in workhouses and the infamous ‘hulks’ (narrow alleys and closed courts).

Wherever people lived close together, disease could occur, they said. Others, the majority, were miasmatists, who argued that filthy conditions created an ‘atmospheric distemperature’ in the air; the ‘miasma’, from which descended the epidemic diseases which afflicted rapidly growing industrial towns and cities.

In a sense, both were right; crowded conditions and filth do contribute to the generation and transmission of disease.

But they were unaware of the microbic life which bears epidemic diseases which are variegated and distinct from each other.

Dr William Reid Clanny

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without understanding local circumstances, this was a shocking development. The medical profession in particular was cast in a poor light.

But they were genuinely divided. They were also heavily reliant upon the wealthier classes for their income, whatever sympathetic assistance they provided for the poor. Two men, however, stood apart.

Clanny disassociated himself from the collective insanity and Kell quarantined the army barracks, where, remarkably, there were no victims throughout the entire affair.

Clanny was a powerful figure, able to pull the medical community together on November 12 to agree to a document which confirmed Asiatic cholera in The miasmatists, including Clanny and Sunderland. However, the disease had not Kell, said quarantine was irrelevant when been imported, they said, so quarantine cholera originated in the atmosphere, and was irrelevant. It had been generated from it was not applied on the landward side of the atmosphere, so the urgency was to Sunderland, so what was the point? All the clean streets and pursue basic hygiene doctors, gentry and businessmen agreed while caring for the afflicted and burying that interrupting trade would aggravate the dead in land set aside for the purpose. squalor, lessen physical resistance to Of course, the cholera pursued its disease and increase drunkenness and business regardless of the arguments disorder. The result was a spasm of around it. Most stricken was the small, meetings on November 9, 10, and 11 at crowded parish of Sunderland at the which the existence of cholera was denied. heart of the coal trade. One commentator The Select Vestries of the parishes of wrote that it “raged principally among the Bishopwearmouth and Sunderland met lower orders whose dissolute habits and and agreed that this was not ‘real’ cholera, poverty rendered them speedy victims to not the Asiatic or Indian type, but a local its attacks”. Throughout November and ‘British cholera’. So the information given December, 418 victims were diagnosed in to the Privy Council was wrong, and the a population of 40,000. Of them, 215 died. quarantine unnecessary.

The Board of Health officially declared On November 11, there was a meeting the town free of the disease on January 9, of doctors, gentry, coal owners and their 1832. By then, the cholera had moved on agents at The Exchange in High Street. to Tyneside, thence to the rest of Britain.

In the background were letters to local The disease returned to Britain in 1849 newspapers on behalf of significant local and then 1853-54, bringing with it much influencers such as the Marquess of higher mortality. Having said that, cholera, Londonderry, playing down the risks and despite grabbing the headlines, was a the need for quarantine. Superficially, and relatively minor player in deadly diseases.

The big killers were its big sisters tuberculosis and typhus. However, cholera provided the shock factor which was a significant element in the jigsaw of the evolution of public health policy. So, the sorry story of cholera in Sunderland was, in a sense, a step towards the modern sanitary well-being of us all. As for Charles Greville, he spoke from a privileged, pampered distance, in complete ignorance The top half of Clanny’s compromise notice of the real situation published on November 12, 1831 in Sunderland.

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One of the displays at the heritage centre

Living history A visit to Bellingham Heritage Centre leads JOHN GRUNDY to ponder our local history, and the term heritage itself

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ellingham’s Heritage Centre recently reached the fairly impressive stage of being 25 years old. There have been a number of new museum/heritage centres/institutions set up in Northumberland in recent years. There’s a tiny one at Belford and bigger, more ambitious ones at Berwick and Alnwick. Morpeth has been trying to

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get one going for a few years, though it hasn’t happened yet, but Bellingham’s has been going since 1994. It was set up after a lady called Dorothy Bell, who lived in the town, came across a box full of old photographs of local people among her husband’s effects. She felt it would be a nice gesture to reunite the pictures with the people in them, so she organised

an exhibition of them in the local library.

In the event, not many were recognised or claimed by the individuals or families involved, but they led to a more general stirring of interest in the town and its history out of which the Heritage Centre grew. Housed initially in a small disused garage in a lane off the main street, in 2000 it moved into new premises in

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WP Collier’s photographs documented local life, like this hill farming family taking a break from shearing the old Station Yard, which is where it remains, an established heritage centre.

I’m interested in the word heritage and what it means. World Heritage Sites, for example, are the most striking and perfect examples of the history and culture of the human race. Durham and the Roman Wall - the two in our area - are clearly at the top of the cultural tree. Heritage potatoes or heritage breeds of sheep, on the other hand, are a bit different, a bit less super-splendid. They are old, unaltered produce, never hybridised or mingled with other things. Often, they turn out to be typical of a particular place.

Dictionary definitions of the word

heritage vary. These definitions say the word refers to features belonging to the culture of a particular society or place, and they often expand the definition with examples of what they’re talking about.

Heritage, they say, is made up of things like language and dialect, traditions, working lives and buildings.

One of the dictionaries I spotted on Google had another, rather interesting idea. It suggested that the word heritage came from the same source as inheritance - something which has been passed down to you and which, by inference, you will probably want to pass on to those who follow you.

One of the heritage centre’s many unexpected treasures

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I like all these ideas; they imply that a heritage centre should contain the best we’ve got, the pure essence of what a local area is or used to be, but broad and inclusive too. They are definitely not saying that our heritage is only made up of the poshest and most impressive bits of our history and culture. Heritage is the whole lot, the great things and the spaces in between, the ordinary things, the things we take for granted.

That’s exactly what Bellingham Heritage Centre is like; it’s full, stuffed to the gunnels you might say, with ordinary things that, when they are put together, present a quite extraordinary picture of that remarkable place which is Bellingham and the North Tyne Valley.

So what are the stories that it has to tell? What are the things that have contributed to the heritage of Bellingham?

Well, there’s the weather first of all, the wild remoteness of its setting, surrounded by bleak but beautiful moors and hills and by-passed by all major roads.

It’s farming country of course, hill farming in difficult country, sheep and cattle in small fields with dry-stone walls.

There are a thousand stories to be told about that way of life. But Bellingham has been a mining community as well, with coal and iron mined in vast quantities in days gone by. The iron for Newcastle’s High Level Bridge came from Bellingham, for example. It was a

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railway town too. The Border Counties Railway passed through picturesque scenery up the North Tyne Valley from Hexham on its way to join the main line from Carlisle to Edinburgh at Riccarton Junction; and the Wannies line went from Morpeth to Bellingham and back over almost unbroken moorland.

The roads to the east of the town pass endless mementoes of this wonderful line; its embankments, its beautifully built accommodation arches giving access to remote farms and cottages. In the fields from time to time, decaying cattle trucks rest against dry-stone walls. It is all intensely romantic and in the Heritage Centre the railway stories are told with passion and enthusiasm.

Among them is my personal favourite - a rough plank door from a shed in the station. I remember seeing it in situ when I first came to Bellingham in the 1980s. I remembered it because it is completely covered with graffiti - done in pencil in those pre-spray can days, most of it innocent, if slightly naughty, reminders of 20th Century local people adding their names to the those who had gone before.

You might think it an extremely ordinary thing to find exciting, but I have another. The Forestry Commission, an organisation of huge national significance that has had a dramatic impact on the countryside around Bellingham and the North Tyne, has a big story to tell and last time I was at the centre there was a little temporary exhibition celebrating its 100th birthday. This little display included

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Forestry workers’ spades and an old jacket

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A display at the centre two vast spades and a forestry workers’ jacket; three commonplace objects which told with amazing simplicity and clarity a story of what it was like to be a worker in the forest.

The spades were so huge and heavy that I wouldn’t have been able to pick them up, let alone wield them to useful effect. And the jacket, found in the attic of the Commission’s local headquarters at Kielder Castle, is a typical countryman’s, lovat-green tweed and clearly of high quality once, dreadfully battered by a lifetime of hard labour and tough weather.

WP Collier’s sheep-droving farmer

The Northumbrian

Everything here came from the community, from the houses and cottages, fields and moors round about.

When Arthur Grimwood gave up being the blacksmith at nearby Stannersburn after 60 years in his forge, the whole thing - forge and bellows, fire basket and hundreds of tools - came here.

WP Collier had a tiny photography shop in the town and spent decades taking thousands of beautiful photographs in the area. They are everywhere; a shepherd drives his flock along a tree-lined road to market, an

extended family at a hill farm rest in a break from sheep shearing.

There are voices everywhere too. You can go into the red telephone box and phone a friend from the past. It’s worth driving to Bellingham just to press the button and hear a local voice sweetly giving a detailed account of the family’s annual pig-killing day.

There are occasional mysteries too.

A recent addition to the collection is a bizarrely primitive child’s pushchair which must have been grotesquely uncomfortable. Apparently, it was found in a room opened up after being locked and forgotten for 25 years. I’ve read novels that started like that.

It’s time I stopped because I could describe dozens of favourite moments, but you can go and see them yourself.

You’ll enjoy it. It’s run by volunteers, and the ones I met are warm and enthusiastic, with a passionate sense of local identity.

If you’ve got local connections, you can pursue your family history at one of the computer terminals. And you can finish off with a sup and a sip at the excellent café in the old railway carriages just outside the door. I went for the pea and ham soup and very good it was, but you can choose for yourself.

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Cracking the code Bamburgh Castle’s VE Day Weekend in May will (coronavirus allowing...) include a rare opportunity to see a World War II Enigma cipher machine, bringing full circle an amazing tale of the pivotal role Bamburgh resident Joe Baker-Cresswell played in capturing one of the German coding machines, as JANE HALL discovers

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amburgh, on the remote and windswept north Northumberland coast is peaceful and picturesque.

Watched over for centuries by the looming bulk of Bamburgh Castle, the village’s 400-odd residents are used to quietly going about their business with little to disturb their established patterns of life.

But 80 years ago, this was a very different place. Britain was at war with Nazi Germany and the settlement’s isolation and proximity to a 3-mile stretch of sand regarded as one of the finest beaches in

the country saw Bamburgh thrust onto the domestic frontline. There was a real fear that the Nazis would use Bamburgh Beach to mount an invasion, in much the same way as the Allied forces were to use the expansive sands of Normandy in June 1944 as they pushed for victory in Europe.

This is why the remains of World War II pillboxes - concrete guard posts with narrow slits through which weapons could be aimed – and other coastal defence relics can

Ralph Baker-Cresswell at Bamburgh Castle’s Armstrong and Aviation Artefacts Museum, which houses an impressive collection of World War II memorabilia and armaments (Photos, Paul Norris)

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The Northumbrian

still be found on the dune-backed beach to this day, while massive concrete antitank blocks litter the sands.

That the precautions were necessary was brought home on May 10, 1941, when a German Messerschmitt Bf 110 fighter plane was spotted flying low and close to Bamburgh Castle. The sighting was reported and initially dismissed. But soon, the face of the plane’s pilot would be splashed all over wartime front pages and newsreels. He was Rudolf Hess, Germany’s deputy führer, who that night had flown solo to Scotland in an attempt to negotiate a peace deal.

Just over 24 hours earlier, Bamburgh’s place in the annals of World War II history – or to be more accurate, that of one of its residents, Joe Baker-Cresswell - had been secured for a very different reason that, had Hess known about it, may well have

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prompted him to rethink his fateful journey.

On May 9, Captain Baker-Cresswell of the Royal Navy was instrumental in capturing a German Enigma cipher machine, its rotors and months’ worth of code books; a feat that was later described by George VI as “the most important single event in the whole war at sea.”

It changed the course of the Battle of the Atlantic and possibly shortened the passage of the war itself.

So important was the seizing of these items, that few on the British side knew about it, let alone our allies. It was an act that was to remain secret for the next 50 years. But now the late BakerCresswell’s

part in the war – and that of the village he called home – are hoped (at the time of writing) to be commemorated during VE Day Weekend at Bamburgh Castle, May 8-10. This coincides with planned national celebrations and commemorations planned for May 8, marking the 75th anniversary of the end of the war.

Pandemic allowing, Bamburgh Castle will be taken over by the Home Guard, setting up camp in the West Ward and trying to enlist visitors. There will be themed activities and the chance to find

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An Enigma machine similar to the one captured by Joe Baker-Cresswell, which changed the course of both the war and the Battle of the Atlantic out more about Bamburgh’s wartime role.

Meanwhile, the star of the weekend is likely to be a small, unprepossessing box that looks like an outsize typewriter - an Enigma machine.

An original is planned to be winging its way to Northumberland on May 8 from Bletchley Park - the Berkshire mansion that was once the secret home of Britain’s World War II codebreakers. It will travel with its modern-day handler, Tom Briggs,

who will explain how this machine, that proved so infuriatingly hard to untangle, actually works.

There will be codebreaking sessions and demonstrations, and among those looking forward to seeing the machine will be Joe’s grandson, Ralph Baker-Cresswell, who still lives in the family home at Budle Hall in Bamburgh. He has never seen an Enigma machine, and he is understandably proud of his grandfather’s part in the

U-110, from which the Enigma machine was salvaged, was taken in tow by HMS Bulldog, captained by Joe Baker-Cresswell, before finally sinking. This photo shows Royal Navy personnel on the U-Boat’s deck

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secret capture of one of the machines, used by the German Army and Navy to scramble messages.

He is delighted that Bamburgh Castle is highlighting his grandfather’s achievement, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO).

“I’m delighted. The war is a subject of unending interest, but it is true that my grandfather’s story is one that is still little known,” he says. “It wasn’t headline news at the time and was kept secret for half a century, even from the Americans when they entered the war.

“Everyone involved was sworn to secrecy, and even at the end of my grandfather’s life, when the story was out there and it had been declassified, it never got the attention it should have had.”

That is all about to change. Alongside the rare opportunity to see an Enigma machine in Bamburgh, Ralph will be talking about his grandfather’s gripping story. The action took place in the Atlantic between Iceland and Greenland. The war was going badly for Britain, the Atlantic convoys bringing food and essential supplies from North America and beyond being decimated by German U-boats. Having lost the fight for air supremacy, Hitler hoped to instead isolate and starve Britain into submission.

In May 1941, Convoy 318 set out, heading west for America. On May 7, the 38 ships met up with the Royal Navy’s

A signed photo of Grand Admiral Karl Donitz, who briefly became führer at the end of the war, addressed to U-110’s captain, Fritiz-Julius Lemp, and kept as a memento by Joe Baker-Cresswell

The Northumbrian

Ralph Baker-Cresswell and Bamburgh Castle’s owner Francis Watson-Armstrong in the Armstrong and Aviation Artefacts Museum alongside WWII armaments and memorabilia 3rd Escort Group, whose job it was to protect the convoy from U-Boat attack.

Captain Joe Baker-Cresswell, a 40-yearold Navy professional, was in charge of the destroyer HMS Bulldog, from where he commanded his own small fleet of two other destroyers and three corvettes and armed trawlers apiece.

Stealthily following the convoy hidden beneath the icy waters were half a dozen U-Boats, among them U-110 commanded by 28-year-old Kapitänleutnant Fritz Julius Lemp, who had achieved notoriety in 1939 by torpedoing the passenger liner Athenia, killing 112 passengers and crew.

At noon on May 9, the U-Boats struck.

Two merchant ships were torpedoed by U-110. Before Lemp could strike again, however, the corvette HMS Aubrietia dropped depth charges, blowing U-110 to the surface. As other Navy vessels opened fire, U-110’s crew abandoned ship; 15 died, including Lemp, and another 32 survivors were picked up.

The Allied warships were about to go in for the kill when Joe Baker-Cresswell

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– perhaps remembering a lecture he had heard about how ciphers and other vital information had been captured in First World War battles - decided to dispatch a boarding party to search the vessel. Ralph says: “He knew it was important to get as

much material off the U-Boat as possible.

The boarding party came back with charts, documents, photos, personal effects and something that looked like a typewriter with rotors and code books.

“I don’t think at that stage my

Ralph Baker-Cresswell with a painting of his grandfather, Joe Baker-Cresswell, completed in 1941 following the capture of U-110 and its Enigma machine

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grandfather knew what they had, but he wasn’t a fool and he knew there was useful information. He knew it was significant.”

Joe Baker-Cresswell took U-110 under tow, but it later sank. But more importantly, the Enigma machine and its code books had been saved.

It was all sent to Bletchley Park, where it was handed over to the mathematician and Nazi code-breaker Alan Turing and his team, who were at long last able to work out how to read the Germans’ naval Enigma messages. The find changed the course of the war. Using the decrypted German Naval codes, shipping losses dropped from 325,000 to 94,000 in July.

It’s a real Boys’ Own story, and it’s hardly surprising it was turned into a movie, U-571, starring Matthew McConaughey, Harvey Keitel and Jon Bon Jovi. But in true Hollywood fashion, the action was moved to the Mediterranean and the heroes became American.

Ralph Baker-Cresswell is phlegmatic about U-571, pointing out that the film industry has always changed history to meet its own needs. He does worry that

Ralph Baker-Cresswell with a model of a German U-Boat similar to U-110

many may think it is the truth, however.

But Bamburgh Castle’s planned VE Day Weekend is a chance to set the record straight.

Castle owner Francis WatsonArmstrong says: “Bamburgh has an extraordinary connection with an event that changed the course of history for the

entire world. We wanted to bring to life this incredible story to help people understand not only the significance of VE Day but the incredible role Bamburgh played in helping bring the fighting to an end, while remembering each and every one of those heroes of World War II and the sacrifices they made.”

For updates about VE Day weekend, May 8-10, at Bamburgh Castle, visit www.bamburghcastle.com/whats-on

Bamburgh Castle

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In the footsteps of Rob Roy

Rob Roy’s cave

ANTHONY TOOLE explores a fascinating corner of Northumberland and the history which defines it

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idden in the woods to the west of Holystone village, there is a small sandstone crag overhanging a hillside stream. At the base of the crag is a constricted grotto that, with some leeway of interpretation, might be referred to as a cave. Indeed, it is known as Rob Roy’s cave. Whether the 18th Century Scottish outlaw and cattle drover ever slept there, or even visited it, is highly improbable. It is more likely that it acquired its name as a result of Sir Walter Scott’s 1817 novel, which has more genuine links with this part of Northumberland.

I left the car a few hundred yards west

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of Biddlestone village, which occupies an obscure site off a side road 3 miles north of Holystone. The day was clear and chill, but with no wind, the hillside track rutted by the wheels of forestry lorries, its hollows filled by frozen pools. The shadowed fields to the south were white, but the sun had melted the frost from the northern slopes. The track curved gently upward through two gates, and a few minutes after passing through the second of these, I stood on the highest point of Loundon Hill. Carrying on northward, I paused for an early lunch at a circular mound, clearly artificial and probably ancient, just short of Gill’s Law summit.

Continuing in the same direction, I came to a fence, and beyond that an illdefined path leading down to Biddlestone Burn and a gate. From there, I contoured around to the next saddle and a final ascent up a two-wheel track to Cold Law summit. The panoramic view here, restricted only by the higher hills to the north, stretches from the coast, past the Simonside and Harbottle hills and beyond to the distant wind turbines of the Wanneys, which were unmoving in the still air. The final descent is quite steep and brought me rapidly to the wooded banks of the lower reaches of Biddlestone Burn, which I crossed onto a footpath with

The Northumbrian

Circular mound, Gill’s Law

the aid of a felled tree partially bridging the stream. This merged with a broader farm track after a few yards.

On reaching a gate about 200 yards from the road, I detoured along the edge of the wood to a clearing, formerly the site of Biddlestone Hall, a 19th Century manor house demolished in 1957. Occupying the north side of the clearing is Biddlestone Chapel, which I had glimpsed on my descent from Cold Law. This Grade II listed building is all that remains of the original estate and is where Sir Walter Scott’s romantic novel finds its link to the area.

In 1817, Scott stayed for a time at the Rose and Thistle, then a coaching inn, in nearby Alwinton. While there, he visited Biddlestone Hall, forming a friendship with resident members of the Selby family, which had acquired the estate in 1311 during the reign of Edward II. Scott drew heavily on the history

and politics of the Selbys for the novel’s Osbaldistone family, and on Biddlestone Hall (and doubtless other Northumbrian mansions) as a template for Osbaldistone Hall. The hero of the novel, Frank

Osbaldistone, travels from London to his uncle’s estate in Northumberland. On the journey, he meets Rob Roy, an associate of his uncle. The Selbys and their fictional counterparts the Osbaldistones shared the Roman Catholic faith and, with Rob Roy, the Jacobite cause. Becoming involved in various family intrigues, Frank continues into Scotland, where he meets Rob Roy again prior to the 1715 Jacobite Rising, before returning to Northumberland to inherit the estate.

Following the English Reformation, the Selbys, along with other prominent northern families, clung to the Catholic faith, and together with their estate workers and many of the local community, continued to worship secretly, if illegally.

The Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 removed prohibitions on religious practice and a 14th Century defensive Pele tower adjacent to the Hall was converted into the chapel we see today.

Simonside Hills and Coquet Valley from Loundon Hill

Looking west from Loundon Hill The Northumbrian

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Biddlestone Chapel

Biddlestone Chapel

The Selby cemetery

The remains of the Pele tower make up the lower half of the building, the chapel itself occupying the upper floor, resulting in an unusually tall structure.

High on the west wall there is a blocked doorway that led directly into the chapel from the Hall. Estate workers and locals entered through a door in the north wall, and up a stone staircase that remains the means of access today.

The Selby estate was sold in 1914, the chapel acquired by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle.

It continued in regular use until 1992, when its isolation rendered it no longer viable, and in 1996 was taken over by the Historic Chapels Trust, which

carried out renovations and continue to maintain it. Encouraged by a notice board beneath the west wall, I telephoned a Mr Mountford in Biddlestone village, from whom I obtained the keys. The well-worn stone steps led up to a door that opened into the chapel, which was a beautiful surprise. Far from being merely preserved as a historic exhibit, the chapel exuded an atmosphere of frequent use.

A small organ occupies the corner beside the entrance, the pews and floor are obviously cleaned regularly. Around the walls are the Latin words of the Sanctus and Benedictus, photographs of carvings of the 14 Stations of the Cross, and the heraldic shields of the Selbys

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and the families into which they had married. On the altar stand six candles in brass candlesticks, a tabernacle and crucifix, and a large leather-bound Roman Missal dating from 1923. To either side of the altar are statues of Our Lady and St Joseph, while the sanctuary is crowned by a magnificent stained-glass window added in 1862. A smaller window of similar age occupies the west wall, above a choir gallery.

I spent the better part of a peaceful hour in this beautiful chapel before completing the final ¼ mile to the car.

A short distance along the road toward Biddlestone village, I paused to cross a field to a small enclosure at the edge of a wood. This is the Selby cemetery, in which two Celtic crosses stand. These mark the graves of two of the last of the family, Walter Charles and Reginald Arthur, who died in 1900 and 1905 respectively.

If Rob Roy ever passed this way, he might have come over the hills I crossed on this visit. It is more probable, however, that he drove cattle across the border by way of Clennell Street, an old drovers’ road that runs down into Alwinton. True or not, it doesn’t really matter. The important thing is that Sir Walter Scott created a great story out of the possibility.

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Prodigal son 80 years after the death of Sir Thomas Garbutt Knott - son of the noted philanthropist Sir James Knott and the man who gifted the Knott Memorial Hall in Wylam to the village - Roy Koerner details a strange tale of fake news decades before the term became commonly used

rer and marketing Roy Koerner, a retired lectu ember of a group research consultant, is a m ked into the in Wylam which in 2014 loo ted on the village’s backgrounds of the men lis ing killed in WW1. three war memorials as be d into a project to This research has continue the Wylam soldiers identify what happened to e course of their who survived the War. In th t to light the stories research, the group brough ich were detailed of a number of local men wh mbrian June/July in an article in The Northu research, Roy noted 2014. In the course of this ned in that article that two of the men mentio had a brother, – James and Henry Knott – o at the time was Thomas Garbutt Knott, wh in the War, but who also reported to have died on to donate the resurfaced later and went village of Wylam Knott Memorial Hall to the ter delving in in memory of his parents. Af archives as well as American and New Zealand r story of the man those closer to home, anothe is is that story… has at last been revealed. Th

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Thomas Garbutt Knott, heir to the Knott fortune and subject of this strange story

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n March 1924, a story appeared in the press about a penniless man who had recovered his memory following a bout of amnesia and now claimed to be the heir to a North East family fortune.

It sounds like the plot from a novel, and indeed the tale of amnesia and remarkable recovery was fiction.

However, the man did turn out to be the only surviving son of a very wealthy family, and thus he stood to inherit a considerable amount of money. So why did he go to the pretence of memory loss and poverty?

The man concerned was Thomas Garbutt Knott. Born in 1879, he was the eldest of three sons of Sir James Knott, a millionaire still known today for numerous philanthropic acts which continue to benefit the North East.

Sir James, knighted in 1917, was a self-made man who by skill, good judgement and hard work made a fortune, establishing the Prince Shipping Line and building it up to

The Northumbrian

be one of the world’s largest merchant fleets. By the age of 36 he was able to keep a staff of 10 servants. The 1891 census describes him as “shipowner, shipbroker and barrister-at-law”. He also appears to have been a workaholic, for as well as running successful businesses and practising at the bar, he also stood for Parliament.

Thomas Garbutt Knott (TGK) was born at 1 Frank Place, North Shields on July 14, 1879. However, by the age of 12 he was boarding with and being tutored by the Rev’d James Lemon, a Scottish Presbyterian minister who lived at West Thirston, near Felton, Northumberland.

Thomas’s father James had been educated at the Scotch Presbyterian School in North Shields, so it may be that he wanted his eldest son to have a Presbyterian education. However, TGK’s two younger brothers went to Eton. Sir James could have afforded for all three boys to go there, so why didn’t the eldest son go too? Did Thomas fail the entrance exam, or is there some other reason why the second and third sons seem to have been favoured?

The relationship between TGK and his father was not good. The pair are reported to have quarrelled after TGK refused to join the family business. Perhaps he also resented being educated in the spartan atmosphere of a Presbyterian manse whilst his younger brothers were sent to England’s leading public school.

A clue to their antipathy may lie in Sir James Knott’s personality. Although he is remembered today for his philanthropy, he is reported to have been short-tempered and difficult to deal with. After a dispute with the local council about his home in North Shields, he vengefully sacked the chief engineer on one of his ships who happened to be the brother of the council official with whom he was dealing. The poor man was paid off in South America and had to find his own way home.

It is also said that when he walked through a farmyard on his estate he would hit the hens with his walking stick. The list of servants in the 1891, 1901 and 1911 censuses shows no-one stayed in service with the family for any length of time.

When he entered the world of work, TGK did not seek a post with his father’s company. In 1896, aged 16, he was apprenticed to Robert Fernie, a Liverpool shipowner and director of the Guion shipping line which specialised in transporting immigrants, mainly from Scandinavia, to America. He would have

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TGK’s younger brother Captain Basil Henry Knott, killed in 1915, and left, their father, the noted industrialist Sir James

become familiar with ports on the eastern seaboard of the USA and Canada.

In the late 1890s he went to South Africa, working his passage on one of his father’s ships. He appears to have gone there to join his uncle, Stanley Knott, his father’s younger brother, probably to seek his fortune in the goldfields or diamond mines. They were both there when the Boer War broke out in 1899.

Although there is no record of TGK’s service in official military records, his name appears as having served in the army in South Africa on a commemorative plaque which was subsequently erected in North Shields. When he later joined the army at the outbreak of World War I in 1914, TGK stated that he had previously served in the Boer War as a trooper in the South African Light Horse, a cavalry unit which was largely composed of experienced horsemen from all over the Empire. If he did serve in the SALH, he would have been commanded by a young Winston Churchill, who was a lieutenant in the regiment.

TGK next turns up in the USA. In 1907, described as a labourer, he married a divorcee with three children in Geneva,

Ohio, a small town on the shores of Lake Erie on the main railway line about halfway between New York and Chicago. How, why and exactly when he arrived there is not known. A more likely destination for an adventurer would have been one of the pioneer states further west. Perhaps his romantic attachment persuaded him to settle in Ohio. In the 1910 US census he is living with his wife and stepson and is described as a farmer, claiming to have been resident in the USA since 1889, which is clearly incorrect.

Married life did not go well for TGK. In 1912 his wife petitioned the local court for divorce and temporary alimony on the grounds that he had “struck her in the mouth, threatened to kill her, called her vile and indecent names... and imputed her chastity”. Although he cross-petitioned to divorce her for gross neglect, citing a number of examples of how she made life unbearable for him, the judge refused to grant either party a divorce, so the unhappy marriage continued.

A year later TGK decided to travel again. According to one press report, his wife refused to go with him, so he left her behind. By 1913, he had made his way to Australia, where the NSW Police Gazette reported that he had been the victim of a robbery in Sydney. The following year he had moved on to New Zealand, possibly to work in farming. Agriculture is the only industry in the small town of Clinton on the South Island, where he was living in 1914.

When war broke out in August 1914 he immediately joined up. He can only have been in New Zealand for a few

23

The window dedicated to James Leadbitter Knott and Henry Basil Knott weeks and he gave no occupation on his attestation form. Significantly, he claimed to be single, although he was neither divorced nor legally separated from his American wife. He also gave his father, James Knott of Closehouse [sic], Wylamon-Tyne, as his next-of-kin.

After enlisting as a trooper in the Otago Mounted Rifles, TGK was quickly promoted to corporal, but asked to return to the ranks after only a few weeks. One wonders why he should do this. His unit was immediately ordered to the Middle East where he served briefly on the front line fighting against the Turks at Gallipoli.

However, he was invalided back to hospital on the Greek island of Mudros after only three weeks.

The war diary of the OMR lists all men killed or wounded in action, but TGK’s name does not appear. He must therefore have been hospitalised for illness or perhaps as a result of a non-combat accident. His army medical record shows frequent spells in hospital with a range of ailments and injuries.

He had a good disciplinary record, his only offence to have had a light on in his tent at 10.30pm. When he returned to Egypt, he was transferred to training duties in the ANZAC Camel Corps and doesn’t appear to have seen any more frontline action during the remainder of the war.

Back in England, TGK’s two younger brothers had also enlisted on the outbreak of war. They both applied for and immediately obtained commissions in the army. Sadly, within two years both had been killed in action on the Western Front. Henry, the younger brother, who was a captain in the Northumberland Fusiliers, died from a head wound sustained near Ypres in September 1915. The middle brother, Major James Knott DSO, was killed leading his men of the West Yorkshire Regiment on the first day of the Battle of the Somme on 1 July 1916.

As well as being a devastating personal tragedy for the family, the loss of the

24

two men was widely felt within the wider region, where both were well known on the business, political and social scenes.

In July 1916 a memorial service for Major James Knott was held at Newcastle Cathedral. It was well attended by civic and religious dignitaries and representatives from a wide range of business, industrial and political organisations as well as personal friends.

At the memorial service sympathy was extended to “Mr and Mrs Knott who have been bereft of their entire family… of three gallant soldiers”. As well as having lost two sons on the Western Front it was widely reported that the eldest son, Thomas Garbutt Knott, was also a victim of the War. He was variously described as being killed, wounded, posted missing or taken prisoner by the Germans. None of this was correct, which makes one wonder where these stories came from and why they were circulated.

After news of his brothers’ deaths reached TGK in Egypt, he was given two months’ compassionate leave. This suggests that the Knott family knew all about his whereabouts, despite stories of his death which were allowed to circulate.

In October 1917, TGK returned to England to see his grieving parents. For an officer to have been granted two months’ leave to travel from Egypt to Britain would have been unusual. For a private soldier, like TGK, it was unheard of. His father, by now Sir James Knott, must have pulled some strings to facilitate it. He had already used his influence with the War Office to have his son James’s body moved from a war grave on the Somme where he died to be interred alongside his brother at Ypres.

At the end of the war, TGK requested to be demobbed in London rather than return to New Zealand with his regiment. In July 1919 he was at Rudchester, near Wylam, when the staff of the former VAD Hospital at Holeyn Hall made a presentation to Sir James and Lady Knott to thank them for their support during the War. The following

year he is reported to have attended the funeral in Newcastle of a Prince Line executive, and in July 1921 a rabbit which he had bred in Wylam won a prize at the Royal Show. He was clearly living openly in the North East.

His parents, meanwhile, had moved to Torquay and then to Jersey after Sir James sold the Prince Line to Furness Withy. They had only rented Close House from the Bewicke estate and did not seek to renew the lease. Jersey also had a better climate and was more convenient for Sir James’s steam yacht, which he and Lady Knott liked to cruise, particularly in the Mediterranean.

TGK is then not heard of until 1924 when the reports of his “reappearance” after having lost his memory appeared in some provincial and overseas newspapers.

But significantly, no newspapers circulating in the North East carried the story.

The account of his disappearance and alleged amnesia have some superficial credibility as they mention his links with New Zealand and his wartime service at Gallipoli. However, as he had been back home to see his bereaved parents in 1917 and had been seen in the North East on a number of occasions after the war, they are clearly made up. But for what purpose and why do they only appear in relatively obscure publications?

A crucial fact exposes the reappearance story as a work of fiction. The press reports of TGK’s recovery from amnesia appeared in March 1924 – two months after he began divorce proceedings at the High Court in London against his American wife.

He must have been in England for some time before that with a sound enough memory to have instructed lawyers and to provide evidence for the court.

His wife’s adultery was given as ground for the divorce, which is self-evident as she had remarried in Ohio in 1920, having divorced TGK the previous year for “wilful absence for more than three years”. TGK or someone acting on his behalf would have had to undertake extensive and time-consuming research to ascertain these facts.

His ex-wife does not appear to have tried to find him. She and the Ohio state authorities presumably simply believed the press stories that he had been killed in the war, enabling her as a widow to legitimately marry again. As an Ohio divorce may not have been recognised in Britain at the time, TGK seems to have divorced her here under English law to make sure she had no claim on him.

The facts of situation are now reasonably clear. But why was it necessary

The Northumbrian

The Knott Memorial Hall in Heddon to pretend that TGK was dead and then to concoct a bogus amnesia story to explain his reappearance? It all must have been inspired by the family.

Despite being the eldest son, TGK seems to have been written off by his father as the black sheep of the family well before the outbreak of World War I. Sir James Knott expected his middle son, James, to take over his business empire. However, with the deaths of James and Henry in the war, Sir James realised that his considerable fortune would now pass to TGK who had an estranged wife in the USA. She was certainly aware that he came from a wealthy family as, during her unsuccessful attempt to divorce him in Ohio back in 1912, she had told the court that he was “continually in receipt of large sums of money from his parents who live in England”.

So, Sir James quite reasonably would have found the prospect of his errant son and sole heir being sued again for divorce in the American courts perturbing. As TGK had then effectively deserted her, the chances of her extracting a very substantial divorce settlement from the heir to a large fortune were quite high. He can count himself lucky that she never discovered he was still alive.

The story that TGK was dead or missing looks like a clever ruse to prevent his American wife seeking a big divorce settlement. The subsequent charade of TGK’s faked amnesia could be an equally smart ploy used to account for his apparent return from the dead after he had divorced her.

In the event, none of this subterfuge proved to be necessary.

Sir James went on to live until 1934. Having been widowed six years previously, at the age of 77, he married a 25-year-old in 1932. Nowadays the wedding of a millionaire to a woman 50 years his junior would make the tabloids, but at the time it seems to have passed with little press comment.

After making generous provision for his new wife he left the bulk of his estate to the Sir James Knott Trust, a charitable foundation which still exists today, active in helping to improve the conditions of people living and working in the North East.

TGK does not seem to have been happy about all this, but was still able to live comfortably on the sizeable estate of Courtlands House near Exmouth in Devon, which he had inherited from his mother. His globetrotting years of adventure behind him, he now took on the role of the country gentleman – something he may have looked forward to since his boyhood days in Felton. He inherited his father’s baronetcy and died as Sir Thomas Garbutt Knott in 1949.

• The author has supplied references, including press cuttings, census and army records, marriage and divorce certificates in support of this article. There is inevitably some conjecture in attempting to link the events of Thomas Garbutt’s life in relation to his family in the North East, however, and we would welcome information from any reader with further intelligence.

• Our thanks to the Sir James Knott Trust for the family photographs published here. Find out more about the trust’s work at www.knott-trust.co.uk

The Northumbrian

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Deep time thinking Northumberland Wildlife Trust Chief Executive MIKE PRATT reflects on the thought processes prompted by a fossil

I

’m a geologist by training, my early career linked to mineral and oil exploration. This gave me a particular attitude to time and the sequencing of life on Earth; a long view of environments ever changing, the repeated building and eroding of seas and mountains. So, things like global warming seem overall normal to me.

But the way we have sped up geological time and processes in the last 200 years, even the last 50, means our impact will always be seen in the future geology of this planet This came back to me one evening, sipping a whisky, as you do, by the fire, lost in contemplation and staring at a rock, which I keep on a table next to my chair in the front room. I often pick it up, look closely at it, put it down again, and give it a side glance even when I’m engrossed in something else or watching TV. The size of an 18th Century brick, it is part of a 2 inch-thick seam of Whitby jet, an unusually thick piece about six inches long. It is well formed, attractively tactile, and sandwiched between two thin layers of shale. Part of the jet has crystallised and influxes of creamy white quartz run through it.

It is the thin shale which sandwiches the jet that is most intriguing. It has the

fossilised pattern of the bark of the monkey puzzle type tree the jet is made from. The structure of the bark is well preserved, its grain comparable to the species today.

It is a sort of magic that such a thing is conserved 190 million years after it was a living tree in a Jurassic swamp on a seaside lagoon. After falling into the water and being covered by fine mud, it was transformed over millennia into the time tar we call jet.

Locally, at Cresswell foreshore’s Snab Point, you can see whole trunks of trees from the Carboniferous period and coal seams from these ancient swamps.

Further along towards Hauxley there are exposed peat beds dating from just after the last Ice Age with semi-‘fossilised’ tree stumps from about 8,000 years ago and footprints of wild boar and other creatures that inhabited our ancient Northumbrian wildwood. You can wander amongst what was an ancient forest where footprints of some of our direct human ancestors are hidden. There is something especially tangible about fossilised woods and trees that bring past and present closely together; a continuum of trees through time we naturally associate with.

What I find exciting, as I do with all fossils, from those of dragonflies to

ammonites and dinosaurs, trilobites and plants, is the fact of their survival at all, and their transformation from organic entities to stone bodies, often in great detail, over immense time. You can understand how in the past people thought fossils had been created by the devil or gods to deceive us. They are something we can’t make ourselves, we can’t make a fossil or even a rock; concrete doesn’t count.

Then there are the re-imaginings prompted when you handle such specimens, symbolising the continuity of life on this planet, constantly renewing itself in patterns and environs we recognise and inhabit today.

On Skye there is a beach where you can plainly see the huge round footprints of sauropods, who for a 1,000 years paddled in the waters of another Jurassic lagoon, creating as they did a special ‘dino-turbation’ - mangled footprints and bedding disturbance across the area in a sort of dinosaur Twister game, preserved and visible across this remote foreshore.

When you go there, it is humbling and moving to realise what the many lumps, bumps and round rock pools represent. In many you can make out toe shapes and claw marks. Isn’t that remarkable?

I often find myself awestruck by this deep time ecology that surrounds us in the

The rocky coastline just south of the village of Cresswell – rich fossil-hunting country

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Mike’s fossil rocks and strata of our landscapes. What fulfils me most of all is the recognition in this that life on Earth is not an ephemeral thing. It is not just about what we see today, but that we have a 3.6 billion-year legacy of life evolving and inhabiting every available niche on Earth, which is itself only about 4.5 billion years old.

For nearly four-fifths of its existence, pretty much as soon as it cooled down sufficiently, Earth has been home to life.

As far as we know it is the only place this has manifested in the universe. One life incubator of biodiversity from the beginning of time, to now. And we happen to be part of it! This fills me with a special sense of wonder, and with a responsibility to revere and look after every living thing; it has a right to be here and is borne, like us, from ancient lines.

Isn’t it brilliant and special that every living creature on Earth is connected through deep time to what went before?

That we are probably part of something

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uniquely alive? We are so privileged to be a part of this life story. We humans have a unique perspective on it all. We may have appeared in the last few minutes of what might be seen as a 24-hour clock of life, but we are wise apes who, over only about 6 million years, have super adapted.

We can see backwards and forwards, see the past in a rock or foreshore, learn from it, and see what the future might be like, based on interpretations of past environs. Thus, we can influence future ecologies. What a rare skill we have then, being part of nature and seeing beyond it at the same time. Yet we have not acted in nature or the planet’s favour. We now understand our negative impact, yet we dither and deny rather than commit to nature’s recovery.

But there is a bigger picture. Earth will over geological time reinvent itself, renew and create new life - as it has for billenia. Life in some form will endure, but maybe not in human form. This in itself

is rather wonderful. We can’t just leave it to geology and time to reset our broken natural world. We have to get on with saving the planet in a way that sustains us. But irrespective of that, it seems life will live on here indefinitely, whether we survive or not. This planet is programmed for life, not necessarily of human form.

That is what makes nature wonderful; the fact that ultimately we are inconsequential, life itself is the main story, not us, whatever we might think. Maybe in another million years, a mere few minutes more in the 24-hour clock of life on Earth, we will have highly evolved into ‘Homosuperior’ - as much techno as we are bio.

We may excavate our recent fossiliferous past of the 20th Century - a thin black line of plastic waste and chemical fall-out, concrete and acidic marine deposits. By that time, we may live somewhere else and be visiting Earth as a colony, perhaps one uniquely observed and revered for its abundant diversity of life, like nowhere else, with its fully restored natural processes and ecosystems. Perhaps it will be so revered no human will be allowed to live there?

Or perhaps we will be living here in tune with the nature we feel part of again, or not be here at all, long buried ourselves, fossils in the forming rocks; a strange phase in this Earth where we too are buried deep and new species have arisen with a more enduring relationship with this amazing planet. Time really will tell. Meanwhile, every time you pick up a rock on the beach, gaze at a cliff or walk along the great Whin Sill, you are walking through deep time and can connect with a deep ecology we are one small part of. For there is a lot to wonder about in rocks… and a lot to fill us with wonder.

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Talking auks Despite numbers dropping elsewhere, the Atlantic puffin is thriving on Northumberland’s Farne and Coquet islands.

IAN KERR celebrates Northumberland’s beloved auk

P

rovide a small child with colouring pencils and ask them to draw a bright-beaked comical bird and I suspect they’d come up with something resembling a puffin.

With its big triangular beak of red, yellow and blue, white clown face, eyes which look like someone has gone mad with mascara, and portly body waddling on brilliant orange legs, this is truly a comicbook bird.

For all those reasons this is Britain’s best-known and favourite sea bird. It’s also certainly the most photographed, and the puffin’s appearance has gained it some colourful folk names. These include Sea Parrot and Sea Clown, both obvious from its appearance, to the more difficult to explain Tommy Noddy in north Northumberland and Tammy Norie in Scotland. Few birds arouse more affection in folk without the slightest other interest in wildlife, eager to go out on boat excursions, cameras at the ready, just for the experience of getting close to them.

Not for nothing was it chosen as the logo for the largest series of children’s books in Britain and the English-speaking world.

We’re fortunate in Northumberland to see these delightful members of the auk family at close quarters at two of Britain’s most successful breeding colonies - on the Farne Islands and Coquet Island. Between them, they hold around 75,000 breeding pairs, well over 10% of the national total.

The other 90% are around Scotland and its islands and in smaller concentrations in Ireland and Wales. Elsewhere, almost 5m pairs nest around the North Atlantic, with colonies stretching from Northern Russia and Norway to Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland and Labrador and southwards down the American sea-board to Maine. Our Atlantic puffin, as it’s officially designated, is replaced by two related species, the horned puffin and tufted puffin, in the North Pacific.

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Despite those seemingly colossal numbers, the puffin is now on Britain’s official Red List of species of major conservation concern, a reflection of the fact that numbers have fallen sharply over the past 25 years. They’re also considered very vulnerable because most of the breeding population is concentrated in a few sites. A disaster such as a particularly violent storm or an oil pollution incident in such an area could be devastating.

The good news is that here in Northumberland puffins are beating the international downward spiral. National surveys are carried out every five years and the latest shows that our numbers are going up, against the national and international trend.

For example, almost 44,000 pairs were breeding on the Farne Islands in the latest census, up from 39,000 in 2013. On Coquet Island, the upward trend was more dramatic, with 32,000 pairs compared with the previous 12,000.

Puffins have bred on the Farnes since at least 1532, when a batch was sent for a religious banquet in Durham. In contrast, they’re recent arrivals on Coquet Island where breeding didn’t start until the 1960s.

Puffins, like all the auks, are maritime birds. They spend most of their lives far out at sea, wintering in the North Sea and the Atlantic, existing on a diet of small fish caught by diving from the surface.

They need come ashore only during the breeding season - our opportunity to see them at close quarters.

The puffin season starts early with thousands flying ashore on the Farnes and Coquet Island on calm, sunny days in March and April. Any change in the weather normally sees them vanishing back out beyond the horizon. By May, they are settling to breed in their nesting burrows, either taking over existing ones or using that sturdy axe-like beak and their feet to dig out new holes.

A single white egg is laid in the burrow, sometimes 5ft-6ft from the entrance and safe from the attention of gulls. Incubation takes around a month before the chick, known rather endearingly as a puffling, hatches and looks like a little black powder puff. They grow fast on a rich oily died of sand eels and other small fish.

That’s the stage all visitors to puffin colonies, particularly photographers, really love. It’s when the adults will fly in with rows of fish gripped in the beak and make a dash for the burrow before big gulls, invariably hanging around, can swoop to try and rob them of the catch. Puffins don’t always make it, and when that happens, they simply have to fly back out to sea and start all over again.

The puffling grows rapidly, finally leaving the burrow under cover of darkness to avoid predators when it is around six weeks old. It will walk or fly to the sea. The young are then independent and won’t need to return to land for several years until maturity.

Puffins face many threats, including global warming. Even a degree or two difference in water temperature can affect the availability of food and may be behind the total collapse of some previously huge colonies in Iceland and Norway. Industrial fishing has also reduced stocks in many breeding areas. Despite that, even today they are still being killed in Iceland where they are traditionally served as food, these days mainly to curious tourists. There is also an increasing trend, incredible as it seems, for so-called sportsmen to pay £3,000 each to shoot 100 Icelandic puffins and bring them home as sad little trophies.

The Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting is urging the Government to ban the importation into Britain of puffin and other threatened seabird trophies. Encouraging sounds have been made but, at the time of writing, unfortunately, no real action has followed.

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Inner Farne… not just for the birds The Farne Islands are internationally renowned for their seals and seabirds, but here STEVE NEWMAN adopts a different viewpoint, exploring instead the archaeology of Inner Farne

W

ithout doubt, most people are drawn to the Farne Islands because of the wildlife. Yet there is another aspect to them that is just as fascinating, and that’s their archaeology.

The most archaeologically rich island of the group is Inner Farne, because it is the nearest to the mainland and has the most soil. It will forever be associated with saints Cuthbert and Aidan, and though traces of the early pre-conquest religious centre remain, there is also a fascinating collection of sites on the island

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stretching through the ages. In an article of this length, we can’t possibly cover all that is on the island, be we can provide a basic guide to some of these sites. This is not designed to be definitive, rather an addition to your knowledge or further research for the next time you visit Inner Farne, maybe just adding to the enjoyment of your stay a little bit more. Please always stay on the official paths as laid down by the National Trust.

The archaeology of Inner Farne appears as you approach the island

from the sea. The west cliff beneath the lighthouse has a large white stain clearly visible below the end of the wall of the lighthouse compound. This is not guano, as you might suspect, but used chalk from calcium carbide from the lighthouse being thrown down the cliff for over 100 years; looking up from a boat, you can still see the pipe from which the chalk was fed.

Sailing around the island, you enter the harbour which has been used since the 7th Century. Not many people notice the two terraces directly above the beach. Both

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Taken from the top of the Inner Farne Lighthouse - the monastic courtyard, ponds, keepers’ walled garden and rigg and furrow field patterns

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e Northumbrian Magazine (April/May2020)

The monastic courtyard and keepers’ walled garden 86mm

130mm

are about 20 metres long and made of local stone and cobbles. It is thought they are of 19th Century origin and were possibly used for growing vegetables.

As you walk up the path trying to avoid being pecked by Arctic terns, the remains of a small building can be seen on the left of the path. The Fish House may be the hospitium or guest house mentioned in monastic accounts of 1360. It may stand on the site of an earlier guest house built by St Cuthbert in the 7th Century as one of the walls is substantially thicker than the others.

Finally, reaching the entrance to there monastic courtyard, there is much to see. You will see the Old Pele Tower directly in front of you. Originally it was four storeys high and said to have been Over 500 outstanding self catering holiday cottages in prime locations throughout beautiful Northumberland

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A used carbide chute above the western cliffs

The path down to the old Low Light is useful for the rangers checking puffin burrows built around 1500 by Thomas Castell, Prior of Durham although it does appear to contain earlier elements such as small lancet windows.

The font beloved of photographers capturing pictures of terns perched on it was brought here in the 19th Century from Gateshead Church and probably dates from the late 15th Century. The stone coffin standing against the base of the tower was found during the excavations of 1918 and is believed to have belonged to a Thomas Sparrowe who died in 1430.

There were two chapels associated with the 12th Century Benedictine House here. To your right is St Cuthbert’s Chapel built in 1370, once used as lighthouse keeper’s accommodation now graced with beautiful 16th Century woodwork brought

from Durham Cathedral in the 1840s. The east window was made in Gateshead by the artist and glazier William Wailes and was installed in 1844. Each year when the rangers leave the islands it is covered to protect it from the elements.

To left stood St Mary’s Chapel, the remains of which are now incorporated into the National Trust Information Centre.

Fortunately, the pillar of stonework still standing on the south west corner shows the original height of the chapel.

Walk westwards up from the monastic courtyard and you are on the original path that led to a medieval cross that once stood on the site now occupied by the lighthouse. The walled garden on the right was probably built for growing produce for the keepers and their families when St Mary’s Chapel was used by Trinity House as a storehouse. The trees here were planted by the keepers to provide windbreaks.

Further on, you arrive at the ponds, usually with some mallards looking disdainfully at you on the banks. There are three ponds in this area, and all are linked by a drainage channel. Two of them are not marked on any of the old OS maps so it is assumed they are probably of 20th Century construction.

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part of the island enclosed by the circular pathway holds rigg and furrow field marks used by the monks to grow food. At the top of the path, you come to the lighthouse where you will see several white stone markers with “TH” on them. These are markers placed here by Trinity House to show the boundary, possibly in 1825 when the charity bought out the lease from the Blackett family at a cost of £36,484.

Access to the lighthouse courtyard is restricted to National Trust and Trinity House employees. The large rectangular building with the three circular windows on the north side of the courtyard is the old carbide store - kept to produce acetylene for the lighthouse lamps. Today it is used by Trinity House engineers as a day room and as a storage facility by the National Trust rangers.

Take the path to the right as it gradually drops down. This is another old path as it originally led to a second lighthouse on the island called the Low Light. Built in 1810, it was octagonal in design and was eventually demolished around 1910.

As mentioned above, this is a very brief introduction to the archaeology of Inner Farne. Some research on your own behalf ready for your next trip to the island is a very good idea. Who knows, you may spot something no one has noticed before!

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Secret garden SUSIE WHITE explores beautiful Bradley Gardens and enjoys a deserved break in the tea room

A new border at Bradley Gardens (all photos by Susie White)

A

pproached up a narrow lane, past a lake with reedbed and swans, Bradley Gardens has a reputation for delicious food served in its Victorian glasshouse café. Here, sitting in spring sunshine with my coffee and fruit scone, I’m struck by the changes I’ve seen over the years of visiting this lovely old walled garden.

Beyond the lawn is a vibrant sweep of lemon and orange-coloured tulips. There’s blossom on the apple trees, burgeoning flower borders and daffodils blooming

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on raised beds. Containers are filled with spring bulbs and there are many interesting design ideas. With honeycoloured gravel paths and neat lawn edges, it all looks beautifully maintained.

This four-acre walled garden provided fresh fruit and vegetables for Bradley Hall, a mansion built around 1760 for Newcastle merchant John Simpson. The house was altered in the mid 19th Century and it was about then that the garden was added on a south-facing slope a little way from the main house. The long glasshouse set

against the top wall was the work of the Darlington-based company Richardson’s which later became Amdega.

At that time, there were 12 gardeners.

Old photographs in the café show a bearded head gardener and his rather stern looking wife, later images of men and women pruning or tending magnificent dahlias, and land girls pushing a wooden wheelbarrow, garden forks across their shoulders. In the background are espaliered fruit trees along the wall and glimpses of tidy rows of vegetables.

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A topiary heart in ivy against the brick wall

Head gardener Simon Grimwood I’d seen the garden under various owners, and by 2013 it was run down and in need of vision and investment.

Seeing its potential, it was bought by Mark Robinson and Darren Crichton-Jones of Bridgewater Interiors. They wanted to create the feeling of a secret garden whilst still making it a commercial success.

Shops tucked behind the high walls display their furniture and homeware, paint and fabrics, and a nursery sells plants and vintage planters. Three years ago, Simon Grimwood was brought in to run the garden and it is thanks to his work that it is looking in such good heart.

Simon began as a student gardener at the Alnwick Garden, sitting his horticultural exams at Edinburgh Botanics. Working his way up through the team, he became a First Gardener and managed the Roots and Shoots education programme. He spent five years at Alnwick before becoming head gardener at Bradley Gardens.

“I was used to being part of a 14strong team and here I’m the sole gardener,” Simon says. “It was a steep learning curve at first, but I’ve definitely developed because of it. It’s been good to spearhead the changes in

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A vibrant sweep of lemon and orange-coloured tulips

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The dipping pool at the centre of the garden this garden. When I joined, there were some areas that were just wasteland and needed re-thinking so I’ve changed some of the layout and made new borders.”

From the moment you leave the car park via a wooden gazebo you can spot Simon’s attention to detail. Greeting you are lovely seasonal touches including aluminium planters filled with winter bulbs and a vintage wheelbarrow planted with daffodils, muscari, primroses, ivy and twigs of pussy willow. You then go through a door in the brick wall and immediately feel you are somewhere special.

To the right is a cool border of white alliums in late spring set behind box hedging. In front of you, a new Hartley Botanic glasshouse which has been designed to look like the original Victorian structure. This is where the garden store sells tools and garden equipment, stoneware pots and a selection of plants.

From here, a path curves up to the top of the garden, terraced paths running off it like the veins on a leaf. The terraces have all been rebuilt using Ladycross stone.

One of Simon’s new borders has been planted to set off a cream painted summerhouse. “It’s the largest example

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of the summerhouses that we sell,” says Simon. “The owners offer a complete service from site survey to construction.”

In spring, the border is soft with pink and purple tulips, white Primula denticulata, pale blue violas and aubrieta tumbling over the retaining wall. Later, there are roses, catmint, foxtail lilies, delphiniums and lemon red hot pokers.

Working with Mark and Darren, Simon will design a border according to their colour scheme. “They get ideas from

visiting gardens,” explains Simon, “and I will draw up a plan so we can discuss it.

I’ve also had to sort out the places where perennials have spread too much, such as the nettle leaved bellflower which had swamped the woodland border.

“I’ve planted around 8,000 spring bulbs in a mixture of tulips, daffodils, alliums, irises, crocuses and camassias.

We’re open all year so there’s no offseason, which is why I wanted to create more colour before spring starts to burst.

An exciting colour pairing of orange globeflower and melancholy thistle

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A border under construction with a ‘no entry’ sign of old garden tools

A vintage wheelbarrow planted with daffodils, muscari and primroses There are hellebores in the woodland border, a Viburnum ‘Bodnantense’ for winter scent and colour, but my favourite is the Hamamelis; a bright yellow witch hazel as tall as the wall with an amazing scent held in that corner of the garden.

Nearby is a big magnolia and when that comes into flower it’s a wall of white blooms.”

Another new feature is a circular garden centred on a tall urn. A line of standard hollies curves through lavender and box hedging, defining the path. New granite setts, reclaimed from Newcastle streets, edge the gravel and a tall Aralia elata, the Japanese angelica tree, has a striking winter presence.

Two thirds of the way up the garden

slope is a unique feature which was once a large circular dipping pool for watering cans. A delightful stone fountain issues into a bowl, surrounded by the fresh greenery of royal ferns, Osmunda regalis. Four raised beds surround it, one planted with irises, miscanthus grass and Stipa gigantea, two with perennials and herbs such as orange thyme, and one with an ivy ‘tree’, a huge green umbrella of foliage.

Outside the glasshouse café there are formal elements; standard privets in square planters underplanted with white lavender and variegated ivy. These contrast with the nearby woodland path, a waving line through silver birches on the north side of a yew hedge that leads to an

arbour seat. Along the way are hellebores and narcissus, hostas, tree peonies and purple euphorbias with, later on, orange globeflower and melancholy thistle.

“What I love about this garden,” says Simon, “is the way that paths meander, so it’s the little nooks that I’m planting up for people to discover. And there are still plants that I want to get into garden like the dragon arum, Dracunculus. It’s such a curious, prehistoric-looking plant.”

One feature that he inherited was the topiary heart clipped from ivy, a dramatic shape on the east facing wall. And the owners often bring in design ideas too, such as using old garden tools to create a decorative ‘no entry’ sign whilst part of the garden was being redeveloped.

There are so many charming moments: an ivy-covered stone trough under the magnolia, a wisteria pergola with flowers hanging in tresses above one’s head, a tiny hidden pond, a pair of bay trees with trunks twisted into love hearts.

The garden is free to enter, and before you rush up to the glasshouse café, take time to explore all its delightful side paths and secret corners.

Bradley Gardens, Sled Lane, Wylam, Northumberland NE41 8JH, www.bradley-gardens.co.uk Susie White is a garden writer and naturalist, and a member of the Garden Media Guild, www.susie-white.co.uk

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Spring has sprung and we are suddenly into the busy gardening season. As the soil warms up and the days lengthen, it’s a great time to get outdoors. Whether you just need to make some tweaks in the garden or do a major rethink, we have lots of cottage garden plants and lovely, colourful shrubs grown here in Northumberland to help you create beautiful borders and beds.

If you want to garden with wildlife in mind, as well as bringing lots of colour to your garden, cottage garden perennials are great plants for pollinators, providing a plentiful supply of nectar and pollen.

Maybe you just need a colour boost for the front door? Our spring pots will do just the job! Alternatively, drop off your pots and baskets and we can plant them up for you.

If you need some advice, or just want to bounce ideas around as you start to think about the coming growing season, feel free to pop into the nursery for a quick chat with Adam.

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Garden therapy In these difficult times, one very important thing hasn’t been cancelled gardening. As spring spreads its wings, gardening is wonderful therapy, and remember, most of the businesses on these pages offer mail order DOWN TO EARTH This long-established garden centre is something of an institution in Hexham, where it has helped to keep gardens beautiful and in robust health since 1991. It is home to a huge choice of home-reared plants and gardening products and the team are hugely helpful in advising novices and expert gardeners alike. The plants and shrubs on sale are always of the highest quality and in vigorous good health, which is why Down to Earth is so widely trusted among the local community it has served for nearly 30 years.

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GUSTHART’S Family-run Gusthart’s, just off the A1 north of Newcastle, is a specialist in the sale, service and repair of outdoor power equipment, servicing the needs of gardeners, tree surgeons, landscapers and local authorities since 1985.

As a longstanding Stihl-approved dealer, Gusthart’s carries a full range of equipment to for domestic and professional use, from chainsaws to hedge cutters, lawnmowers to strimmers.

As well as the supply of machinery, Gusthart’s is also home to a fully trained team of workshop technicians who carry out repairs and servicing for most major manufacturers of outdoor power equipment. The showroom also carries a large range of personal protective equipment, accessories and spare parts.

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HALLS OF HEDDON Family-run Halls of Heddon is marking its 99th birthday this year at its two beautiful sites in Hadrian’s Wall country.

Famed worldwide for its dahlias and chrysanthemums, Hall’s is also home to a huge range of home-reared plants, trees, shrubs and garden sundries, herbaceous perennials, seasonal bedding and vegetables all home grown in Ovington.

Together the team has more than 300 years of experience in horticulture which they are delighted to share. Halls dahlias and chrysanthemums are so famous they are shipped worldwide, and the fields at Heddon are a sight to see in season, with more than 10,000 plants in flower between late August and the first frosts. In addition, Halls is so confident in the quality of its hardy plants that it offers a 10-year guarantee.

West Heddon Nursery Centre, Heddon on the Wall, NE15 0JS tel 01661 852 445 / The Nursery, Ovington, NE42 6EE tel 01661 832 467, www.hallsofheddon.com

LONGFRAMLINGTON GARDENS Longframlington Gardens is a garden for all seasons, with 12 wonderful acres of walks, landscaped gardens and aboretum, ponds, garden art, nature and garden trails, information displays, wild meadow and a café.

The plant collection includes thousands of hardy ornamental trees, shrubs, perennials, ground cover, climbers, herbs and rock garden plants which are planted for all year-round interest.

Designed by the owner Hazel Huddleston MCIHort, this is a purpose-created garden for all to enjoy and gain ideas.

There are wild garden areas and habitats, climate change interpretation areas, rope art and a diary of courses, events and functions.

This is a wonderful place to visit, whether to buy plants for your own garden or a beautiful walk and a coffee. The nursery and plant centre stocks an extensive range of trees, shrubs, herbaceous perennials, herbs, climbers and rock garden plants for sale, in addition to planters and tools. Longframlington Gardens, near Morpeth, NE65 8BE, tel 01665 570 382 www.longframlingtongardens.co.uk

PERENNIAL FAVOURITES On the coast at Blyth’s Commissioners Quay, Perennial Favourites is an eclectic wholesale/ retail nursery selling a broad selection of garden plants and specialising in hardy herbaceous perennials. The nursery has been here since the 1950s and Adam, Fiona and the team grow a wide range of plants which thrive in the climate and soils of Northumberland. They also like trying out unusual and rare plants and this year they have the widest range of plants yet, with varieties suitable for all gardening styles, from the traditional cottage garden to contemporary modern. For fans of wildlife gardening, cottage garden perennials are perfect for providing nectar and pollen for bees and other pollinators.

Adam and Fiona enjoy sharing their knowledge, helping you to choose plants that will extend the flowering season and support early and late season pollinators. Members of Plant Heritage receive 10% discount. Perennial Favourites East Park View, Blyth, NE24 3AY, tel 01670 540 653, www.perennialfavourites.co.uk

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Down to Earth Garden Centre

THE GARDENERS GARDEN CENTRE RE RE

We are proud to offer quality products, from well known, trusted manufacturers, for all your gardening needs, at outstanding value.

Great Choice of home grown plants, a wealth of experience and friendly helpful advice.

Like us on

Down to Earth Hexham

Open Mon-Sat 9am - 5pm Sun 10am - 4pm Telephone 01434 600920 Email: salesn@downtoearthgardencentre.co.uk www.downtoearthgardencentre.co.uk Tyne Mills Industrial Estate, Hexham, Northumberland, NE46 1XL

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West Heddon Nursery Centre Heddon on the Wall Northumberland NE15 0JS (approx 1 mile NW of Heddon on the Wall, just off the B6183)

Also at:

The Nursery Ovington Northumberland NE42 6EE

(approx. 12 miles West of Newcastle just of the A69)

Tel: 01661 832467 Tel: 01661 852445 Both nurseries open MON-SAT 9am—5pm and SUN 10am-5pm www.hallsofheddon.co.uk

Growing since 1921

The Northumbrian

ROBSON AND COWAN Established in 1922, this family-run country store has something for everyone, whether you’re a homeowner, gardener, horse-rider, farmer or just a lover of the countryside.

Located 10 miles west of Morpeth near Wallington Hall, this is a one-stop shop for garden machinery and chainsaws, kitchen appliances, televisions, country clothing, equestrian and farm supplies, garden machinery and essentials. An array of Husqvarna, Honda, Stihl and Mountfield garden machinery is stocked, alongside essentials including compost, lawn and plant care, and garden tools.

One of the most exciting and innovative products on offer from the garden machinery department is the Husqvarna Automower®, the world leader in robotic mowing. Robson and Cowan provides support on purchasing a robotic mower, from initial advice to installation and after care, and also have a demonstration unit working on the premises.

Robson and Cowan Country Store, Scots Gap Morpeth NE61 4DT tel 01670 774205 www.robsonandcowan.co.uk

THOMAS SHERRIFF Thomas Sherriff & Co Ltd is a supplier of farm machinery and domestic/commercial ground care equipment, including robotic mowers, walk-behind mowers, riding lawn equipment and scarifiers by John Deere. Catering for domestic and commercial users, this specialist supplier provides expert advice and specialised network-supported machinery across the region.

John Deere’s walk-behind mowers are nimble and easy to use, riding mowers are mobile powerhouses with comfortable seats, and the Tango robotic mower is so quiet it can work while you sleep. Choose from a broad range of size, power and performance features across the extensive range.

Thomas Sherriff, Hexham, Jedburgh, Cramlington, Alnwick and Coldstream, www.thomassherriff.co.uk

The Northumbrian

STAN TIMMINS Family-run Stan Timmins & Sons offers a skilled arboricultural consultancy alongside commercial and domestic tree surgery across the region. As well as providing tree surgery services, Stan Timmins is dedicated to the preservation and management of trees.

Skilled in all tree surgery services, tree works, planting, hedge cutting, stump grinding, chipping and strimming operations and fully insured, Stan Timmins’ specialists are able to service the whole of the North East from their operational depot just off the A19 in South East Northumberland, undertaking work across a large geographical area which includes Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland, Alnwick, Morpeth, Whitley Bay, Hexham, Haltwhistle, Durham, Stockton on Tees and Darlington.

Founder Stan Timmins is an expert in garden design, arboriculture, and amenity horticulture and his RHS Chelsea design depicting the Lindisfarne Gospels is now permanently displayed on Holy Island. Stan Timmins & Sons, Blyth Whickham and Morpeth, tel 0191 406 5386 www.stantimmins.co.uk

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The Snook IAN KERR explores a little-known area of Holy Island

A

lthough almost 1 million people visit Holy Island annually, there are still areas away from the obvious attractions of the castle, priory and village which remain tranquil and largely ignored. One such is the Snook, the expanse of sand dunes bounded on one side by the road to the village and the other by the North Shore, one of the widest, finest and longest of Northumbrian beaches, stretching 5 miles to Goswick and Cheswick.

It’s an area mainly by-passed by visitors bound for the island’s more touristy spots. That’s a bit of a shame as it has a fascinating history of salmon fishing, shipwrecks, a German warplane and, oddest of all, a witch who walked on water.

One of the first records of the Snook is in 1611, when it appeared on the earliest known map of the island. The cartographer, John Speed, a protégé of Elizabeth I, depicted it as the “Snewke” or “Coney Warren” - reference to its use for raising rabbits for meat.

The area has two inhabited buildings, Snook House and Snook Tower, both now desirable residences, but with much humble beginnings. The former was a salmon fishing station, the latter the result of a failed Victorian coal mining enterprise.

In its earliest days, fish were gutted and processed in what is now Snook House after being brought from the sand bars of

the North Shore just over the dunes. Even today, there remain drunkenly listing lines of wooden poles along the ridged sand bars. Nets were strung between them to catch salmon as they progressed towards the Tweed. As the tides receded, islanders would collect the trapped fish, clambering along the ropes to reach them.

I recall an islander, now long dead, telling me that he was offered the thenredundant building after the war. He turned it down because he thought the asking price of £50 was too much. If only he’d known about today’s local property prices...

The sandbanks which hold the fishing posts have proved dangerous for ships over the centuries, while providing a welcome source of income for islanders.

In 1939, a Norwegian cargo boat, the Royal, ran ashore in fog. The following year, the war underway, a Danish steamer, Prins Kund, met a similar fate. In both cases, attempts to float the vessels off at the next high tide ended in failure and they remained firmly wedged in the sand bars.

But islanders had the solution. Working in teams, often at night as dictated by the tides, they laboriously dug deep channels through the sand. Little by little, the stranded ships were edged closer to deep water. They were finally floated off and saved, the hard graft of islanders earning them handsome salvage payments.

At this period, locals were used to the

sounds of war. The beaches at Goswick were used by the RAF as a practice bombing range and unexploded bombs are still occasionally exposed by the tide, signs warning of them alongside the lines of concrete anti-tank blocks on the mainland shore opposite the island.

Drama of a different kind came in 1941 with a Junkers bomber and the arrival on the island of five brave young Norwegians fleeing their occupied homeland.

The bomber was damaged during a series of devastating raids in May on Glasgow and the Clyde shipyards. The crew attempted to flee for home, but the damage was so severe they had to make a forced landing on the North Shore.

The crew set fire to the aircraft before they were rounded up by the island’s Home Guard. But enough was left of the wreckage for every child on the island to be there the following morning to grab a souvenir or two.

Then, on a cold November morning, islanders were amazed to find five wet, exhausted young men scrambling ashore from an open boat on the other side of the island near Lindisfarne Castle. After it was established that they weren’t Germans, they told an incredible story. Five days earlier, they’d stolen the boat and fuel.

Under cover of night, they’d slipped out of the Norwegian port of Kristiansand. They’d evaded German shore batteries, naval

© Bewickswan / Shutterstock.com

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The Northumbrian

GORDON CARIS four generations of experience in ANTIQUE CLOCK & WATCH REPAIR AND RESTORATION

Also Barometers, music boxes, dial/case restoration, pinions/wheels cut.

FREE ESTIMATES, COLLECTION & DELIVERY 16 MARKET PLACE, HEXHAM patrols and minefields and set out for Scotland. The first sight of land had been the castle looming out of the dawn.

They were hungry, dehydrated and sea-sick, but soon recovered when they were taken to the Lindisfarne Hotel and given a hot breakfast, dry clothes and cigarettes.

The Norwegian Free Forces in Britain were alerted.

That night, a coded message informed the Norwegian Resistance of their safe arrival. Sadly, four of the five later died in action with the Norwegian forces, one serving in a Spitfire squadron. A memorial seat presented to the island in 2010 by their families is sited near the spot along the castle road where they came ashore.

The wartime annals of Norway are filled with similar attempted escapes. Tragically, many small boats simply vanished, the North Sea proving an even deadlier enemy than the Germans.

The strangest tale of all involves the Snook witch, who sometime in the 1930s lived in a makeshift hut in the dunes.

Her supposedly supernatural powers enabled her to cross from the mainland at high tide. Yes, she really could walk on water – but only with the aid of stilts. But seen from a distance, she seemed to be defying all natural laws and her antics made a big impression on the young and excitable minds of island children. No-one seems to know where she came from and, indeed, where she went when she vanished from the island. Whatever the case, she can’t have been all that scary, because older islanders recall their mothers telling them that they used to call in to see her and have a chat and a cup of tea.

Next time you visit Holy Island, it’s worth making a short diversion into the free parking area at the Snook and visiting the North Shore. The Snook itself has a wonderful assembly of wild flowers, which are a subject for a future edition. For now, the witch will suffice.

01434 602 106 (MONDAY-SATURDAY – CLOSED THURSDAY)

WOODHEAD HOLIDAY COTTAGES Brinkburn, Nr Rothbury, Northumberland

Traditional stone cottages in a perfect country setting only a short drive from the coast. Five star gold award for excellence.

Welcome Breakfast Hamper included.

Book online via our website www.woodheadholidaycottages.co.uk.

Tel 01665 570734 Email patricia@woodheadholidaycottages.co.uk

(Est 1984)

Warkworth.

Telephone: (01665) 711 488

We offer a taste of rural Northumbrian produce and excellent professional home cooking.

Times of opening ~ Sunday: 12.00 noon-2.00 pm.

We serve a traditional roast beef lunch (Booking is advisable).

Monday we are closed all day.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday we are open from 10.30 am for coffee, lunch, teas and dinners.

Thursday we are open for coffee and lunch.

The Jackdaw has been established by Rupert and Gillian since 1984.

Our warmest welcome is assured when visiting Warkworth and The Jackdaw.

Books & CD’s We have a fantastic range of books and CD’s avaialble to order today!

Visit https://www.thenorthumbrian.co.uk/shop/ or call 01661 845 020 for more information

The Northumbrian

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PAUL STANGROOM FINE ART GALLERY

YVONNE PARR: HEAVEN, HELL & EARTH 7 MARCH - 10 MAY 2020 OPEN WED-SUN, 11AM-4PM

Wild Landscapes of Northumberland & Beyond

45 FRONT STREET, PRUDHOE, NE42 5DB OPEN DAILY, VISITORS WELCOME +44 (0)7968 990552 WWW.PAULSTANGROOM.CO.UK

COME & VISIT US IN THE BEAUTIFUL VILLAGE OF FELTON!

THE GRANARY GALLERY, 2ND FLOOR, BERWICK YHA, DEWAR’S LANE, BERWICK-UPON-TWEED TD15 1HJ

dockside G

A

L

L

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Y

ART GALLERY, GIFTS, COFFEE & CAKE, WORKSHOPS, STUDIOS

45 MAIN ST, FELTON WWW.FELTONGALLERY45.CO.UK 01670 783 424

PASTEL PAINTINGS - ART WORKSHOPS - EXHIBITIONS TEL:

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07957 258452 • www.fionacarvell.com EMAIL: fionacarvellart@outlook.com

The Northumbrian

In the picture Join us on a tour of some of the region’s most renowned artists and galleries, and gain a new perspective on life. And for those staying at home during these troubled times, visit the websites below for mail order shopping

Lindsay Madden FIONA CARVELL FINE ART Fiona Carvell’s work captures nature in vibrant pieces where colour, structure, texture and light reflect weather, temperature and a sense of space. Fiona is an Associate Artist of Unison Colour soft pastels, handmade by a small family-run company in Tarset, north of Hexham, and as such, she has her own pastel set named after her. Fiona gained international recognition in February 2020 when she exhibited in the 121st Annual exhibition of The Pastel Society in London, where she was awarded the prestigious Royal Talens/ Rembrandt Award.

She works from her home studio in Shotley Bridge, exhibits regularly and runs workshops in pastel and drawing at venues across the region. www.fionacarvell.com

DOCKSIDE GALLERY Dockside Gallery presents an ever-changing collection of original paintings, prints and cards, plus gifts including ceramics and jewellery. Located on Berwick’s Lowry Trail, the new Spring Exhibition at this small independent gallery features new work by contemporary artists including Lindsay Madden, Malcolm Taylor, Basia Roszak, Gillian Murray, and Nicole Stevenson. Dockside Gallery is by the dock on the corner of Main Street and Kiln Hill in Tweedmouth, just over the old bridge from Berwick on the way to Spittal Beach and the coastal route to Lindisfarne. It offers a worldwide mail order service. Dockside Gallery, Main Street, Tweedmouth TD15 2AA, tel 01289 302 437, www.docksidegallery.co.uk

GALLERY FORTY5 Gallery Forty5 is housed in a former village pub, transformed into an arts centre comprising two gallery and exhibition spaces, and a gift shop with cosy fireside seating, coffee and cake. It is home to eight artists’ studios and the exhibition spaces are available to hire for events, celebrations, corporate meetings and more. There is a programme of activities including painting, sewing and print workshops, plus events and concerts. Many of the resident artists also run workshops from their studios. Gallery 45, 45 Main Street, Felton NE65 9PP, tel 01670 783 424, www.feltongallery45.co.uk

MICK OXLEY GALLERY Landscape artist Mick Oxley is based in the seaside village of Craster, a location which inspires much of his work, which is held in galleries and private collections around the world.

Open seven days a week, Mick’s studio and gallery features original paintings, prints, cards, jewellery, photography, glass, ceramics, textiles, candles and gift vouchers. Visitors can meet him in the gallery, where he creates watercolour and acrylic seascapes which depict the changing weather, scudding clouds and roll of the sea. Mick Oxley Gallery, The Joiners Shop, 17 Haven Hill, Craster, NE66 3TR, tel 01665 571 082 www.mickoxley.com

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YVONNE PARR: HEAVEN, HELL & EARTH Yvonne Parr’s paintings reflect life through landscape and people and are filled with black humour, pathos, love and metamorphosis. Unusual perspectives and hidden writing draw the viewer to make their own story. Her new exhibition, Heaven, Hell & Earth, at the Granary Gallery, Berwick includes paintings inspired by the books of Cormac McCarthy and Patrick White and from time spent living in Istanbul and Berwick. Yvonne Parr: Heaven, Hell & Earth, The Granary Gallery, Berwick YHA, Dewar’s Lane, Berwick, until May 7 tel 01289 330 999, TD15 1HJ, www.yvonneparr.doomby.com

PHILLIPS CREATIVE STUDIO/GALLERY The work of renowned Northumberland artist Peter Phillips, who has a studio/gallery at Kirkharle Courtyard and a gallery at Bamburgh Castle, distills a blend of fine art with the commercial. As the Duke of Northumberland has written: “[His] skill with pen, pencil and paintbrush effectively captures the ancient buildings, the far horizons, the brooding northern skies and the varied flora and fauna within this glorious landscape.”

Peter’s collection include paintings and prints of Hadrian’s Wall, Alnwick and Bamburgh castles, Berwick, Lindisfarne, Warkworth, Craster, Dunstanburgh Castle and Cragside. He has made exquisite studies of birds and animals, and accomplished life drawings. He is usually on hand in his studio and is pleased to tell visitors about his work, including the new 17-metre Bamburgh Mural depicting the history and people of Bamburgh Castle. Kirkharle Court Yard, Kirkwhelpington, NE19 2PE tel 01830 540 124, www.peterphillipsart.co.uk

Band of Brothers, Leonard David Dobson PAUL STANGROOM FINE ART GALLERY After a lifetime painting in the North East, France, the Himalayas and New Zealand, Paul Stangroom opened his gallery in Prudhoe five years ago, converting a derelict launderette into a gallery and bed & breakfast. He is best known for his landscape paintings of the North Pennines, often viewed through windows of abandoned farm houses and cottages, and for work depicting the de-industrialisation of the region. Paul paints and runs art classes from his gallery in Prudhoe, where you can see his originals, prints, cards, books and gifts featuring his work. Travel and architecture inspire him and some prints are accompanied by poems written by his friend, the poet Noel Connor. Paul Stangroom Fine Art Gallery, 45 Front Street, Prudhoe, tel 07968 990 552 www.paulstangroom.co.uk

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WALLINGTON GALLERY Wallington Gallery in Bishop’s Yard, off Main Street, Corbridge, specialises in fine British and European art. Oil paintings and watercolours range from the Victorian period to the present day with a fine collection of Mining, Industrial and Northern Art by popular local artists including Ronald Lambert Moore, Bill Hindmarsh, Edward Tibbs, Anthony Hall, Peter Flanagan and Kevin Day. Traditional and contemporary art is available alongside original paintings and sculptures, art restoration and framing. Further work by renowned names including John Falconer Slater, Victor Noble Rainbird and more are for sale, works are all sold fully framed and postage and packing is free worldwide. Wallington Gallery, Bishops Yard, Main Street Corbridge, NE45 5LA, 01434 633 663 www.thewallingtongallery.co.uk

The Northumbrian

The Wallington Gallery Fine British & European Paintings Mining, Industrial and Northern Art Centre

The Mick Oxley Gallery www.mickoxley.com

Old North Shields

by Victor Noble Rainbird Watercolour

Easy Rider

by Edward Tibbs Pastel on paper

Gallery opening times: Tue, Thu, Fri 10:30am - 4pm, Sat 10:30am - 5pm Sun 12:30pm - 4pm The Wallington Gallery within Lawrence Stephenson Antiques

Bishops Yard, Corbridge, Northumberland NE45 5LA www.thewallingtongallery.co.uk Email: enquiries@thewallingtongallery.co.uk Telephone: 01434 633 663 • Mob: 07572 684189

Original paintings and bespoke gifts inspired by the sea Open 7 days per week throughout the year

17 Haven Hill, Craster, Northumberland, NE66 3TR 01665 571082 info@mickoxley.com

mickoxleygallery

@mickoxley @SeaWindowCraster

Peter Phillips ~ An Artist’s View THE GALLERIES OF NORTHUMBERLAND

Bamburgh

Kirkharle

Celebrating 10 years within the magnificent Bamburgh Castle, our stunning new gallery is now open.

Our well established Kirkharle gallery is open daily, set in glorious Northumberland countryside.

Bamburgh Castle, Bamburgh NE69 7DF Tel 01668 214208

Phillips Creative Kirkharle Courtyard, NE19 2PE Tel 01830 540124

Phillips Creative Email info@phillips-creative.co.uk Visit our website at peterphillipsart.co.uk Online store etsy.com/uk/shop/PeterPhillipsArt

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In search of the perfect chip DEAN BAILEY heads to a Northumberland family farm to find chipped potato perfection

D

ebate has raged for a long time in our kitchen at home about the qualities of the perfect chip.

Some argue for fries – skinny, crisp and small enough to be eaten by the handful.

Others champion the chunkier variety – fluffy in the centre and triple-cooked for a deeply flavoured, dark golden exterior.

Unable to find a consensus, we decided to pass the question on to an expert - fourth-generation potato farmer Mark Robson of Particularly Good Potatoes in Wooler.

The man leading the Messrs Robson potato business and a new venture, Particularly Good Potatoes, which produces chipped products for restaurants and chippies, is following in the footsteps of his parents Judy and Mark and drawing on the knowledge of his great-grandmother, who started growing potatoes during the war. He’s also working with his children, Will, Kitty and Alastair, passing on that knowledge to the next generation of Robsons.

For Mark, there are key elements for a good chip. First are the seeds. The ones grown on the family’s farms in North Northumberland are of five varieties, each chosen for taste, texture and colour when fried. They’re planted in March and April and harvested in September and October.

Each variety’s journey from storage to chipping production line is based on its unique ageing process. Some can be picked from the field, processed, chipped

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and bagged within 10 minutes, while others need to be stored and chipped later. The combination of varieties provides a consistent product throughout the year.

Mark’s inherited 90-plus years of growing knowledge is essential, as is the North Northumberland farmland where the potatoes are grown. The varieties grown here, particularly those destined to be chipped, would struggle further north than the Forth Bridge and fail to thrive in the shorter summer days of southern England.

While that knowledge, and an enviable location, gives Mark’s potatoes a head start, a drive here to make chipped products more environmentally friendly is a big selling point too.

Potatoes grown on the farms here can be processed and packaged metres from the field. Particularly Good potatoes travel direct from field to storage, and 100 metres from there to the chipping operation to be washed, chipped and bagged ready for delivery to restaurants and chip shops.

The chipping plant also manages the starch which escapes during the process, capturing it to be spread on fields as fertiliser or fed to cattle as a supplement. Peelings are delivered next door to Doddington Farm, home of renowned cheese and ice cream, where they are used for feed, while water is put through a hydro-cyclone to remove the

The Northumbrian

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starch before being stored and used for fertigation on the fields.

“The environmental impact of potatoes can be huge,” says Mark. “Many businesses import a product from Spain, Egypt or Canada which is often grown using exported seeds which are exactly the same as we use here.

“Even for us, a large amount of our crop travels to be processed and packaged; but doing some of that ourselves can make a difference to the environment and our local economy.

“We’ve also got the benefit of all our team walking the 400 yards to work from Wooler – it doesn’t get much more local than that.”

So we’ve found perfect potatoes and chipped them – what about cooking them? Mark and his team have tried many methods, sometimes multiple ones on the same potato. Mark’s favourite is a 20mm chunky chip, triple-cooked as at the The Potted Lobster, Bamburgh. Operations manager Barbara Morris prefers a 14mm chip cooked once and quickly, as at Trenchers in The Spanish City, Whitley Bay. Business development manager Jack Cuddigan likes a chunky 20mm chip cooked two or three times.

Since production started in April 2019, some 20% of Robson’s potatoes have been distributed from Wooler as chipped products. That’s a lot of chips grown and chipped in Northumberland rather than shipped here.

We may not have reached a consensus on the best chip, but we do have perfect potatoes to try all the options with.

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The Northumbrian

Make the most of potatoes

by Jane Pikett

The potato is a glorious thing indeed. Chipped, mashed, curried, baked, creamed or crisped, I could live on potatoes alone; their numerous varieties, from waxy to fluffy, Russet to Red Gold, Purple Majesty to Yukon Gold making the humble spud one of our most versatile ingredients. But how to get the best out of the potato? Try these simple tips...

Best jackets Use starchy potatoes such as russets, Maris Piper, King Edward or Marfona and always bake in the oven (microwaved jacket spuds are nothing like the real thing). Dry the skin thoroughly after washing (dry equals crisp), prick with a fork to allow steam to escape during cooking, rub all over with olive oil and sea salt and bake at 200C/Gas 6 for 60-90 mins. Serve with masses of salted Irish butter for the purest experience.

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Friendly, family run shop in the heart of North Northumberland and the Scottish Borders Cosy coffee shop, quality home baking & speciality cream teas Packed lunches & hot snacks made to order Off-licence, grocers & newsagents

Find us on Facebook Main Street, Cornhill on Tweed, Northumberland TD12 4UH Tel: 01890 883313

Excellent delicatessen with a wide variety of local produce

www.cornhillvillageshop.co.uk

Luxury Hampers with local produce, wines & chocolates

Fish M erchants and Curers

Specialities

Oak Smoked Salmon and ‘The Famous Craster Kipper’ In our shop you will find all types of seafood and local produce available all year round. Mail order available.

CRAST ER, NORT H UM BERL AND NE66 3T R. Tel: (01665) 576 223. Fax: (01665) 576 044.

E-mail: sales@kipper.co.uk Website: kipper.co.uk

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THE BEST ABERDEEN ANGUS BEEF, QUALITY MEAT, FRESH VEGETABLES & HOMEMADE PRODUCE.

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Real roasts I thought I knew about roast potatoes until I met my husband and he passed on his late mother’s secret ingredient – semolina.

I haven’t made roasties without it since. Here’s the script – take floury potatoes, peel and par boil for about 15 mins until tender but holding their shape. Drain and leave to cool in a colander.

Spread out on a clean worktop, sprinkle with semolina to coat on all sides. Melt coconut oil or goose fat in a roasting tray over a medium heat until smoking, add potatoes and brown on all sides.

Put in a hot oven for 45 mins or so until crisp and golden.

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THE VERY BEST QUALITY FROM NORTHUMBERLAND FARMS

• National Meat Products Gold Award Winners

“We pride ourselves on the quality and service”

• Home-made sausages and burgers • Home-cured bacon • Home-baked pies and pasties

• Specialist supplier to hotels, pubs, restaurants and retail

Front Street, Longframlington, Morpeth Tel: 01665 570253

Delicious dauphinoise

Open 6 days a week (half days Wed & Sat, closed Sundays) www.greenbutcher.co.uk

The best dauphinoise MUST include cream and full fat milk, no argument. Simmer 500ml of each in a pan with 3 or 4 garlic cloves, add 1.5kg finely sliced potatoes (King Edwards or Maris Piper), simmer for another 3 mins or so until becoming tender.

Place in an ovenproof dish, scatter with grated gruyère cheese and bake for 30 mins or so at 190C/Gas 5 until browned.

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W. S. Robson’s Chips!

The only way is to triple cook. First, cut Maris Piper or Maris Bard potatoes into chips and rinse under cold water until the water runs clear to remove starch. Bring to a simmer in a pan of cold water and cook until softening but firm. Drain and refrigerate for 1 hour. Deep fry at 180C for 8 mins, remove and refrigerate for at least 30 mins. Deep fry again for 5 mins or until crisp and golden. Drain on kitchen paper and serve with lots of salt.

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Established 1948

Horncliffe, Berwick upon Tweed, Northumberland TD15 2XT

Visitor Centre

& Vintage Vehicle Museum

Open 7 Days 10am - 5pm Cafe closed Mondays (except Bank Holidays)

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FROM A CURTAIN HOOK TO A THREE PIECE SUITE PEC offer an individual service for the upholstery & soft furnishing market. Our hardwood frames can be individually tailored to customers’ sizes and covered in a wide range of materials.

Our re-upholstery service gives new life to “tired” furniture, repairing frames where necessary and upholstering to the same standard as our new furniture.

We have brought together a seemingly endless collection of upholstery and soft furnishing supplies for the discerning customer.

Call at our showroom and take your time to browse through fabrics, wallpapers, trimmings and accessories.

News New High Sherriff

Miki and Tom Fairfax (photo: Linn Williams)

Open: Mon-Thurs 9.30am-5pm Fri 9.30am-2.30pm Sat 9.30am-12 noon

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The Queen has appointed Mindrum farmer Tom Fairfax the next High Sheriff of Northumberland (writes Alan Hughes).

The Office of High Sheriff, which dates to Saxon times, is an independent, non-political Royal appointment for one year. Its duties include supporting the Crown and judiciary, and encouraging crime prevention agencies, the emergency services, the voluntary sector, community foundations and local charities. The High Sheriff receives no remuneration, no part of the expense falls on the public purse and Tom’s theme for his year is highlighting the work of volunteers in Northumberland.

Tom is married to Miki, they have two children and run a mixed farm at Mindrum on the northern edge of The Cheviots, balancing commercial sheep, cattle, arable and forestry enterprises with environmental and ecological projects. Tom has also worked in information security since the early 1990s, following service with the army in armoured reconnaissance. Since 2000, he has been a member of the Land Information Assurance Group, (LIAG) which has provided the army’s principal cyber security capability for 15 years.

He is involved in initiatives across the public, private and charity sectors and in his spare time he paints watercolours, plays the ukulele and the Northumbrian smallpipes. Tom has appointed Alice Robinson as his personal piper, Harry Chrisp as his Under Sheriff, and his friend and former military colleague Canon Alan Hughes as his Chaplain.

The heat is on

a family saga. a mining disASter. a northern history AVAILABLE ONLINE FROM ALL GOOD BOOKSHOPS

WWW.BOOKGUILD.CO.UK

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A government ban on polluting heating fuel is benefiting mental health charity Blyth Star Enterprises, which has seen a surge in inquiries for its sustainably sourced dry logs.

The use of coal and wet wood in homes is banned from February 2021, prompting a rise in inquiries at the charity’s Woodfuel Centre in Bedlington, which offers ‘Ready to Burn’ certified logs. Profits enable Blyth Star to offer support and training for more than 350 people with mental health issues and learning disabilities, helping them to acquire life skills and vocational qualifications, and work towards independent living.

Woodfuel Centre manager Neil Hedley said: “We deliver and supply over 400 tonnes of dry logs each year to customers from Berwick to North Tyneside. People can make a valued contribution to a local charity by buying dry logs from us.”

The Northumbrian

Books & CD’s More to come from author

North East-born poet and author Bruce Harris has revealed that he has already finished a sequel to his first novel, Howell Grange, which is set in Northumberland and currently riding high in both high street and online sales.

Howell Grange, which follows the complex lives of a Victorian northern mine-owning family, is Bruce’s seventh book and follows award-winning collections of short stories and poetry. “I have already written a sequel, plus I have a new collection of short stories and another novel, probably best described as a contemporary thriller, to come,” said Bruce. “Many things inspire me to write; some historical, some comical; people I’ve known or places I’ve visited. Howell Grange might ambitiously be said to be the northern Downton Abbey.” The book is a family saga following the fortunes of the mine-owning George Howell, his aristocratic wife Elizabeth and their five children, whose lives take an unexpected and dramatic turn when a knife-wielding miner breaks into the family home and accuses one of the family of murder. Told in five parts spanning 1844-1866, it has placed a renewed spotlight on the author, who grew up in the North East and now lives in Devon.

To the pub!

Some of our region’s finest dining pubs are celebrating new awards.

The Staith House, North Shields is at no.13 in the Estrella Damm Top 50 Gastropubs for 2020.

The Rat Inn, Hexham is at 15 and The Broad Chare, Newcastle is at 30. The Feathers Inn, Hedley on the Hill, receives a Food Award in the new Good Pub Guide, appearing alongside The Duke of Wellington, Newton; The Lord Crewe Arms, Blanchland; The Rat Inn, Hexham; and The Barrasford Arms, Barrasford in the guide.

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We have a fantastic range of books and CD’s avaialble to order today!

Visit https://www.thenorthumbrian.co.uk/shop/ or call 01661 845 020 for more information

The Feathers Inn, Hedley on the Hill

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Author’s award for inspiring adventure

Northumberland children’s author Chloe Daykin’s third novel, Fire Girl, Forest Boy, has been named the Gandys Children’s Travel Book of the Year in the prestigious Edward Stanford Awards, which celebrate the best travel writing in the world.

The award, for work which inspires a love of travel, exploration and adventure, was presented to Chloe at a ceremony in London, where her book was praised for its remarkable story “about light, magic, belief, and unlocking potential”.

Chloe, who lives in Hexham, is

also the critically acclaimed author of Fish Boy, and The Boy Who Hit Play and was named a Waterstone’s Word of Mouth Sensation earlier this year.

Fire Girl, Forest Boy, set in the Peruvian rainforest, is the story of two children, one running away, one running home. Tensions rise as ancient myth meets modern life in an extraordinary story, which transports the reader to a far-flung world.

Chloe is an artist, designer, playwright and teacher and works with schools in bringing literature to life for children, particularly for those with limited access to books. Her debut, Fish Boy, won the Northern Writers’ Award and gained widespread critical acclaim. Her second work, The Boy Who Hit Play, was inspired by Chloe’s travels in Norway and, like Fire Girl, Forest Boy, transport the reader to far-flung lands.

Of her award, Chloe said: “I’m absolutely thrilled. I love the idea that everyone can be transported to different places through the power of reading, and this award recognises that. Hurrah for armchair travel!”

Big shots set to gather at Bywell The prestigious ICTSF World DTL Clay Pigeon Shooting Championships are scheduled to come to Bywell Shooting Ground in Northumberland in July.

Down the Line (DTL) shooting is a particular discipline of clay pigeon shooting. The event will see competitors from all over the world, including from Australia and New Zealand, gather for a week of shooting incorporating the highly anticipated titles of English and British Opens as well as the World DTL competition itself. Sponsorship from cartridge manufacturers, gun manufacturers and importers has provided for a prize fund in excess of £30,000.

Professional • Local • Trusted Tel: 01670 512275

Pets

Exotics

Equine

Pets - Equine - Farm Animal - Exotics - Hydrotherapy 24 hour emergency cover Whorral Bank Veterinary Hospital, Morpeth, Northumberland NE61 3BN www.robsonprescott.co.uk Branch surgeries at Alnwick, Ashington, Bedlington, Blyth, Morpeth town centre, Seaton Delaval and West Moor

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The Northumbrian

Book reviews

By STEWART BONNEY NON-FICTION

NEWCASTLE AND TYNESIDE IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR THE PEOPLE’S STORY

By Neil R Storey and Fiona Kay Publisher, Newcastle Libraries (www.tynebridgepublishing.org.uk) Hardback £11.99 The People’s Story is told through contemporary reports, previously unpublished first-hand accounts, rare photographs and memorabilia. They combine to present a unique and moving account of the experiences of people on the home front and on active service.

Planning for the evacuation of thousands of schoolchildren from towns and cities began many months before the outbreak of war in September 1939, by which time some 50,000 children were evacuated to country areas for their safety.

Other air raid precautions involved a detailed plan which calculated the number of civilian shelters that would be required.

It was estimated that there was a need for 220,000 domestic shelters in Newcastle, enough public shelters for 33,000 people, and 67,000 garden shelters.

The first German bombing raid on Tyneside did not come until July 1940 when a single Dornier dropped three bombs on Jarrow, killing 14 people and injuring 120. The first daylight mass bombing raid targeting Tyneside, which involved up to 200 Luftwaffe aircraft, came the following month. But the area was saved from considerable death and destruction by intensive anti-aircraft fire and the bravery of RAF Spitfire and Hurricane pilots who destroyed or crippled 75 German planes.

Early in September, a night raid on

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Newcastle carried out by 25 German bombers proved much more costly, with 49 people killed, 71 seriously injured and more than 1,000 left homeless.

Further chapters record the important military contribution of the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, the Tyneside Scottish Battalion of the DLI, and stories about Tyneside men who saw action with the Royal Navy, including the Dunkirk evacuation. Local RAF heroes celebrated in the book include Pilot Officer Ivan Whittaker from Wallsend, who was awarded a DFC for his part in the Dambusters raid.

Many Tyneside men served in the Merchant Navy, which lost some 32,000 men on convoy duties. South Shields had a greater number of dry docks and repair facilities than any other town in the country, and when the First Lord of the Admiralty, Albert Alexander, visited in 1944, he paid tribute to local merchant seamen, declaring: “More sons of South Shields have paid the supreme sacrifice in service under the Red Ensign than from any other town in the country.”

There are chapters about the Home Guard and the secret Auxiliary Units known as Churchill’s Secret Army. These groups of up to ten men operated from underground bases around Northumberland and were trained to fight a guerrilla war against German invaders.

Women played a vital part, running voluntary services and taking over men’s roles on the railways and in munitions and armaments factories. Others joined the Northumberland Women’s Land Army, while one of the specialist jobs undertaken by some was visiting farms in two-women mobile rat-catching teams.

THE MAN BEHIND THE TUDORS THOMAS HOWARD 2nd DUKE OF NORFOLK

by Kirsten Claiden-Yardley Published by Pen & Sword Books www.pen-and-sword.co.uk Hardback £19.99 This loyal supporter of the Tudors served as an administrator, diplomat and soldier for 35 years, earning his place in Northumberland history when, at the age of 70, he led an English army to victory against Scottish invaders at the Battle of Flodden in 1513.

He lived through the reigns of six kings, two of his grandchildren, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, became wives of Henry VIII, and his great granddaughter was to rule as Queen Elizabeth I. Thomas was first sent north by Henry VII in July 1497, where he was to confront James IV of Scotland whose army had laid siege to Norham Castle. When the Scottish king was warned of the approach of an English army he fled back to Scotland.

Henry VIII also entrusted the defence of the northern borderlands to Thomas, who he appointed Lord General of the North with orders to once again prepare for a Scottish military incursion. In 1512, he formed an army of around 30,000 men, including forces under Henry Percy, the 5th Earl of Northumberland.

The much-anticipated Scottish invasion arrived on August 22, when James crossed the River Tweed at Coldstream and rode into England at the head of a massive army of some 40,000 men. He again besieged Norham Castle, whose defenders surrendered after five days, and he then proceeded to take the castles of Ford and Etal.

Thomas, at the head of an English army of between 26,000 and 30,000 men, swiftly travelled north, and the two armies came face to face on September 9 – the Scots positioned on Flodden Hill and the English lined up on Branxton Hill to the north.

The battle was vicious and bloody. By nightfall the Scottish army had suffered a terrible defeat. Between 10,000 and 15,000 of its soldiers died, including King James, the Archbishop of St. Andrews, 12 earls and

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14 lords. In recognition of Thomas’s role as commander of the victorious army, Henry VIII gave him the title of Duke of Norfolk the following year. He died aged 81 in 1524, having outlived five English kings.

CROMWELL’S CONVICTS THE DEATH MARCH FROM DUNBAR 1650

by John Sadler and Rosie Serdiville Published by Pen & Sword Books www.pen-and-sword.co.uk Hardback £19.99 The aftermath of this Civil War battle in Scotland resulted in what was for many thousands of defeated Scottish soldiers a week-long death march through Northumberland to Durham city.

Cromwell’s army had killed at least 1,000 men and captured around 6,000 young soldiers and camp followers after the battle on September 3, 1650. Badly wounded men were released, but Cromwell decided the other prisoners of war would be a source of cheap labour if they were transported to the American Colonies.

He ordered that these battle survivors - about 5,500 men - be marched south to Berwick and then on through Belford, Alnwick, Morpeth, Newcastle and Chesterle-Street to Durham city before being sent to ports in southern England.

It was a cold September, the prisoners were at times forced to sleep in the open without shelter, they were given no food or medical care and little water, and many hundreds died on the forced march south.

It is known that more than 50 were buried at Berwick and an unknown number died in Morpeth after eating raw cabbages and roots. How many died during the march is not known, but it is thought that only 3,500 men reached Durham, and in a short

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space of time, a further 1,700 died there from starvation, fever or dysentery and were probably buried in pits near Durham Castle. In 2013, archaeologists uncovered a mass grave containing the remains of 28 individuals on Palace Green.

REIVERS CYCLE ROUTES Compiled by Ted Liddle Published by Northern Heritage www.northern-heritage.co.uk Official waterproof map £9.99 21 years after mapping the classic Reivers Cycle Route which stretches from east to west coasts and explores spectacular landscapes between northern England and Scotland, Ted Liddle has updated his guide.

It comprises two inter-twining routes; a 100% road route which covers some 170 miles from Tynemouth to Maryport, and a new 157-mile off-road route. It utilises miles of tracks, old drove roads and bridleways linked by country lanes. Ted estimates it should take fit cyclists three days to cover the road route and a further day for those following the off-road route.

state school. Roy Todd covers the period 1958 to 2008 - a period when the school transformed from a girl’s selective secondary grammar school to a fully comprehensive, co-educational institution.

MATRONS OF NEWCASTLE INFIRMARY 1751 – 1976

By Anne Craft Published by Newcastle Libraries, Tyne Bridge Publishing and also available from the author (email a.w.craft@ncl.ac.uk) Softback £7.99 Over this 225-year period, a total of 22 women served as matrons, first at the old infirmary on Forth Banks and then at the Royal Victoria Infirmary.

The author was director of nursing at the RVI between 1986 and 1994 and has been chair of the RVI Nurses’ League since 1987.

POETRY

A HISTORY OF THE DUCHESS’S SCHOOL, ALNWICK

by Anne Littlejohn and Roy Todd Published by Roy Todd Softback £7.99 Anne Littlejohn covers the history of the school from 1808, when it opened as Duchess Julia’s private independent school, to 1958 when it was a Northumberland County Council

THE IRON BOOK OF TREE POETRY Edited by Eileen Jones and Peter Mortimer Published by Iron Press www.ironpress.co.uk Softback £9 Acknowledged poets such as Jacob Polley, Linda France, Katrina Porteous, Peter Bennet, Kate Fox and Carole Bromley are joined by more than 40 other fine versifiers for this timely collection of poems that acknowledge, celebrate and respond to trees in a wide variety of styles. The collection includes a foreword by celebrated writer, woodsman and traveller Max Adams.

The Northumbrian

The Northumbrian Readers Guide to Barter Books-No.2

First the Poster - Now the Film!

Ever since the original ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ wartime poster was discovered folded in a box of books Barter Books had purchased from auction in 2000, we have never failed to be amazed by its impact - even to the extent that it is now recognized as one of the great iconic images of the 21st century.

Still less did we dream that when we released an iPhone App with a 3-minute documentary video telling the story of the poster’s genesis and re-discovery within Barter Books that it would go viral on YouTube.

Filmed for us by a talented young London filmmaker, Temujin Doran, the video has now been watched by over a million people around the world.

If you would like to watch the video, just go to our website at www.barterbooks.co.uk or do a search for Barter Books on YouTube. Enjoy!

Barter Books

Alnwick Station, Northumberland NE66 2NP www.barterbooks.co.uk Tel: 01665 604888

One of the largest secondhand bookshops in Britain

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Feedback Our loyal readers get in touch with us in multiple ways, from Facebook to phone calls, emails to good old traditional pen and paper.

Whichever way you wish to get in touch, we love hearing from you.

Here are some of your comments since the last edition.

We look forward to hearing from you when you’ve read this one…

On the phone Our thanks to Mrs Williams from Ovington, who rang to renew her subscription for three years. She said she would like to congratulate The Northumbrian “on a great start to 2020 - all of the articles in the current issue are interesting and informative”, she said, “and long may The Northumbian prosper!”

Facebook

@DarrenChapmanPhotography Our thanks to Darren Chapman who sent us this stunning photo of Spittal Beach at sunrise via Facebook @Janet Archer We buy subscription every year. Living in the Midlands it is a great way to enjoy a county we can no longer travel to

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@St Bede, The Old Mill Prosecco by Sainsbury’s Chocolates by Lindt Flowers by Marks and Spencer Magazine by The Northumbrian Magazine Hospitality by us!

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@CaroleW Productions & Events Thanks to our friends at the gorgeous hug of a publication, The Northumbrian Magazine for this lovely feature on Melanie Gall Presents’ impending trip to our region - a micro tour of some of our most historic venues.

Melanie appeared in Newcastle for one day only last year, and during the whistle-stop tour I gave her of the region she used the immortal line, “its not what I expected’! All we Northerners know what that means!

Thus we determined to set up a tour for her of the wider region, taking in some of our most historic and unusual venues and letting her in to the secret of what a great place this is and just how beautiful (she’s sworn to secrecy of course!)

Reader, I promised her daffodils and lambs as well... Everything crossed!

Carole x

Letters Dear Sirs, I have been receiving the Northumbrian for many years and have always read it from cover to cover. I felt I just had to write to you all, because your issue 174 Feb/March has been transformed. It’s brilliant. I always read it pretty quickly but this issue was just magic and I was bowled over. What with hedgehogs courtesy of Mike Pratt, and Chris Scaife with his Borderlands bothies bicycling bonanza, plus our great John Grundy, I’m gobsmacked!! I might be 86 years young, but I can’t get enough of your magazine. 100 out of 100!

Yours sincerely, Mrs June O’Keefe, Cramlington

GET IN TOUCH

We love hearing from you here at The Northumbrian HQ in Stocksfield, Northumberland. Here’s how to get in touch: Post: The Northumbrian, Offstone Publishing, Unit 1, Bearl Farm, Stocksfield, Northumberland, NE43 7AL Email: editor@thenorthumbrian.co.uk Facebook: @NorthumbrianMagazine Phone: 01661 844 115

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GIve us a call on 01661 845 020 or visit https://www.thenorthumbrian.co.uk/subscriptions/

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Take a walk...

At the time of writing, all but the most vulnerable and in isolation can still go for a walk. Our thanks to Steve Newman for this beautiful circular route exploring Newton by the Sea and Low Newton INFORMATION MAP: OS Landranger 75: Explorer 340 PARKING: Turn off the B1339 just north of Embleton signposted for Newton. Just before you enter the village there is a free car park for about 40 cars. You can also take the right-hand fork in the village and after 300 yards there is free parking on the left for some six cars. There is a pay and display car park 150 yards above Low Newton.

FACILITIES: Public toilets in Low Newton, food available in pubs.

TIME: Approximately 2 hours. Please note the walk can be extremely muddy and wet in places.

DISABLED ACCESS: The hide at Low Newton is accessed by a path that is suitable for wheelchairs. As you arrive at the square in Low Newton from the pay and display car park, take the right-hand turn, following the road behind the square by the National Trust information board. This ½ mile walk to Newton Pool hide has a surfaced track suitable for wheelchairs. There is an excellent new hide which has a ramp for disabled access.

PILLBOX: It is known that there was an officer in charge of defensive structures in this area of Northumberland who had his own ideas regarding pillboxes, and there are several types here only found in the county. The “Fisherman’s Friend” shaped ones at Dunstanburgh Castle are examples of this. The dog leg entrance corridor of the pill box encountered on this walk is to make it easy to keep invading Germans out. For more information, visit www.pillbox-study-group.org.uk/gazetteersubsite/ pillbox-e23937-north-farm-embleton FURTHER INFORMATION: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/embleton-and-newton-links

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The Northumbrian

This circular walk starts in the car park just past Newton Hall, a late 18th Century house built for Joseph Forster which is now a popular wedding venue. It is a good idea to have a look at the hall as it plays a part in the history of the walk more of which later.

Take the public footpath that leads south-westwards from the car park until you come to a sharp left turn and head due south. About ½ mile on you will find the Old Quarry House to your left and the path turns sharply to the right to pass some old ruins and scrub.

The fields in this section can attract waders such as redshank and ringed plover and if you scan towards the railway line you may see buzzards overhead and hares running in the field.

The path dips slightly and you will come to a gateway beneath a small hillock. Follow the path up the hill and keep the gorse bushes hugging your right. You will soon discover yourself walking southwards along a ridge known as Kirk Dyke and from here Dunstaburgh Castle and the National Trust Newton Pools and Embleton Links Nature Reserve can be observed on the coast.

The path then takes a short steep climb to what is marked on the maps as Kelsoe Hill - stop here and soak in the views and check the area either side of the downward slope for stonechats.

At the bottom of the slope, turn left on what now becomes a broad, well-kept track and slowly descend as you start to

walk eastwards towards the coast. At a turn in the track you will find a picnic table and behind that a very rare example of a World War II pillbox.

Do stop and have a look inside this almost unique element of Northumberland’s World War II history.

Unlike many others, it is built almost into the hill side to avoid detection from above, and it is in itself a fascinating relic, complete with dog leg-shaped entrance to keep the enemy at bay.

The path now leads between fields and onto the edge of the golf club and a

view over the pools northwards towards Low Newton and the old coastguard/ radar station on Newton Point.

You now have a choice whether to go straight ahead and on the beach and continue your walk that way, or turn left and visit the new hide overlooking the pools and on to Low Newton.

Whichever way you choose, you will end up at the bottom of the road that leads up to the pay and display car park.

You can turn right here and walk up along the cliff to Newton Point or continue up the road past the Church of St Mary.

Church of St Mary the Virgin © Helen Jobson Photographer / Shutterstock.com

Newton Haven at Low Newton

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Newton Pools and Links Nature Reserve from the ridge

Newton Hall The World War II pill box

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A rare surviving example of a ‘tin tabernacle’ constructed at the of end of the 19th Century, it was constructed from a pre-fabricated corrugated steel kit and is a fascinating place to stop and take a look around.

Just up from the church, take the public footpath which trails north west across the medieval rigg and furrow field patterns towards a huge stone wall that seems not to fit somehow. Stretching some 100 yards to the west, the eastern wall that borders the footpath appears massively thick. This is in fact the former garden wall of the original Newton Hall, now demolished and replaced by the mansion we saw at the start of walk

The wall of old Newton Hall on the outskirts of the village. The wall appears thick because it was doubled skinned where fires would be lit inside to heat the greenhouses.

The path now brings you back to the heart of medieval Newton and turning left here will, after a short stroll, bring you back to the starting point at the car park.

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ONE OF THE LARGEST SUPPLIERS OF SHOTGUNS AND COUNTRY CLOTHING IN THE NORTH.

Shooting ground Est. 1980

The shop – Bywell has a large range of country clothing to suit everyone. With all the well known brands of shooting accessories and gifts. Our aim is to provide everything the country person may need for a day out in the country side. Gift Voucher service available.

Shooting School – At our Shooting School we cater for the complete novice up to expert shot. If you are looking for a new challenge that will be a bit different then why not give this Olympic sport a go. Cost £72.50 /Hour (Includes all Equipment). Gift Vouchers available.

The Gun Room – We have a comprehensive range of over 400 guns to choose from and are confident we have the right gun for you. We offer the service; try before you buy, which is a vital exercise for such an important purchase. We pride ourselves on customer satisfaction. Give us a call for a competitive quote.

Stockist of Dubarry Footwear, Clothing, Luggage & Accessories.

Mail order available.

w w w.by wel l co u n tr y cl o th i n g. co. u k B y we l l F a rm, Fe l t o n, Nor t hum ber l and , NE65 9Q Q Tele p h o ne : 0 1 6 7 0 7 8 7 8 2 7 E m ai l s al es @ bywel l count r ycl ot hi ng. co.uk Op en in g H ou rs : Tu e s d ay – S at urd ay 9. 30 – 5. 30pm ( C l os ed Monday s)

A COUNTRY HOUSE THAT CARES Wentworth Grange is for those who would like to be cared for but don’t wish to live in a conventional nursing home. Wentworth Grange is set in idyllic grounds and gardens that are full of surprises. All the gardens can be accessed easily on foot or by wheelchair so residents and guests alike can enjoy the beautiful setting throughout the year.

The food at Wentworth Grange is exceptional. The in-house catering team work hard to create delicious and nutritious meals that can be savoured and enjoyed.

It’s a place where you can relax and unwind. Whether you are living with us or taking a short break our priority is to make your stay as enjoyable and comfortable as possible.

If you require more information, why not contact us?

We are happy to answer any questions and arrange a visit.

WENTWORTH GRANGE, RIDING MILL, NORTHUMBERLAND, NE44 6DZ. 01434 682 243 ~ 01434 682 500 ~ 07872 166 896 E-MAIL: WENTWORTHGRANGE@RIDINGMILL.NET ~ WEB: WWW.WENTWORTHGRANGE.COM