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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Northumberland Lookup Requests => Northumberland => England => Northumberland Completed Look up Requests => Topic started by: stephenaedwards on Thursday 21 February 08 19:00 GMT (UK)
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Hi all,
I have traced some of my ancestors to Low Row, Bigges Main in the early 1800s where the father worked in the pit.
Does Bigges Main lie in the parish of Wallsend or Longbenton? I've found conflicting information on the net and can't find anything conclusive.
Also, what would Bigges Main be characterised as? A town, village hamlet etc?
Also, can anyone point me in the direction of some history of Bigges Main (excluding the Durham Mining Museum website).
Cheers.
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There are several references to it on genuki - see link
http://www.genuki.org.uk/cgi-bin/htsearch?method=and&format=builtin-short&matchesperpage=20&sort=score&config=genuki&words=bigges+main
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From a book entitled "The Folks Alang the Road".
"Bigges Main-- The Village that Died":
"The village was founded in the seventeenth century when Thomas Charles Bigg, who lived at Benton, opened a pit there. He leased his coal royalties to Messrs. Bell, Brown and Johnstone in 1785; the lease to last for 40 years. The new owners sank three shafts, built cottages for the miners and successfully ran the enterprise for 41 years."
"In 1910, Bigges Main with its population of 690 was incorporated
into the Borough of Wallsend. In its post-mining era, Bigges Main,
about half a mile outside Wallsend was a pretty peaceful village
with its own village school, chapel and country inn."
Stan
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Cheers stan. That's quite a nice description.
So Bigges Main was a village that was incorporated into the Borough of Wallsend in 1910. Does that mean that it was in Longbenton prior to 1910 or just in the parish of Wallsend?
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An address search of the 1841 census shows Bigges Main in Longbenton.
For more general information have you tried searching at
http://www.tomorrows-history.com/index.htm or
http://www.historicaldirectories.org/hd/index.asp
Jennifer
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The village of Bigges Main, was in Little Benton Township the Ecclesiastical Parish of St. Cuthbert's, Longbenton, Rural Sanitary District of Tynemouth.
Stan
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Many thanks.
That's cleared everything up. :D
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Hi Stephen, I have only just discovered this site and your query about Bigges Main. Regardless of which local authority it belonged to Bigges Main was situated geographically about 50 yards behind where Wallsend Sports Centre is now. If you take a diagonal line from Benfield School to the top of West Street Wallsend it was about half way along that line.
It was accessed by a dirt road half way along the Coast Road from West St to Wills cigarette factory until it's demolition around the mid fifties. The village pub was called The Mason's Arms and was still open until the early sixties when it was demolishe as part of the development of the area to form Wallsend Sports Centre.
Bigges Main played quite a part in my early life as I was born about three quarters of a mile away in Cross Avenue Westmorland Estate Wallsend. I remember quite vividly as a young boy that outside the Masons Arms there was a ramshackle brick stucture of sorts that I always thought was the actual village but maybe it was the school. There were also remnants of foundations nearby which were lost amongst the piggeries and allotments that had taken over the area. There was also an old disused mansion almost on the Coast Road until about 1957.
Around 1930 Westmorland Estate was built and two of the streets were named after Bigges Main.These were Main Crescent and Bigges Gardens and it was said that these names would help the new settlers who were rehoused when Bigges Main was demolished.
I have tried to obtain a photograph of 'The Main' for many years but it seems that for some reason nobody has one. I know it must have been quite a primitive place to live, what with no electricity and flush toilets but in my memory it must have been like Brigadoon or a village out of a Walt Disney film.Surprisingly there seems to be very few people in Wallsend who know very much about Bigges Main even though it is, or was, right on their doorstep.
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Hi Guys nice to meet you all,
1939 on there abouts my dad took me on walk around Bigges Main, or what was left. Parts of the foundation was still visible, everything else was covered in grass. He said he was born on the middle row 1902 and I believe he lived there until he married. His father and family moved to Westmorland estate. "Main crescent and Biggs gardens".
The dirt road that was mentioned was the remains of a waggon way. I recall a mound of "slag" from a very old mine, and a rickety building half-way between the Masons Arms and Bigges Main that we called "the powder monkey", explosive storage building.
The Waggon way is where dad met mam. She worked at the farm about 1 mile north of the coast road up past Wills factory which of course was not there then. I have forgotten the name of the form. But it was well known.
John Connolly
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Bigges Main - currently a golf club is where it once stood.
Wallsend Sports Centre was built on the village area (its now closed and boarded up, awaiting being redeveloped - I used to go there when a kid in 70-71, and boozing underage above the sports centre below. Recall the juke box in the canteen downstairs was wonderful)
There used to be a tram ran through the village from Wallsend to Gosforth, run by Tyneside Tramways
John - was the farm "East Farm" or "West Farm" ?
I lived about a mile and half away and there as a "West Farm Rd" heading in it's direction, and a friend once told me when going to school at Benfield (next to Bigges Main on the Newcastle side) that it was named for going to Bigges Main farm. But there was also an "East Farm Rd" elsehwere.... ::)
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I lived at Ringtons Employees Recreation Club,Walkergate,(NOW BENFIELD COMMUNITY CENTRE,I THINK), from 1945 until 1956.This is situated on the dirt track or wagonway leading to the Masons Arms.There were no houses around there at that time ,just fields.This area was known as Bigges Main.My friends and I would go past the piggeries and the Masons Arms,cross the Coast Road and end up at Red Hill, which I think was probably an old pit heap.We also did our trainspotting at the nearby LNER line,and fished for tadpoles at the pond nearby.It was a great place when we were young.
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I have ancestors who all lived in Bigges Main, Alexander Robson, Flora / Florence Robson nee Money, Darius Church Money, Eleanor Richardson. Looking for those elusive photos of Bigges Main also.
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There is an 1859 map of Bigges Main at https://www.old-maps.co.uk/index.html#/Map/428722/566866/12/101338 with the Rows named.
Also this shows an old map and the present aerial view http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=16&lat=54.9966&lon=-1.5527&layers=6&right=BingHyb
Stan
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There is an 1859 map of Bigges Main at https://www.old-maps.co.uk/index.html#/Map/428722/566866/12/101338 with the Rows named.
Also this shows an old map and the present aerial view http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=16&lat=54.9966&lon=-1.5527&layers=6&right=BingHyb
Stan
Thanks Stan, my relatives were on Low Row and Cross Row which I can see on these maps, right where the golf club building is now (or car park). I also managed to find an article about the Masons Arms. I had a different relative who kept pigs in the piggeries at Bigges Main.
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Good Afternoon Guys,
After doing a bit of research into the area i found out that you can get old shots of area on google earth - i believe these date back to 1945
i live in walkerville and use "biggies main" as it is called now as a cycle track/cut through from benfield road and always interested me in the mining history along there.
(https://thumb.ibb.co/fNTcN8/walkervile_1945.jpg) (https://ibb.co/fNTcN8)
hope this screenshot helps
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I have been searching for photos of Bigges Main for some time, and managed to find one of the Bigges Main old cottages on Flickr this evening, posted by Discover North Tyneside. For some reason I can’t add an attached photo to this thread - perhaps someone else can do it? Just go to Flickr, type in Bigges Main, and it’s the first photo that comes up.
I’m pleased as it has confirmed for me that a photo of my great grandparents IS taken outside their Bigges Main cottage as I suspected.
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You are not able to have attachments to this Board, or any Lookup Board on RootsChat. The Photo URL is https://www.flickr.com/photos/discover-north-tyneside/44439508272/in/photolist-2aGY6yu
Stan
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You are not able to have attachments to this Board, or any Lookup Board on RootsChat. The Photo URL is https://www.flickr.com/photos/discover-north-tyneside/44439508272/in/photolist-2aGY6yu
Stan
Thank you Stan
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Stan
The photo is taken from the north end of Cross Row looking south to Low Row
https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=17&lat=54.9945&lon=-1.5527&layers=168&right=BingHyb
There are twelve houses in the row and there are six double chimney stacks in the photo
Stan
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You are not able to have attachments to this Board, or any Lookup Board on RootsChat. The Photo URL is https://www.flickr.com/photos/discover-north-tyneside/44439508272/in/photolist-2aGY6yu
Stan
The photo is taken from the north end of Cross Row looking south to Low Row
https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=17&lat=54.9945&lon=-1.5527&layers=168&right=BingHyb
There are twelve houses in the row and there are six double chimney stacks in the photo
Stan
Brilliant detective work and thank you for the map Stan.
I have two different sets of second great grandparents who lived in Bigges Main.
Daniel Watson Richardson and Ellen Richardson nee Reed lived on Cross Row in 1871 census with their children including my 1 year old great grandmother Eleanor Richardson. Daniel was an agricultural labourer. It is a shame I don’t know the number, might be able to tell which house it was in the photo. Also, I don’t know the year of the photo, would be nice to think some of those people in the photo might be family.
The other set of second great grandparents, Darius Church Money and Rebecca Elizabeth Money nee Swoish, had moved up from Great Yarmouth circa 1873. In 1881 census they lived on West Pit Row with their children, including my other great grandmother, Flora Eleanor Money. Darius was a hawker. In 1891 they are still on West Pit Row, number 18 and Darius is listed as a labourer on a boiler ship.
In 1901, they are still on West Pit Row. Darius is listed as a fish hawker. In 1911, Rebecca is widows but still living on West Pit Row with one of her sons. The photograph I have is of this couple outside their cottage, and the building, door, window, fencing etc is identical to the photo of the cottages in Bigges Main. This must have been taken on West Pit Row, which I’m guessing is just shown as West Row on the map. Shame I can post the photo here.
I wonder where the Masons Arms was on this map you’ve posted. I see the school is clearly marked.
I also had a great Uncle who kept pigs at Bigges Main, Mum tells me there were piggeries there.
Christian
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You can see PH, which I assume is the Masons Arms on this map https://maps.nls.uk/view/132280028#zoom=4&lat=7509&lon=3099&layers=BT
Stan
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You can see PH, which I assume is the Masons Arms on this map https://maps.nls.uk/view/132280028#zoom=4&lat=7509&lon=3099&layers=BT
Stan
Yes, that will be it. Thank you. There are photos of the masons arms, and one of St Andrews Mission Church, but none I can find of the school.