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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Durham => Topic started by: Heinz 57 on Monday 13 October 08 22:10 BST (UK)
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Does anyone know the history of the town of Birtley?
I've been looking for a street on the 1901 census called Buffalo Terrace. Obviously it's not there any more, but i would love to know approximately where is used to stand.
Best wishes
Lynn
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Durham County Council's website has a facility to look at old maps online. Find the location on a modern map and then choose an earlier map. The same location will be displayed in the past.
http://www.durham.gov.uk/durhamcc/usp.nsf/pws/GIS+-+Online+Mapping
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Hello, again!
I've searched the 50 pages on RG13/4702 but can find no Buffalo Terrace.
Colin
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Durham County Council's website has a facility to look at old maps online. Find the location on a modern map and then choose an earlier map. The same location will be displayed in the past.
http://www.durham.gov.uk/durhamcc/usp.nsf/pws/GIS+-+Online+Mapping
Very few of the street names are shown for Birtley on this site :)
Stan
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Hello, again!
I've searched the 50 pages on RG13/4702 but can find no Buffalo Terrace.
Colin
You can search for addresses on http://www.1901censusonline.com/ to se if there is one of that name :)
Stan
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Thanks for that, Stan.
There's a Buffalo Terrace on the 1881 census, and it seems to be in the South of Birtley, East of Durham Road, in the Harras Bank area.
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Buffalo Terrace in the 1901 census
RG13/4702 Folio 129 Pages 31 to 34 (Enumeration District 6)
Today, the terrace no longer exists, but its location was in the area between Harras Bank and Radcliffe Terrace (close to where the swimming pool now stands)
Colin
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I know where the swimming pool is thanks, I went to Lord Lawson's and we had lessons there.
That's about where I thought it would be. I knew it was close to Harras Bank as I'd gone up and down the census pages trying to follow the route of the enumerator. And I knew they all used St. John's as their local church, so I had a rough idea where it must have been.
I've got an old Allan Godfrey map, and it's not on there either.
Many thanks!!!
Lynn
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Just to add that Buffalo Terrace can be found with an address search at http://www.1901censusonline.com/ but it is indexed as Buffalo Terr There are 16 households.
Stan
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I tried Stan's advice and they demanded money! ;D
Colin
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I tried Stan's advice and they demanded money! ;D
Colin
Sorry :( I should have made it clear that you can search the index for nothing, and get a list of the addresses but if you want to see the actual census image you have to pay. I just find it an easy way to see if an address exists in the 1901 census.
Stan
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Thanks, Stan,
I must have been particularly dense when I followed your excellent advice.
Thanks for the tip - I'll use it in the future
Colin
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hiya we live in birtley and buffalo terraces is now Grove cottages. we live up the road from it and there is a mens working club at the beginning of the street known as the buffs.
hope this helps :)
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Thank you for that.
Is Grove Cottages a street of relatively new buildings? Or have they renamed Buffalo Tearrace since 1901 census was taken?
My great grandparents lived there and it's the last I see of them. I am trying to find their deaths. I've searched the records of St.John's and the council cemetery with out success.
I can't wait for the 1911 census to release Co.Durham !!!!
Many thanks
Lynn
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Lynn, You may well be able to find your Grandparents deaths on the Free BMD site - also thre Registrars Office in Gateshead if they passed away in Birtley. The Central Library also has Parish registers. By the way I am told Buffalo Terrace was just up from Grove Cottages - but the Central Library probabaly had maps of old Birtley.
veejaybee
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I've been to the library and none of their maps had Buffalo Terrace marked. I asked for help at the desk and the attendant couldn't find it either. I've got the Allan Godfrey map of Birtley and it's not on there either
'It couldn't have been there for long' I was told at the library.
I'm quite local and have been through every possible parish record I can think of St.John's , St.Joseph's RC, the Methodist church on Station Lane etc. and I can't find them. My great grandparents separated and my great grandmother remarried and lived in the Huts during the 1930's until they were demolished. She ran a shop according to my mum. I have no idea where she moved to after that. The Huts were demolished in 1937 I believe. My mum seems to remember a relative in Pelton, but she was too young to recall any details. I have no idea what happened to my great grandfather. No one remembers him at all. But again I think he probably survived well in to 1930's. I have found two of his brothers in Birtley council cemetery, so if he died there in that time period I suspect he would have been put there with them. (He's not there I checked).
I've had this 'wall' for some time now. I don't know what else I can do. I've tried everything I can think of.
Many thanks for you help. If it was easy it wouldn't be any fun!
Lynn
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heinz the buildings have not been renewed just renamed. but going to gateshead civic centre would be your best bet.
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Just seen these posts. Buffalo Terrace was on the main road going towards Harras Bank between Swinburne Place (which is still there) and the Traveller's Rest pub. Then there was Napier Terrace then the Crown Inn and then Bede Row along to Harras Bank. I lived in Wilfrid Street when I was a child (in the 50s and 60s). The pubs were still there then but the houses had been demolished. The houses were there when my mother was young and she has confirmed the information. She describes Buffalo Terrace as flats with wooden steps at the back to the upper ones.
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Thank you so much!
I was down at Gateshead library and I couldn't find Buffalo Terrace on any of their maps so I was well and truly stumped. I knew roughly where it 'should' have been as I have looked at the census route many times.
The family I was looking for were called Lewcock. I don't suppose your mother remembers any of them?
Thank you again!
My lot were miners so flats would make sense.
Lynn
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Lynn
I checked with my mother and although she remembers some families who lived in Buffalo Terrace she has no recollection of anyone called Lewcock. She was born in 1926 so her recollections will be from the 1940s and 1950s.
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Does anyone know where West Terrace was situated in Birtley? My dad lived there according to the 1911 Census. I have tried to get an old Godfey map of Birtley but it's now out of print and there are no plans to reprint.
Many Thanks
Pick
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Hi Lynn
while not answering your post specifically hopefully this is of interest to you
1891 census............ No. of Schedule 61 John Lewcock aged 72 Head General Shopkeeper Married to Sarah aged 62
Lodging House James Lewcock (son) aged 34 Coal Miner (widower)
Sarah Lewcock aged 10 (grand daughter)
Mary Lewcock (grand daughter) aged 7
No. of Schedule 60 Entries for Buffalo Terrace
1901 census.......... No. of Schedule 142 Sarah Lewcock aged 72 Head of family - Lewcocks Buildings
Mary Lewcock aged 17
Elizabeth Lewcock
No. of Schedule 141 Entry for Buffalo Cottage
No. of Schedule 140 Entries for Buffalo Terrace
i stumbled across this map site which i think is great while you have to pay for the maps you download its a great research tool if you have broadband internet
http://www.old-maps.co.uk/index.html
streets in that area of the new birtley baths south of Harris Bank eg Napier Terrace, Buffalo Terrace, John Street, Swinburne Place, Wilfred Street, Richmond Place
Kind Regards
Dave from NZ via Lord Lawson School Birtley
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Does anyone know where West Terrace was situated in Birtley? My dad lived there according to the 1911 Census. I have tried to get an old Godfey map of Birtley but it's now out of print and there are no plans to reprint.
Many Thanks
Pick
West Terrace comes between Grove Cottages and Daisy Cottages in the 1911 Summary Books. Grove Cottages and Daisy Cottages are still there. If you go to http://gis.durham.gov.uk/website/interMAP/viewer.htm and enter the coordinates 427519, 555860 in to search it will centre the map on the location. There were only seven houses in West Terrace.
Stan
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Stan - thanks so much for that information. I had given up hope of ever finding out where my dad lived in Birtley. thanks for the link and coordinates too.
The next time I go up there I will go and find the location.
Best wishes and Happy Christmas from a grateful,
Pick
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Hi Pick
You can see Grove Cottages on Google Street View at http://www.rootschat.com/links/0avs/
Stan
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I beat you to it Stan!
But thanks.
Pick
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A bit of a coincidence. I was looking at the history of Birtley around 1870 to 1881 and the first random name I chose as being from Birtley was Elizabeth Proudlock who lived on Buffalo Terrace. Another coincidence I am Steve Pick.
My search is about the children, or should I say grandchildren, of Robert Telfer. He was a shepherd born in Throckington about 1813. On the 1881 census are 4 grandchildren all being shown as born in Birtley, Robert Telfer 8, Sarah Jane Telfer 6, Robert Telfer 3 and Elizabeth Potter 1 month.
It was difficult to track Telfer as Telford, Tefler are other names on other censuses.
His wife Mary Bryden, died in 1864.
In 1871, he and his 5 children were living in Pelaw Houses, Harraton and in 1881 in Barley Mow Harraton.
I started this search with Elspeth Pick (b1847) as she married John Pick in 1887 in Chester le street. A daughter Elizabeth Pick is shown in the 1891 census aged 11 and I wondered who her father was. Elizabeth (b1881) and her 3 sibblings don't show up in deaths or on the 1891 under their names on the 1881 census.
I am guessing the granddaughter shown on 1881 census as Elizabeth Potter became Elizabeth Pick on the 1891 census. FreeBMD seems to be down, as I write, but from memory I am fairly sure there was no Elizabeth Potter born in 1881 in Birtley.
I wonder how many births there were in Birtley in this decade.
John Pick was the brother of my great grandfather William, so it is no big deal, but I am just curious how 4 kids could be listed on the census and I don't know their parents, except perhaps for Elizabeth. However, if my guess is correct I wonder why she was called Potter.
If anybody has input I would love to hear, but it looks like further information can only be speculation.
Steve in Texas
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My memory is bad. Elizabeth Potter is shown on FreeBMD in births for Chester-le-Street (April Jun 81)
Steve
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The Telfers are on FreeBMD in Chester-le-street. They are Under "Telfords" and there seems to be an extra "Robert" birth. I guess the next thing is to look at parish records if I want to know. Nobody readily has access do they? Pity the listings are not broken down by Parish.
Steve
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Hi Steve - the Pick family I am married into come from Gloucestershire, interesting though, because William and John are both recurring names in the family, even back to the 1700s. My family, McKie / Luther, lived in Birtley and surrounding areas from the mid 19th century.
Have you tried the IGI for parish records?
Best wishes
Kathleen
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Hi Kathleen, The IGI listings for Birtley just go to 1861. I need 1881.
My Picks go back to Thirsk where John was born in 1720. Christopher was born there in 1789 but moved the family to Northallerton sometime between 1789 and 1824. John Pick was born in Northallerton in 1828, but was living in Chester-le-Street in 1861. His son William, was born Chester-le-street. John, my grandfather, was born in the NE before he moved to Barrow-in-Furness, where my dad and I were born.
Funnily enough, although I have lived in six countries, and I have found strong ties to Chester-le-Street and surrounds, the closest I have been to that area was a 6 month stint working in Darlington in 1962. It is a pity I didn't know then, what I know now.
Steve Pick
Dallas Texas
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Hi Steve,
Robert Telfer and his family, including grandchildren, are still in Harraton on the 1891 census. An Isabella Telfer, age 33, is recorded as being his daughter.
By 1901 The family are in Chester le Street. Presumably Robert has died. Isabella is head of the family, Roberts grandchildren,Robert age 23, John, Walter, Jane Ann and Thomas, age 6, are recorded as Isabella's children.
Her status is "widow".
I'll do a bit more digging to see if I can find anything else. Apologies if you already have this info.
Kathleen
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just looked - a Robert Telfer died aged 79 in Chester le Street in 1893. This would fit with his 1814 birth.
Still can't track down an actual record of the grandchildren's father though.
Kathleen
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Hi Kathleen,
I appreciate your help. Yes I agree on Robert's death in 1893 but can't see him yet on the 1911 census. Due to the Birtley mix up in my mind bewtween Durham and Northumberland I haven't straightened out the child born around 1880. ie Elizabeth Potter, Elizabeth Pick or Elizabeth Telford.
Also I have given up on the other children, born in Birtley, shown on the 1881 census.
I think I traced Elizabeth ? 1879/81 to following her mother's footsteps and had a child Elspeth Telford in 1899. Looks like she married William Ventress shortly after. Elspeth Ventress (Telford) married George Burch in 1922 and they had a child Joyce in 1927. All this happened under Chester le Street records. Of course my conclusions do have a bit of guess work but they look reasonable.
I took a look yesterday at the Durham records site but came up with nothing.
For now I am moving on to other parts of my tree. If you are interested I have my tree on pickfamily but I haven't updated it for about a year and this latest stuff doesn't show.
Steve
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Hi again Kathleen,
I recently took out a subscription to findmypast and had only used the census records up to now. They do have parish records for Robert Telfer 1878 and Robert (1872). The 1878 one has Isabella as the mother and no father. The 1872 one has Elspeth as the mother and Robert as the father. Looks a bit incestuous! Sarah Jane (1975) and Elizabeth (1880/1) not found yet.
steve
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Good luck with the rest of your search Steve! I'd love to hear how you get on.
Regards
Kathleen
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You are right in that Buffalo Tce was to the south of Harris Bank. As I understand it, it stood along the roadside in the general area of the Drs and the Swimming pool. I also had family living there at one time
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I hate to use this 4 letter word but "Slum" Clearance seems to affecting Buffalo Terrace in the 1930's.
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=%22Buffalo+Terrace%2C+Birtley%22