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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Northumberland => Topic started by: TriciaK on Sunday 17 January 16 18:13 GMT (UK)
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This was one of the playgrounds of my childhood.
My question is about the bridge crossing the bridge from the mainland to the island. There was, or is a sort of pipe below the bridge - does anyone know what its function was, and what it was/ is made of? Is it still there now?
I have a particular reason for asking this by the way.
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I have no answer to your questions but I will be at Seaton Sluice Community Centre in the morning. They are big on local history there so I'll try to remember to ask them.
Christine
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Thanks Christine :)
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The rocky island you refer to used to be called 'Charlie's Garden.' Why, ? I do not know.
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I too always knew it as Charlies Garden, as did my Mam before me. I dont think the bridge is still there ,but not certain as its sometime since I was there. My son might remember as he was always along the coast fishing . Be interesting to see what comes up on this posting Tricia ........
Dolly
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Hi son just popped in , Rocky Island and Charlies Garden are different.. He says there is no bridge there now, but there is a small footpath running alongside the pub that gets one onto one of these two rocks as they are now... No doubt our man P Hoddgets will pop by and give us more !!
Dolly
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He's right, Dolly. Charlie's Garden is a huge piece of rock off Collywell Bay, which has gradually become eroded . There was a smaller piece beside it which had probabably once been joined, and some daring people used to jump from one to the other.
http://images.google.fr/imgres?imgurl=http://m7.i.pbase.com/o6/42/777942/1/82522117.Pn23LgI6.CharliesGardenCollywellBay.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.pbase.com/pabimages/image/82522117&h=500&w=750&tbnid=-XJeB_dLlrnHhM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=135&docid=bsvEiKbhe_B2UM&usg=__-BU7T2s1y8fEUaQzy-0CpWL8Sv4=&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiS0-P6-bPKAhUKWRoKHfvYDTsQ9QEIJDAB
Rocky Island is a separate piece of land separated from the mainland, next to the pub, by the sluice at one side and a small river at the othern forget its name.
It's not so long since we went back to see it - 2011.
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http://www.seaton-sluice.btck.co.uk
Had you seen this site? Not sure it might answer your specific questions.
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http://www.ftpipelinesystems.co.uk/pipe-uses/pipe-bridges/
Not sure if this is the bridge in question?
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Charlie's Garden was indeed a different place and is no more - total erosion :'(
Rocky Island is across the gap which used to be the harbour entrance in the days when it was a busier port than Blyth. Then ships got too big to use that harbour.
The bridge is still there - it has to be because the Watch House (mentioned in the link above) is on the island. The pipe is also still there but nothing more romantic than a sewer!!
Christine
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Ah - so it's a sewer!
The reason I asked is that we were walking round there back in the 90s and saw a group of lads near the end of the pipe. One had actually got onto it, sitting with legs straddled , and shuffling across on his btm.
I was horrified, but daren't shout to stop him as he might have fallen off :o Also I thought the pipe didn't look very strong and could have broken. We were talking about it the other day, saying how kids love to do dangerous things. As we did when young, but never ventured on there!
To the previous poster - thanks for the interesting website.
Another favourite haunt in Seaton Sluice was Holywell Dean and Starlight Castle, but that's a story in itself, lots of history there.
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Yes, I stand corrected re my post concerning Rocky Island. A few hours after adding my post I realised that triciaK was referring to the land where the pub stood. I used to visit there and go down onto the rocks which faced Blyth. I can still visualise the bridge, pipe, and the pub.
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Is this the one you mean, or am I barking up the wrong pipe?
(note the creepy girl on the swing, and a figure watching her further back on the right)
This was taken from the bridge outside the King's Arms pub.
A short walk from here, I knew the rock as Charlie's Garden too. When I was a kid it was a solid mass with grass growing on its top. Years of erosion have all but destroyed it.
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Yes that's the one - good photo! Hope the girl and adult aren't ghosts of unlucky risk-takers :D
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Some maps ie Ordnance Survey, showing the bits of Seaton Sluice under discussion are available in the Seaton Sluice section of Northumberland Communities web site.
Michael
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We went for a walk there on Monday, and Charlie's Garden is still there. You can't see it from Rocky Island, you have to walk along to Collywell Bay. Only the biggest part still standing.
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This 1938/47 map shows Rocky Island and Charley's Garden.
https://maps.nls.uk/view/101028729
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A fascinating map - who needs satnavs?
It was high tide when we were there, so couldn't go down to the Bay. But it revived old childhood memories.
ps re Yossarian's photo - it has just dawned on me that someone must have shuffled along that pipe to hang the model of the girl on the swing. That was why I asked the question in the first place - a few years ago I saw a young lad shuffle from one side to the other for a dare. We used to do daring things, but not that :o
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Charlies garden is named after a villager called Charlie who used to cultivate the top of the rock years ago before erosion turned it into what it is today It was a well known fact when my mother was young but that was 1920s My mothers family having lived at the Pans since 1600,s new all these bits of information that we,ve all forgotten about now
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I dropped half a brick on my left little finger in about 1971 playing on the rocks around Charlie's Garden, aged 4. It cropped up in conversation at the hospital last night, where I had a cricketing injury examined. The scar from the 5 stitches is still very visible, as is the fact that I've never been able to straighten that finger properly as an adult.
Fascinating to read the history of Mr Dockwray's cultivation - I'd always assumed it was a meaningless nickname.