Boca Chica, Cambois, Blyth

[Seasideman]

My father, William Fergus Helliwell, was born at 24 Boca Chica in 1923.  I'm looking for any information about the street itself; when the houses were built, demolished and so on.  What type of houses were they and if they were rented or owned?
Any other related information would also be welcome.  My grandfather had the surname "Helliwell" and was from Bradford but my grandmother who was from the area was a "Patrick".  Even the slightest amount of information would be welcome.

thanks

Seasideman

[Phodgetts]

You'll find some information about the streets and houses at North Blyth / Cambois in this thread along with maps and images;

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,601558.10.html

Hopefully with a little time more of the Blyth folk here will chip in with what they know.

I'll chip in a bit myself tomorrow.

P

[Phodgetts]

As you will have now read, Boca Chica was first used as a location name at Cambois / North Blyth in 1745. The first map that the original Boca Chica showed up on was the 1865 OS and was spelled Bogie Chique. At that time there was just a small cluster of buildings, probably stone built and possibly thatched. To get to them from the Blyth side of the river one would have had to cross the ford at low tide from Cowpen Quay. The river was very shallow at low tide in those days.

On the 1895 OS map nothing had changed, however the 1897 OS map shows that the whole of that area had been developed. Since the terraces of houses were not adjacent to Cambois Colliery, but were adjacent to the new North Yard and engine shed, I would assume that the houses were built for railway workers. The N.E.R. in co-operation with the Blyth Harbour Commission had staiths and sidings built on the river to export coal, something which had been taking place at Blyth since 1709 when the Plessey Waggonway was used to cart coal down to the river for shipment.

The houses were like colliery rows and built of brick. I would need someone to tell me how big they were and what their interior layout was like and how many bedrooms they had, since I never went into one of the houses, though I do remember walking amongst them as a boy with my mum and dad in the mid to late 1970s. To me the houses didn't seem to be that big, though they did have two stories, ground floor and an upstairs. They also had outside toilets which were like small huts between the rows of houses.

I would assume in 1923 and during the time your father was there, that the property would have been rented. What occupation did your grandfather have?

My family left Blyth in 1981, so I am not sure when the terraces were demolished, that said the 1987 OS map shows the street format but no buildings, so they were gone by 1987.

You can go through the maps of the area by going to;

http://www.old-maps.co.uk/maps.html

Use the co-ordinates, 430840 in the first box and 583016 in the second. You will be able to view maps of the location from 1865 to 1993 at various scales. Makes for interesting viewing.

If you have any other questions just fire away.

P

PS Attached is an image of the location dated 1934.

[Michael Dixon]

  In the 1870s, the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle published a series of weekly articles under the banner
" Our Colliery Villages". The one on Cambois was included in the NWC published on 19 Oct 1872.

  ~~~~~~~~-------------------------

  OUR COLLIERY VILLAGES
  III - CAMBOIS

 The situation of Cambois is a very peculiar one, and the island, as it is often called is somewhat of difficult access. Upon the north Cambois is bounded by the Wansbeck, on the south by the Blyth, the distance between the mouths of the two rivers being about two miles. On the west the place is almost intersected by
some of the tributaries of the Blyth and Wansbeck, and it is almost impossible to go from Cambois to any of
the places near without using a bridge or a boat. On the east Cambois is bounded by the North Sea, for most of the colliery houses are built on the links, indeed the most westerly of the rows is not more than three or four hundred yards away from the high water tide mark on the sands.

 Some of the rows are close to the shore- so close in fact that the inhabitants may at night be lulled to sleep by the peaceful murmur of a tranquil sea, or roused from slumber by an angry surge, to gaze on dismal scenes of storm and shipwreck.

  Cambois is quite a new colliery and it is little more than five years since the first shipment of Cambois coal was made. On such a large scale, however have mining operations been conducted, that, at the present time, there are few if any collieries in the North of England which return such a large annual output.

At the present time the pit employs something like 850 men and boys.

 The houses built at Cambois are of a very superior order indeed.
 To begin with the houses of the officials ( known as Quality Row) are compact, lofty houses, with four rooms each in them, rooms which in size are about 17 or 18 feet square, with a commodoius pantry bedind, and a further back still, at a distance of 20 or 30 yards, you have privies and ashpits.

At the front of these houses and, indeed in front of all the houses in the place, you have a vegetable garden which is fully the width of the house and nearly 30 yards in length. Most of the kitchen fllors are cement, the floors of a few of the earliest erected ones being og of large flat bricks and others of wood.

 The houses of the officials are of course the best in the place, and without gardens, would let in Newcastle for £14 or £15 a year. There are altogether twelve rows of houses in the place. The most northerly and the most southerly being about one mile and a half apart, so they cannot be said to be crowded.

One or two of the oldest rows are built of stone, but they, in common with all the others, are roofed with slate  and are large and nicely fitted up. The prevailing type, however is of brick, all the bricks having been made upon the colliery.

 The description of one of these rows will serve for all, as there is but little difference in them.

The most southerly row is what is known as Boca Chica, and it contains 46 houses out of a grand total of 350, which go to make up the colony.

( to be continued... soon)


  Michael

[gortonboy]

Would this be your Grandfather

Walter Helliwell married Elizabeth C Patrick  1922 in Bradford ?

[Phodgetts]

The continuation of the article...........

    With a few, I suppose, of giving the rows of somewhat spicy appearance the house at each end stands a few feet further out than the others, and presents, towards the road, a somewhat dandified, not to say rakish, looking gable-end surmounted by a "star- pointing pyramid" of stone. Boca Chica derives it's peculiar name from it's nearness to some houses on the banks of the Blyth, which, for the last hundred years or more, have gone by that name.  This name the place obtained from it's being the residence of two old tars who had served under Admiral Vernon at the siege of Carthagena.  One of the outposts of the place was called Boca Chica, and the frequent recurrence of this queer name in the fine spun yarns of the old salts caused someone to give the place of their residence the name of Boca Chica, and Boca Chica it has remained unto this day.  The houses in this row have a good sized garden in front, but, as might be expected from their near proximity to the sea, the soil is very light and sandy, and will take years of careful cultivation before it can be expected to become very fertile.  After passing through the garden, the kitchen is entered by an approach of two or three steps, and is a fair sized room,  with nice fireplace, oven, and pot.  Behind the kitchen a wash-house is formed, and out of the wash-house a staircase with hand-rail leads to the upper storey, which contains two decent sized bedrooms, to say nothing of a sort of lumber room cutside the bedroom doors and immediately under the slates.  These bedrooms are vastly different places from the garrets of Seghill and Killingworth, and much better than even the new houses in course of erection at Burraden.  Indeed, the lumber rooms of Boca Chica would make far snugger bedrooms than any of the garrets of Seghill.  Outside, and at a good distance from the back doors, is a privy for each house, with it's accompanying ashpit, behind which runs a waggon-way for the conveyance of coals to each house.  Each house has it's own sink at the back door, and all drainage is carried off either into the sea or into the river.  Everyone seems perfectly satisfied with the houses they live in, reserving always, of course, the English privilege of grumbling a little.  The water supply is furnished by several wells from which water has to be carried, and this water-carrying is one of the things of which the good wives of Cambois complain, as does the schoolmaster, who's pupils are often kept at home to act as drawers of water.  The water of Boca Chica well is noted for it's excellence, and a man with a horse and barrel drives a flourishing trade at the high end of the village by selling it at the low price of one halfpenny per pailful.  This can scarcely be wondered at in a place like Cambois, which is only in it's infancy, when we consider that the flourishing township of Cowpen, with it's Local Board and more than double the population of Cambois, is in far worse position as to water supply, and is under the necessity of receiving the good offices of the itinerant water-cart.  As I said last week, a good supply of water might easily be laid on to every house in our large collieries, and none of them could it be more easily done than at Cambois.  It is an improvement much needed, and need cost the owners nothing, for I am perfectly sure that their men would be quite willing to pay a water rate if water pipes were laid in to the houses.  Some of the houses are at least a quarter of a mile away from the nearest well, and the labour of washing day must be almost doubled by the hard work of water carrying.  At present there is only one school at Cambois, and it is rather crowded with it's average daily attendance of 200 scholars, male and female;  but another and larger school is in course of erection, and will soon be ready.  The schools are built by the owners; but there is no compulsory rate, and only those pitmen who send their children to them are charged anything in the shape of school fees.  The only chapel in the place is in the hands of the Primitives, who are generally well represented in out pit villages.  During the present year, a Mechanic's Institute has been built by the owners, and although not yet finished, the number of members on the books is 140.  The subscription is only sixpence per month, and the number of members ought to be treble the present figure.  Downstairs is a large room which will hold three or four hundred people, and is very suitable for lectures or public meetings.  The reading room and library occupy the upper storey.  
 
  

[Phodgetts]

And the final installment..........
 
    Co-operation thrives well in Cambois, for the society numbers no less than 300 members, and turns over nearly £250 per week.  Less quarter but one, the dividend paid was 3s.3d in the pound though the September dividend was only 2s.10d., a much higher figure than is reached by the large majority of similar societies.  From it's isolated position, Cambois is a very quiet place, and there is less crime commited there than in most pit villages with anything like so large a population.  There are only two public houses in the place or near the place, and they are so far apart that, while one stands close to the banks of the Wansbeck, the other has it's doorstep laved by the high tides of Blyth.  The greatest drawback, however, to the comfort of Cambois is the great difficulty and inconvenience experienced from the want of means of communication with other places.  Blyth is the nearest town of any importance to Cambois, for it is not more that a mile away ; but to get to Blyth you must cross the river in a boat, and if the tide is low you have to wade through the mud and slush for a distance of fifty yards at each side of the river.  For years now a bridge has been talked of by the Blyth and Cowpen people, but in all probability the matter will end in talk, and vested interests will still be allowed to obstruct the execution of a work of great public utility and necessity.  For carts, carriages, and horses, the only means of crossing from the Cowpen side to Cambois is by the large ferry boat; but if the weather be stormy, all such vehicles must go around by Bedlington, a course by which the straight line of one mile between the places is multiplied into a circuit of eight times that length.  I think the Blyth and Tyne Railway Company made a great mistake in not taking their Newbiggin branch through by Blyth and Cambois, for by so doing they would not only have great increased the number of passengers from Blyth to Newbiggin, but they would have been the gainers of all the traffic from Cambois to Blyth, a traffic which is every year increasing ; and thus, while benefiting themselves have confurred a great boon upon the people of Cambois.

Thank you Michael for going and finding the article. A wonderful little piece on Cambois that gives us a nice insight into the area.

Special thanks to my Good Lady for doing the typing whilst I did the dictation. Team effort and all that! 

P

[Phodgetts]

I was very glad to read about the small waggon-way within the development of houses. On maps Boca Chica is shown to have had one of those waggon-ways, and one was also shown at Blyth's Cowpen Colliery 'A Pit', which is now the small estate at Bolam Avenue, more info here along with an associated photo;

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,388750.0/prev_next,prev.html

P

[Michael Dixon]

 
 Photograph (circa 1910) of old godger who hawked his barrel of water around.

 http://communities.northumberland.gov.uk/005568FS.htm.


  The Northumberland web site includes this photo within the Bedlington community. But this pub, the Rose and Crown was on the south bank of the River Blyth, within the bounds of Bebside ( just west of the railway bridge.)
 
 Philip, well done you and the God Lady. Tell her there are only another 105 colliery villages to do.
 ( I mispelled "Good Lady", but decided to leave it uncorrected. lol )

 Michael