Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Fragments of the Past, Vol.3

I'm pleased (and relieved) to say that Volume 3 of my series entitled Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Fragments of the Past has now been released on Amazon. Again, it's 200 pages long, available as a paperback and eBook, and is packed with articles long and short on a myriad of aspects of the city's history. Click on the image in the left-hand column for more info + purchase options.

Two important points:

(1) Remember that all profits from the book are donated to the Great North Children's Hospital - this amounts to about £1.50 per sale. Leaving a generous rating/review, too, would help things along. Thanks to anyone who buys a copy - I've already sold a few without even publicising it!

(2) If you're a member of the North East Heritage Library Book Club, then please note that copies of this book are likely to be heading your way soon ... so there's no need to buy a copy now!

Anyway, the next project is well underway, so I'll bring you news of that later this year. Hopefully.

Return to St.Andrew's Church

A few months ago I posted an article on a visit to Newcastle's St.Andrew's Church - see here. Well, I am going to selfishly run the old gal past you again today - but, I hope, for good reason.

Firstly, here is (Holy) Trinity Chapel on the north side of the church:

There's a bit of info on the chapel on a large brass plaque (and, yes, that is me reflected in the same!):

And more detail can be found here:

So, as you can see, the honking great organ shown on the right of the first picture wasn't moved there until the 1890s. Previously, the font used to be situated on the spot - and this can now be found under the tower:

Don't worry, I shall not keep you any longer than I have to with this trivia. But I just had to tell someone about it. I visited the church to take these photos on 30th May 2024, which just happened to be 200 years to the day since the baptism of my gt-gt-grandmother, Elizabeth Hudson, at that very same font when it was situated in Trinity Chapel. It was kinda odd to be stood in that particular place on the exact date of the bicentennial.

And that 1824 event is the oldest ancestral link I have with my hometown. So the family is now into its third century of association. Just, mind.

Shaftoe Crags' Shadows of the Past

(click to enlarge)

The other day I spent a couple of hours wandering around Shaftoe Crags, Northumberland - you know, the area a little to the west of Bolam Lake. I'd been to the latter many, many times over the years, but this time we decided to drive straight past the same and head for a small lay-by at Bolam West Houses and, well, try something new for once.

Off we set in a westerly direction, then executed a clockwise tour of East Shaftoe Hall Farm, the trig point, then up through the crags themselves via the famous Salters Nick. Then it was back in an easterly direction to the car. It was all very nice, and we didn't get wet.

Salters Nick

Let me first of all say that I know nothing of the area in question, including its history. The land marked in a yellowy-brown wash is Open Access land - and it easy to see why, as its rocky demeanour renders it pretty useless for farming. It probably hasn't changed very much for thousands of years, and, as you can see there are plenty of references to ancient stuff - or sites of antiquity, as they are more properly known. 

I printed out the above map for navigational purposes and the more I studied it the more I noticed just how many of those ancient sites there were. In what is a very small area there are TWELVE such spots - 6 old 'settlements', 3 tumuli, 1 old fort, 1 standing stone and another named 'Shortflatt Tower'. In addition to this little lot - and not marked as 'ancient' on the map - are FIVE 'lost villages', namely, West Shaftoe, East Shaftoe, Harnham, Shortflatt and Bolam (see Beresford's Lost Villages website ). This makes SEVENTEEN places of historical interest in total. Amazing!

It does get you thinking just how much historical 'stuff' is out there waiting to be properly investigated. I've not looked into the history of Shaftoe Crags in any detail, but a quick search of the internet for the area does not reveal a great deal of info about the crags and their surroundings.

If anyone has any observations or comments then please feel free to contribute below.