Amble Old Caravan Site
 

Just looking at this old card of when the caravan site was right on the dunes at Amble. It got me thinking back to one night when we had a most severe easterly gale. I went for a walk on the "Big Shore" the next morning - what a sight! many of the caravans had been blown over the dunes and had crashed onto the beach and were smashed to bits with their contents scattered everywhere. Must have been heartbreaking for the Caravanners.

I wonder if that event led to their removal from the dunes? I'm guessing this was about 1969-72 anyone remember that storm?

http://www.coquetandcoast.co.uk/imag...ravan_site.jpg

And these adverts from 1969 will take you right back to that time...

Sea View Cafe...did nice chips

And the Blue Kettle....world famous I think.

http://www.coquetandcoast.co.uk/imag...ts_1969_1a.jpg

http://www.coquetandcoast.co.uk/imag...ts_1969_2a.jpg

http://www.coquetandcoast.co.uk/imag...ts_1969_3a.jpg

http://www.coquetandcoast.co.uk/imag...ts_1969_4a.jpg

Allen's Cafe. Oh the humanity...

What was the origin of the Sea View Cafe building? a WW2 gun housing or something?

Sea View Cafe and caravan on links.
 

I believe the cafe was in fact the housing for a costal defence gun to cover the area from Hauxley point to Boulmer point and the harbour entrance. There were underground rooms beneath it presumably for ammunition storage, these were used in the 1950's as a body building / weight training club by some local youths. The cafe was operated for a while by a man named Hughes who also had an ice cream kiosk near the East cemetery and later was the mine host at the Dock Hotel, late 1950's. He also, prior to this had a toy shop and lending library where the TSB is now. The caravans on the links were blown over more than once during their time and were moved over to their present site when the council decided to get more organised and this was the begining of the caravan park as we know it today

I remember as a 8/9 year old 1973ish - in those days us lads went all over at that age and played in the cafe and other old buidings including also a drift shaft west of Moorhouse farm. The cafe / gun emplacement was I believe dismantled (I'm not sure but small detonation charges were used - memory is fading!) because it was a hazard to local kids playing in it!!

Not quite as dangerous as my father's generation after the war playing on the military targets (old tanks) at Druridge Hadston Scaurs area though!!!

That's interesting. Just realised my uncle was one of those 'youths' you mention - I knew he did some training over in that location in some war time building or other and now understand from what you say it must be the ammo bunker of that gun emplacement.


pic below, not a good one but you can see this is a concrete structure:

I bet the MoD has a nice picture hidden away somewhere of that gun during WW2.

That's my recollection too that it was blown up. Would that drift be the one associated with Radcliffe Colliery?

Seaview Cafe.
 

Your uncle was in fact one of those involved in the gym there, I remember him well going to and fro when we were kids on "Ned Fenwicks" shore adjacent to there.
The drift in question behind the Moorhouse farm was the Moorhouse drift, part of the North side of Broomhill colliery which was working the Radcliffe and Albert seams in that area until the closure of the North side in late 1959. A lot of Amble men, including my father, worked there, there was also a day drift in the centre of Radcliffe between Centre Row and Lesley Row which allowed men to enter that part of the mine. The ponies were taken from the stables at Stable Row Radcliffe down that drift and broubht to bank again each day. The coal from this district was transported underground to the East Togston drift,to the South of East Togston farm and over the fields to the colliery at Broomhill.

I presume so, it was a brick and corrugated type of structure that we could just go in and I remember the slope away down into the darkness. I also remember that Henna, we were about eight at the time, started up an Escort van next to it as the keys were in it, so we had to run off pretty quick having learned some interesting words from a red faced bloke!

Actually we complain about the youth of today, but my great uncle Frank Rowell used to tell me stories about how they would torment neighbours around the bottom end of Queen st and that was 100 years ago now!!
Frank became a chief engineer in the merchant navy.His ship was torpedoed in the south Atlantic and his intersting story of the event and the week or so in a lifeboat to Namibia (skeleton coast) and their subsequent rescue I can recount if anyone is interested?

I remember these tanks well. It seems so bizarre that we should play on and inside old tanks that I wondered if it was a false memory.

The drift at Radcliffe was just behind the house where I grew up. I remember that we were allowed to go into the building and even walk a little way down the tunnel. The air seemed very stale. I also remember the ponies. There was one in particular called Anchor, that I really liked.
Next to the drift was a small building with a lightning conductor. We were told it had explosives inside and were forbidden to go near. We used to sneak up touch the outside of the building and run away giggling.
I had a rich childhood.:)

Radcliffe drift.
 

I was born at my grannies house at 15 Centre Row and although we lived in Amble my mother took me up to Radcliffe every day until I started school. As a 4-5 year old I used to go along to the drift and as the cabin men there knew me through my father, they would give me sweets etc. I also was shown down the drift which didn't seem to be very deep but the air was "return" air. The entrance, to one side, where the ponies went in had a barred section and I can remember trying to look in and getting my head stuck and the cabin man having to release me. Two of the men who were at the cabin were a man called Davison who lived at the end house in Edwin street, corner of Bede street and Torr Anderson who lived in Middleton street in Amble. These men were responsible for checking the miners in and out of the pit and issuing them with explosives from the powder magazine next door.

Fascinating. We've very similar memories. You've not got a picutre of the drift mine by any chance?

Fascinating. We've similar memories. You don't know of any pictures of the drift mine, by any chance? Sorry posted same message twice.

Would both these drifts be operational at the same time?

I have no recollection of the Moorhouse drift. As for the Radcliffe Drift, it was certainly open by the time of my earliest memory. (circa 1950). To my eternal shame I don't remember when it closed.
The Durham Mining Museum site lists a Hauxley South Drift and gives a closing date of 1951. I suppose this is what I am calling the Radcliffe Drift as this is south of Hauxley whereas the Moorhouse Drift would be described as West of Hauxley.

Confusion over the Drifts.
 

Moorhouse was South of the Moorhouse farm and situated in the lonnen which went to the Hope farm, it was a brick building and also had a powder magazine attached. There were steps all the way down and it remained there until the opencast of the late 60's early 70's. From the field adjacent you could look down.
Radcliffe was there until the mid 50's I would say, unfortunately I haven't seen any photo's of it.
Hauxley South was a drift near to the old Newburgh colliery and was created when the opencast, which had worked in that area in the late 40's, finished, they left the cut open and a concrete tunnel was built then covered up so making the entry. There were screens built astride the old Newburgh railway and the output was processed and taken via Radcliffe to the harbour at Amble.
It operated for about 5 years until the early 50's when water broke in and it had to be finished.

Thanks Alan for putting me straight on that. Having thought about what you say I think I have resurrected some vague memories of the Moorhouse Drift, but that may be just wishful thinking. I went up the road to the Hope Farm often, usually on my way to the Green Lonnen, so I don't know how I've forgotten, especially as I can remember so many things about Radcliffe very clearly. I do remember the screens by the side of the railway line at Newborough but I knew nothing of the drift there.

I've done a lot of local history research about where I live now (Wigan). I have had one book published and have a local history website http://www.wiganman.co.uk which is still there but I no longer add to it. When this site became defunct my wife suggested that I wrote about my upbringing in Radcliffe to pass on to my grandchildren so that the family's mining heritage will be remembered through the generations. This is proving to be a massive task which is difficult, because in Wigan I have no access to prime sources about Radcliffe.

Thanks again for sorting out the confusion over the drifts.