hello
 

Hi, this looks a promising forum for those of us interested in the Coquet area.
I can't see anywhere for introductions so i hope it's ok to post here.

About me, Ashington born and bred, via Widdy, Amble, Acklington, Felton, Morpeth,Alnwick, Morwick and Warkworth where my family research fades into the mists of time (and latin) :confused:

Interested in local history ( mines, pubs,clubs) Family history, Anglo Saxon customs and language, battlesites, artefacts, fishing, shooting, bottle digging. In short, anything that gets me out and about.

Hi Pete, a very warm welcome to the forum! :)

We share a good few interests, and I'm just starting to get a bit more of a serious interest in local history, hence the site(s). Although I'm just an enthusiastic amateur really, no qualifications.

Anyway if you've pushed your genealogy back to Latin then you obviously know your onions so congratulations on that.


Funny you should mention bottle digging - but I claim to be a pioneer :o (digging in the 70s) the collection has been boxed up for literally decades and I have never been digging for decades either. But I was thinking about photographing the whole thing and putting it online, it may be of interest to locals what their ancestors were using in the late Victorian/ Edwardian period, as it's all from within a few miles of Amble.


Mike

Regarding local mining, this is a subject I would like to pursue with a bit more vigour but it will mean time at Woodhorn archives. Have you any knowledge of what kind of detail they have on mining for the local collieries? (would be Radcliffe, Hauxley, Togston, Broomhill as the bigger ones )

(there's a nice framework of info on the Durham mining museum site for inspiration)

And here's a couple of local ginger beers (although you may have seen the picture as I posted it somewhere else)
ok not as spectacular as some of the Tyneside ginger beers but hey, they're from my home town which makes them more interesting, to me anyway!

http://www.coquetandcoast.co.uk/images/bottles.jpg

Opened up an 'intro zone' sub-forum Pete, and moved this thread into it, you're the forum pioneer now :)

I'm sure things will pick up on here soon - google appears to have started indexing us so brace for the stampede (I wish! :D)

Ginger beers
 

Very nice bottles there Mike. As you say it's all the better when it's part of your local history. I've only recently gotten back into bottles after coming across a couple of dumps by accident. I would love to dig a few gingers in that nick, cheers, Pete.

I think it would be an excellent idea to put your bottles on the site. As you know i'm quite active on the family history side of things and the amount of folk country and worldwide who have coquetdale heritage is staggering. (well travelled us'ns) I'm sure folk would love to see the type of bottles and jars their ancestors had.

If you find anything nice don't forget to post a few snaps on here :)

My interest restored, I'm opening a few boxes now and came across this one, I'm sure it was a unique find for us:

so maybe a rare one?

Keefe & Brien, Amble


http://www.coquetandcoast.co.uk/images/keefe_brien.jpg

Here's one for the Amble Mineral Water Co. The Wynd Amble.
have a few Codds for this company too somewhere.


Nice to see "THE WYND" embossed on the bottle, don't think that is on this company's Codds.



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

Very nice Codd. I'm no expert on bottles, just an enthusiastic amateur moocher. I spent all day yesterday digging a local ash tip. Dug some local Codds,( all necked for the muggy) one local black beer( Grand Hotel, again broken) and some plain scent? bottles.
I did have a bit of good fortune on Saturday, found this washed up on the riverbank. Its a brass trout reel c1880 made by Thomas Pape (i havn't found out yet if he is one of the Amble born Papes of gunsmithing fame

Ha ha, i,ve just seen your bit on metal detecting , another hobby i spend too much time on. After re-igniting your bottlin interest the least said the better, otherwise we'll both be in the dog house. :D

You're in the right place anyway if there are Codd bottles, you'll find something the kids have missed at some point I'm sure.

nice reel, potentially quite collectable are they not (going off Hardy reel mania)?

Detecting is another hobby from the past I'm reviving !.. trying to recapture a misspent youth, I'm supposed to buy a large motorbike for a midlife crisis I think ah well..I'll try to be different....

not really used the machine much, a few hours: just testing really (trying to work out how to use it.)



Not found anything 'old' apart from this nackered old bronze coin in the gravel of the tidal part of the Coquet, about the size of a modern penny. Most of the detail is worn away, being in a bit of an abrasive environment for a few hundred years. Anyway can see 'CARO' so perhaps Charles the 1st??

http://www.coquetandcoast.co.uk/images/coquet_coin.jpg

Yep, looks like a Charles 1st, a nice find. I spent a few afternoons there last year looking for buried treasure. Plenty of sinkers, musket balls, grape shot and 303 cases but no riches :( I was told that the etrac is very good but very hard to learn so i gave it a miss and bought a Sovereign which i've since sold and now i'm saving for a new machine, don't know which yet.

Yes I need to get out more with the machine, last time at Druridge bay it was a sardine tin lid and a dog lead clip and 20mm cannon shells, not much for £1250 :D :D

And it is a bit complex, I have a low attention span with complicated instruction manuals. :o

You dont need a metal detector for 20mm shells from aircraft cannon though, they're all over the place.

http://www.coquetandcoast.co.uk/images/cannon_shell.jpg

I would be very happy with that at this stage :)

You should try the rocks at Alnmouth at low tide. There is tons of ww2 rubbish, 303 cases etc, ( i think our entire coastline must have been ankle deep in brass cases) but the older stuff is there for the finding.I found searching the sand to be a waste of time as it's over 8 foot deep and the estuary mud is hard work, but the small rockpools contain some interesting little pieces of history.