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  #1  
Old 26-03-2017, 03:53 PM
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Default Amble West Allotments

Putting in some new fence posts in my allotment. Digging down 24 inches. Near the bottom of the hole is a layer of ash. Bottles and bits and bobs down there.
I knew there was ash there from past digging. Others have mentioned digging bottles up there as well. I do not know whether it was an old tip at one time or just some rubbish put in to help the drainage. It is quite a thin layer where I am at the bottom of the dip. I'm under the impression it is thicker towards West Avenue road.

First hole I hit a Turnbull and Williamson bottle. I actually think I broke this one with the spade.

I could kick myself as this is a type I've not seen before:


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Old 26-03-2017, 04:00 PM
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Digging them holes more carefully now. Last hole produced this weird object:
If anyone knows what Parian Ware is this feels very similar.




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Old 26-03-2017, 04:05 PM
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Does anyone have any knowledge of that land prior to becoming allotments? I seem to recall it being just a horses field. I think the allotments appeared to replace those lost when Burside and Brinkburn houses went up on the East Allotment site.

West Allotments today:


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Old 26-03-2017, 04:12 PM
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I've been trying to date the rubbish. Possibly post WW1 / early 20s is my best guess. There are a mix of machine and hand made bottles which is why I come to that conclusion

Machine made medicine bottle:

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Old 26-03-2017, 07:01 PM
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I lived in West Avenue in the 60s, it was my sledging field! If you come across any wheels for a Corgi VC10 let me know.
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Old 26-03-2017, 08:07 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hollydog View Post
I lived in West Avenue in the 60s, it was my sledging field! If you come across any wheels for a Corgi VC10 let me know.
I'll keep an eye out for them!

On the 1920s and 30s maps that area is marked as allotment gardens so must have been abandoned after that time then came back to allotments in the 70s?

More allotments at the other side of West Avenue on this map as well, behind Scott Street, now built over.

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Old 26-03-2017, 08:18 PM
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I wonder why that stone wall was put in up there? seems a bit extravagant, was probably on both sides? Just a grand driveway to the Cemetery? It had the metal railings at one time as well.


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Old 26-03-2017, 09:10 PM
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Some nice finds there Coquet especially the hands............very unusual .

Never noticed the wall before , funny how you can miss things when your not looking!
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Old 26-03-2017, 10:43 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rickt View Post
Some nice finds there Coquet especially the hands............very unusual .

Never noticed the wall before , funny how you can miss things when your not looking!
I'm going to have to put a trench in as well for some better drainage. Wonder what will turn up?
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Old 27-03-2017, 06:36 AM
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The allotments along the top of the ridge where the pigeon duckets are were always there in my time and there were also allotments between Scott Street and Greenfield Tce before West Crescent was built in the late 60's.
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Old 27-03-2017, 12:41 PM
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Default West Allotments

I lived in High St, The Wynd and West Ave in the 60's and 70's, as Alan J says the allotments along the ridge that backed on to the 'Store Gardens' were there then and used by J Stewart, J Dagliesh, J Douglas, R Straker, W Bethel et al.

Just to the west of Cud McDonnells yard was a marshy area with a spring or water that came to the surface and slightly to the SW was an ash tip, lots of bottles for catapult practice, scrap metal and other house hold waste.

The field as I remember it was split into two which were separated by a line of elders, hawthorns etc which ran along the lowest part of the field, there was a gateway the east of the trees and a fence which ran around the eastern perimeter and separated the tip / marsh from the fields.

It was all possible to access the allotments in front of the Masonic Hall from the field as most had steps up and over a low dry stone wall that ran from the Masonic car park wall to the garden wall of 'Youngs' garden which is at the bottom of the Wynd next to the gas works entrance.
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Old 27-03-2017, 12:49 PM
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To the rear of the groundsman shed in the west cemetery was a site where they dumped the contents of cemetery bins old wreaths etc and the hands look like some thing that could have been attached to wreath of some kind, it was the kind of thing often left after the rest had been burnt. The area spread east over the years and became a big compost heap but was landscaped and levelled when the allotments were allocated.
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Old 27-03-2017, 04:50 PM
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Many thanks for that.
I does look like it has been used as a tip then in some areas.
Water is still flowing out of the ground in the place you mention I think.
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Old 27-03-2017, 06:40 PM
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An early postcard of the cemetery road
Attached Images
File Type: jpg 16602875_1344302972259580_3313485492397248532_n.jpg (79.2 KB, 44 views)
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Old 27-03-2017, 06:44 PM
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A little known fact, by the steps down from Bisley Road are about five small hollows in the road which overtime keep subsiding and the council periodically come along and fill them in. They were holes made for girders as part of the WW2 anti tank defences of Amble.
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Old 27-03-2017, 07:02 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hollydog View Post
A little known fact, by the steps down from Bisley Road are about five small hollows in the road which overtime keep subsiding and the council periodically come along and fill them in. They were holes made for girders as part of the WW2 anti tank defences of Amble.

I have noticed them holes.
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Old 26-07-2017, 08:13 AM
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In the 1890s my great great grandfather, Joe Marriott, was a carter with the contract to dump the council's rubbish and he used the field at the bottom of the Wynd, which was owned by the Dands, to dump the ashes, etc. The tenant of the market garden and fields adjacent was a George Murray Turner and the two men appeared to have clashed about its use.
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Old 28-07-2017, 08:10 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hattle View Post
In the 1890s my great great grandfather, Joe Marriott, was a carter with the contract to dump the council's rubbish and he used the field at the bottom of the Wynd, which was owned by the Dands, to dump the ashes, etc. The tenant of the market garden and fields adjacent was a George Murray Turner and the two men appeared to have clashed about its use.
I recall conversations about Amble rubbish tips with my grandmother's uncle Anthony Richardson. Reason for such conversations was that when I was a young teenager in the 70s bottle digging was a hobby. Tipping at 'the bottom of the Wynd' was mentioned, being a distinct separate area from the Braid. I never made any progress in identifying where this precisely was. Anthony has been dead decades now so very interesting to hear your reference to this area.
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Old 28-07-2017, 08:13 PM
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We used to play there in the 1950s and early 60s. Johnny Grenfell's dad had the field and the stables at the bottom and as you say kept three or four horses in there.
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  #20  
Old 16-09-2017, 07:44 PM
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It was still known as Grenfells Field in the 60s and the stables were still in use up to the 70s, there was a coal depot on the same site run by McDonnell. The top part of the field where the gate is now was kept short enough by grazing horses to play football on, the surrounding nettles where head high (when I was 6 in '66). High St v Westfield was a regular game, no limit on numbers but you could only play for High St if you lived north of Scott St.
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