Amble Bronze age cist

[Coquet]

Originally Posted by janwhin

Do you think the "Giant's Cave" became known as that because of the finding of the skeleton? The descriptions of his bones suggest that he was very tall. In fact when did it get the name.....I've always known it as that, so that's at least a hundred years

Didn't think of that. Quite possible there is a connection in the name.
Regarding quarrying on that side; I'll have to have a look to see if there are any traces left - tool marks etc. Never noticed anything before. Of course I always thought it was all natural on that side.

[janwhin]

What's been confusing me are the references to the South Pier. It seems that this was the name given to what I know as the breakwater rather than the continuation of the pier, opposite the North Pier

But, there is no South Pier/breakwater on the 1860 map of Amble at Northumberland Communities, only the "pier" or South Jetty.

[Coquet]

Yes it's the concrete and stone breakwater they refer to. The Wooden South Jetty or Pier is a 20th Century addition.

here it is on a card someone has on Flickr:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/4326990...dovews-hGTcMa/


Don't know what date that is but the little east pointing extension to it is under construction I think.

[Coquet]

on that Fickr card there appears to be a building on the extreme left - east of Cliff House, must be perched right on the cliff edge.

[janwhin]

Originally Posted by Coquet

Yes it's the concrete and stone breakwater they refer to. The Wooden South Jetty or Pier is a 20th Century addition.

here it is on a card someone has on Flickr:

-Don't know what date that is but the little east pointing extension to it is under construction I think.

I believe the south pier/breakwater was rebuilt by about 1905 so I guess that is the date for the card.

[Northern Light]

Originally Posted by Coquet

on that Fickr card there appears to be a building on the extreme left - east of Cliff House, must be perched right on the cliff edge.

Is that not the Salt Pans Coquet

[Northern Light]

Originally Posted by Coquet

Didn't think of that. Quite possible there is a connection in the name.
Regarding quarrying on that side; I'll have to have a look to see if there are any traces left - tool marks etc. Never noticed anything before. Of course I always thought it was all natural on that side.

I think any tool marks etc will have been erroded by now Coquet. However we have noted railway tracks extending down onto the beach in a previous thread. Could this be connected?

[Coquet]

Originally Posted by Northern Light

Is that not the Salt Pans Coquet

Yes you're right! I was sitting here thinking it must be part of the coastguard buildings at cliff house. But now you mention it it is the salt pans.

[Coquet]

Originally Posted by Northern Light

I think any tool marks etc will have been erroded by now Coquet. However we have noted railway tracks extending down onto the beach in a previous thread. Could this be connected?

Yes we noted a rail track laid around that area.

I can't find that thread again

[Northern Light]

Originally Posted by Coquet

Yes we noted a rail track laid around that area.

I can't find that thread again

There was a link to Township of Amble Plan in the Mystery History Photo thread.

[Coquet]

Originally Posted by Northern Light

There was a link to Township of Amble Plan in the Mystery History Photo thread.

got it - it was this map:



http://communities.northumberland.gov.uk/009164FS.htm


I've compared that with Google earth and I'm none the wiser!

[Morph]

Originally Posted by hollydog

It must be refering to the landward end, and quarrying to that north face around the giant's cave makes sense. My only other thoughts were that the area changed totally with the dredging of the harbour and the deepening of the channel for shipping led to the expanse of rocks we see at low tide

Dont forget that the river changed course too, so at some point there would have been dry land at the end of the South Pier.

[leslie]

River changed cours 1746 , the 1840 map could be of line cross river to North Pier under construction , natural basin becoming harbour to south as we know it ,, I would think the tracks would be for horse drawn ????? will stand corrected though , on the post card there is visible what looks like a derrick to west of cliff house where quarry would be,

[janwhin]

Originally Posted by Coquet

got it - it was this map:



http://communities.northumberland.gov.uk/009164FS.htm


I've compared that with Google earth and I'm none the wiser!

This map is oddly aligned, I need to turn sideways to try and work it out. The river seems to be running out to sea below what is now Bay View but they did a heck of a lot of straightening during construction of the harbour.

[Alan J.]

Correct jan whin, the river apparently ran along what is now Leezes street, Ladbroke street and out about the Bay view/ little shore area before the harbour was formed. This is in the process of being done on the 1840 map as the North breakwater is underway and you can see wagonways from Amble side over to the North side presumably to transport the stone etc.

[Coquet]

I've laid the old map over google earth map. Tried to line up three points; north pier, radcliffe railway line and cliff house area.

Some interesting things become apparent:

The rail track for the north pier construction stone ran along where Ladbroke/ Newburgh/Leazes street were to be built, with the high water mark right up against it.

Everything north of the rail track was tidal estuary or river channel

Marine Road, Newburgh and Percy Street are laid on the old roads to the links

The first part of Leslie Drive follows and old boundary in Smith's land.

The 'gut' has been moved north (The Archaeological investigation for the proposed Tesco site does state that the land is 'made' (Campbell Smiths land.)

There was a boundary stone at about the junction of Lawson Street and Coquet? Street (corner of the new Town Square)


Base map Copyright Google.

[Coquet]

Runciman Way has a river through the middle of it.

[hollydog]

That is a great piece of work! I often wondered how accurate the old map makers were and being able to overlay the points mentioned confirms they had a reasonably good surveying method,
Re: quarrying - Can we assume that the North Pier has stone from the north face of where Cliff House stands? the railway certainly seems to suggest this

[Alan J.]

Right hollydog, according to McAndrews the stone for both piers was procured from the Pan Haven Rocks and afterwards from the quarry near the cliff. A gangway was constructed from the rocks and a small puffing billy, one of the first of it's kind conveyed the stones to the pier. The material for the North pier was taken over the river on a bridge constructed a little above the present brickworks ( now between the Marina and the boatyard ). A few years hence the stones were proved to be ill-suited for such use and had to be replaced using granite from Scotland. It also states that the North pier had always been a cause of concern to the commissioners owing to the force of the North East storms. To add to this there had to be further reinforcement on a fairly major scale in the mid 1980's .

[Coquet]

I thought we might see something different around cliff house on this 1838 one but the contour looks the same. So there must have been a platform or shelf that was cut away around the current cliffs of Cliff House. In that platform was the bronze age grave - even though the maps are suggesting it is below the high water mark, which seems odd.