We’ve moved on from Nottingham and spent a lovely week in a village just outside Lincoln. Nettleham was so lovely. Lots of quaint stone houses, a beck and great, great company. We loved it.
This photo is Matthew on one of the little bridges over the beck. The whole village was wonderful.
The picture above is Lincoln cathedral. We really liked this and the city of Lincoln was an unexpected pleasure.
The remains of the city wall.
Now we have moved onto South Shields, where my paternal grandfather was born. My paternal grandmother was born nearby in Durham. These next few days we will explore. Today we walk into South Shields and maybe find the house where it began about 200 years ago. There are even some relatives nearby. Not sure I’ll meet them. The people are very friendly.
On BailWe did a big walk today down to Long Row but the house wasn’t the house but a 25 year old one. Later research revealed the Long Row had been subsumed into a wharf/ship building thing and the existing Long Row is just on the end of it. Also, Thrift Street was subsumed too and there was another relative there. We walked to St Hilda’s church hoping to find a cemetery but no graves were there. We walked to the churchyard and it was a car park (apparently the bodies were exhumed and it closed in 1855) and then went to another address but that was weird and I don’t think that house exists either. Then when we got back I did some research and the other place I wanted to find in Catherine Street is now a library. I should write a story about an unquiet carpark. Look, my relatives were poor so their houses don’t exist anymore. I was kind of sad. I haven’t give up hope of finding a grave but we will see.
This is a view of the Long Row but it is a newish construction and only part of the original, the original long row being absorbed into the dock expansion. It did give me an idea of how close they lived to the docks where by GGG grandfather was a stevedore in 1894. There is some historical photos which I’ll buy of these streets that don’t exist now.
A bit of trivia. My great grandfather was Alexander Hanson, but he was born after the other Alexander Hanson, his brother died at 15 months. Alexander is one of those repeating names because Elizabeth Erichsen and John Hanson who married in 1834 both had fathers named Alexander.
The above is the local church I believe my ancestors went to. As discussed, no cemetary.
Also, snow was predicted and we got a short film of it. I think it then turned to sleet but excitement.
A view of Littlehaven beach where we are staying. That’s the head of the River Tyne.
I’m tacking on the trip to Newcastle yesterday. It’s an amazing place. Too short a time to explore and we walked so much. I did my Vera homage, and we went to the castle, the cathedral, the Milenium Bridge and did a M&C cafe lunch.
We walked up the Longstairs on our way back from the bridge.
Donna Maree Hanson, Author, Phd in Creative Writing 