Blyth

History of Blyth: A Comprehensive Study

1. Introduction to Blyth

Blyth, once lovingly called “green moste merrie towne”, stands as an excellent sample for a town of great historical and social appeal. The town of Blyth, it must be admitted, is an indescribable wilderness compounded from a dearth of written records, yet it is a community that at once both reflects and surpasses the contemporary norm; one that richly merits the diligent attention which so few have rendered it.

The history of Blyth, at a preliminary glance, may conveniently be divided into eight main themes, each of which is studied in its respective chapter. The eight main themes may be summarized as follows:

The Pre-Anglo-Saxon Blyth. A Time to Reap and a Time to Sow: The Anglo-Saxon and Norman Blyth. Sedentary Crafts and Pedestrian Trades: Life in Blyth During the Middle Ages. From Ox-Humps and Cart Gears: Blyth During the Fourteenth to Sixteenth Centuries. Rent, Riches and Roses: Blyth From the Late Sixteenth to the Mid-Nineteenth Centuries. Four Times Four and Twice Again: The Development of Community in Blyth, 1340–1865. Tiny Spikes of Light Were in Vincent’s Eyes: The Development of Industry in Blyth, 1600–1865. The UK’s Most Dominant Small Seaport and What Lies Beyond: Life in Nineteenth Century Blyth.

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The town of Blyth’s dramatic social and industrial development was critically determined by the transition of economic activities and systems. This meant that the economy turned from providing for self-subsistence to a trading system. While this twin alteration of economy and trade held its social operative agency, it was also significantly augmented by other social developments. These included notable shifts in the demographic, regulatory, commercial, industrial, and geopolitical sectors that together (and often mutually) influenced change which impacted the changes within the local social dynamic. However, it is not the intention of this study to discuss the overt and apparent historical sacrosanctity of these factors directly and superficially. It is the intention to interpret them in context with the local and intimate details, duly appreciated in the environment and society in which they were part.

1.1. Geographical Location and Significance

One brave soul stood up earlier. No time is particularly good to be a singer, but the silence and reverent expecting gazes testify to the fact that this may perhaps be the most favorable opportunity for me to talk to you about Blyth: History. Comprehensive Study. Let’s start from Northumberland County in the historic region called North of Tyne. After wandering through woods, fields, and pastures, I finally arrive at the coast of the North Sea. Blyth is a small market town in South East Northumberland County with a population of 35,818 in the 2001 Census. Although small in size, Blyth lies at a very strategic position at the mouth of the River Blyth.

The River Blyth drains a substantial catchment extending 1,044 km² and includes former mining and heavy industrialized zones within close vicinity to the river channel. The lowland section of the river has been extensively engineered, with some straightening and embanking occurring in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This lowland reach typically exhibits morphological forms that are characteristic of embanked, canalized rivers. At its southern banks, Blyth is bordered by the North Sea. Tynemouth and Whitley Bay are to the south, while the towns of Bedlington, Cramlington, and Seaton Sluice are to the west. Further to the west and north lies Morpeth. Blyth is about 12 miles northeast of Newcastle upon Tyne and approximately 5 miles south of the county’s border with North Tyneside. The region is characterized by its extreme natural beauty and water-based infrastructure, making Blyth a focal point of this region. Throughout history, the selection of settlement areas has largely revolved around water-based facilities. The region went through a number of substantial historical changes dating back to the Bronze Age.

2. Early Settlement and Development

Blyth is, now and undoubtedly in the past, the most convenient place locally to cross the Blyth estuary between southeast Northumberland and the remainder of the county. There is clear albeit sketchy evidence of settlement in the immediate vicinity going back well over two millennia, the result of a complex history of environmental change, settlement patterns, and social and economic dynamics over this time. In this chapter, we set out to summarize all that is currently known about early settlement and its development, albeit in a necessarily sketchy fashion. In the prehistoric period, long-term human settlement of the Blyth region was largely focused on the lower, more easily accessible river valleys, predominantly that of the Blyth River itself. Within these valley systems, settlement was predominantly in association with the modern-day coast, particularly with regards to the later prehistory and the Iron Age. Roman occupation and administration resulted in a significant constriction of career patterns into a series of nucleated farmsteads situated in the upland edge zones of the Blyth River around Plessey, while the remainder of the valley was provided with low-level amenity improvements. The drainage, enclosure, and introduction of agricultural inputs led to a more broadly distributed settlement shift down into the valley fringe and floodplain. The impact of the Roman occupation on the Blyth Valley and evidence of these periods is concentrated within that half of the AONB lying either side of the Blyth between Sleekburn and Greenside. The development of early post-Roman Blyth remains diverse and much less well understood. Environmental and socio-economic factors appear to principally influence the development and extent of settlement in the East and Southwest parts of the study area respectively, where a number of farmsteads and other settlements access the mineral, water, and land resources of their respective settings. The village form of post-Roman settlements in forest fringes is also developing into a clearly defined pattern of linear settlements and trackway alignments, which may become equally significant in the coming brief medieval period. Of the remains excavated, they represent early Saxon in age but produce evidence of the two main phases of early Anglo-Saxon history in the Blyth Valley: fair activity in the late 6th and 7th/8th centuries, and do demonstrate a trend from, in literal terms, a farmyard or barnyard site to a linear village or hamlet. Some of these farmyards or small hamlets have evidence for occupation from the pre-8th century phase, the 8th century, and into the 9th century; in effect, we see the establishment of what would one day be assumed to be full English tenanted villages of early medieval times. In physical terms, this growth or development occurs in two parts during the early Anglo-Saxon period: during the late 6th and 7th centuries, when the more dispersed or one-off small settlements began to move around to the relatively standardized planform produced by an east-west principal street with smaller enclosures spreading out along each side, and occasionally further enclosures extending southwards. The second part, when this process was largely complete, appears to have been in the 8th century and into the 9th century. This process represents change occurring in two discrete phases ideal for this type of investigation. The initial settlement concentration in the 6th-8th century AD period is small and not widespread, being in an area bounded by the main Roman artery from the south and its cross birch from the other side of the estuary manifest today in the industrial complex of Cambois.

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2.1. Prehistoric and Roman Periods

The period of Blyth’s history under examination here stretches back into prehistory, and we are reliant almost entirely on archaeology for information about this time. Early human occupation in the Blyth area is likely, as tools of the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods have been found in surrounding areas. From about 2500 BC, the Neolithic period saw the beginning of intensive human occupation in the area. Definite evidence of this period survives as long barrows at Egmanton and Scrooby. In addition, a linear earthwork was discovered on the MOD land, although only that part on the north side of the Common Lane could be surveyed. Due to the scarcity of evidence and the time period covered in this section, Blyth’s prehistoric and early historic archaeology will span from c. 7000 BC to AD 410, following the second century AD covering the Roman period.

From the evidence of finds, it would appear that the open areas to the west of Blyth have been farmed since these early times. That some farming of the land was undertaken is attested to by the numerous finds of stone axes in the area. Farming would have been quite intensive around the ancient water courses, as the remains of some strip fields from these periods were discovered to the north of the A631, with a scatter of prehistoric pottery shards suggesting a settlement nearby. The landscape would not have been entirely made up of open fields. With the appearance of tropical or subtropical climates, the area around Blyth had for some time been subjected to climatic changes resulting in swampy bogland well into the Roman period. The Romans were the first to officially govern Blyth, as Blyth appears on the Antonine Itinerary as Danvm. Roman traders appear to be bringing objects and goods from central and southern England and Wales, and also on longer trade routes from the continent through and into the Pennines. Two small Roman forts labeled “A” and “B” have been identified as part of the series of Roman fortifications that guarded traffic along the Burham road that connected Lincoln and Doncaster.

3. Medieval and Tudor Eras

The Norman Conquest ushered in a new era of Blyth’s history. Following the sudden expansion of community life into the inhospitable natural waste, there was a gradual process of consolidation and abandonment during the 11th and early 12th centuries, which resulted by 1166 in a newly coherent community and a village centered on a new estate of only four knights’ fees. Around the same time, we can also place the settlement of the prior of Guisborough as an established territorial authority responsible to his lord. Thus, internally and externally, Blyth was now a settled constellation of people and places. Three years after this reconstitution as a vill, Blyth was reckoned a manor, under the control of Roger of Poitou and in a state of economic prosperity. By the later Middle Ages, Blyth was a landed estate, a commercial center of a market and fair, and a populous community subject to the ministrations of a fixed court. It is likely that Blyth was densely populated in 1377; from the sum paid in taxes, it is possible to say that the population range could be between 361 and 441, and when one included young children, a number that might attest to a high number of households. Unlike Tuxford or Harworth, Blyth’s prime source of wealth was trade. Local officials reported lace, tanned leather, and heavy cloth as the main exports, indicating a market in locally produced woolen textiles. Reliance on trade and the ups and downs of the cloth trade made Blyth one of a number of areas where economic stress led to the unrest known as the Peasants’ Revolt. In Blyth, villagers killed royal commissioners and other tenants of the Priory to put pressure on the Prior, who was their lord, to meet their demands. The village was fined over ten thousand pounds, with the consequent depopulation of the village lasting into the first half of the 15th century. In the 1475 tax assessment, Blyth was termed ‘poor’.

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3.1. Influence of the Church

In a medieval village, the church was not just the place of worship but an important institution in its own right. It provided the glue for the organization of society. Law and order were dealt with under canon law, ecclesiastical courts having jurisdiction over the village until the 16th century. It was also a local government and taxation authority and was responsible for dealing with the sick and poor. The clergy of the church were part of the social elite, and the church was at the hub of the village. The size and splendor of a church was a reflection of the wealth of the area and the villagers’ priorities. In Blyth, that picture can only have been a fine edifice in the Middle Ages. Blyth had its own Early English collegiate church with a dean and seven canons nonetheless.

The church set the community’s timetable and must have played a central role in the cultural life of the village. Added to this, the massive expenditure on pilgrimage made a huge part of the popular religious diet. The visitation suggested that most collections were being made of the Easter Sepulchre from Good Friday to Easter and of various lights being brought into church at periods throughout the year. The church was a powerful economic organization in Blyth, its priory having a manor house with its chapel, fulling mill, water mills, and the advantages of dyke and marsh lands. Tithes were collected on all the agricultural produce and wool of the area. Income to the Bishop of York, the Archbishopric, and Rome could be as much as 27 pounds a year; it could, in the years of a thriving Blyth, probably be more. In the time of Edward II, the priory owned 50 acres of wood, pigs were farmed in Sherwood Forest, tea was imported, and the king had its own special tavern. The number of Edwardian medieval wills that list the priory suggest that there was a close working relationship between villages. On the other hand, it paid a heavy sublease equally at the discretion of its secular neighbor.

The priorities of the village and its church could at times conflict. This could happen, for example, if the rector at the priory in the mid-14th century, when land reclamation had become the major economic activity of the area, had refused for financial reasons to provide a suitable large lantern light to go in the church. This was only one conflict that did occur. No less than six royal visitations noted problems. The behavior of the local populus, church warden, and vicar created a huge row. In addition to being responsible for the parish church, the rural clergy also exercised certain economic resources. Details of local clergy were commissioned, mainly the Lay Subsidy Rolls, including Sacristry Dues in the Register of Blyth Priory, and there were over 300 years of Parson and Clerk 14th-century mortality figures from the burial register of Mishap. It gave the curious causes of local deaths in Blyth over the 18th and 19th centuries. The Lay Subsidy indicated that 2540 was obtained from Blyth at that time, and the religious practices of the villages and rural settings up to that time were present. The visitation is not available, but after that, the tour gave a snapshot for the year after Archbishop Laud was beheaded at previously unpublished work. The arrival of Laud was a welcome down period for the Puritan group.

4. Industrial Revolution and Growth

Following the pre-industrial centuries, Blyth experienced major changes during the Industrial Revolution. On a structural level, the move from an agrarian to an industrial economy transformed the area. Economic growth between 1800 and 1850 had profound effects on Blyth and its surrounding area. Population growth was taken as a given across industrializing Britain, and Blyth was no exception. The switch in the type of employment mirrored the national change from a pre-industrial agrarian society towards a more industrial urban one in which industry was commercial and could exploit economies of scale. For Blyth and its hinterland, initial intensification in the post-1800 period broadly moved from land reclamation to the managerial controlled working of small reserves of coal.

Coal would form the mainstay of the Blyth Valley industries and create nested production in the areas around Blyth, giving impetus to the local economy. High levels of wages made their way into the hands of shipbuilding workers and local skippers. Therefore, during the first half of the nineteenth century in Blyth, there was a high demand for cheap labor combined with increasing levels of production of goods. In Blyth, the huge reserve of top-quality coal resulted in a high degree of coal mining over 25 square miles from the onset of commercially mined coal in 1801 to its peak in 1913/1914. Ships were needed to carry coal from the eight Blyth Staithes on the River Blyth to the rest of both Britain and the globe, as with the increasing production of coal, the transport of coal could be sped up at a lower cost than previous means. The Geordie was a wood-built flat at the front and curved at the rear and could carry 10–12 tonnes of coal. The Geordie savvy was the style of boat that had made the port of Blyth grow faster than the Port of Newcastle at this time. At Hetton Lyons Colliery in 1832, the Hetton Lyons cured a higher output than the same number of men at a pit in Durham.

The phenomenon that affected agencies engaging in carrying locally mined coals in pairs was to have great significance, and it would also be seen in Blyth where many of the ships were owned by partnerships. Several technical changes came about, which included the advent of iron-clad ships in 1859, accustomed innovators, and the next several years saw some changes in terms of transportation of coal as they prepared older wooden vessels for fitting for screw propellers. Many changes were in the pipeline in using men to man ships during the last fifty years of the pre-Depression period, 1860–1910. In the increasingly competitive global market, many socially innovative, better financed, and more technically innovative nations made extraordinarily radical changes to production. In Newcastle itself, in 1910, methods for sorting coal were finally eclipsed by coaling hoppers; they were the technological final end of manual labor in Newcastle quays coal handling. In the Blyth blended household of the managers and owners, they lived and were able to mix with other professions. The majority of their social contacts involved people and owners from the same social class and company as themselves. With the dominating spirit in Blyth being entrepreneurial, there were many self-entrepreneurs who soon rose; rising, for example, the shipbuilding and coal mining companies. Each of the blended households, ready to help support financially the company in difficult and challenging times, paid important contributions to their industries.

4.1. Coal Mining and Shipbuilding

Coal mining and shipbuilding are two of the primary industries that defined Blyth historically. The first large coal terminal in Blyth was opened after Parliament passed the Act. In 1848, a drought occurred, and in 1852, reconditioned colliery engines were reported to have produced an increase in drainage. Although no individual figures are available, it was suggested that millions of people were employed in coal mines across the country. In 1947, the industry was nationalized as numerous improvements were made over the next few years. In Blyth, economic health is perhaps more accurately proffered by the presence of generational industrial families, especially in businesses or enterprises such as coal mines and shipbuilding, which for decades formed the largest contributors to that health and employment.

The life of thousands of Blyth families was tied to the mine, though they did seek income-generating options with other employers nearby their hometown. As time progressed, Blyth evolved into a heavily industrialized town when both coal mining and shipbuilding operations expanded. To house the growing number of workers, a series of mining and shipbuilding communities were established in and around Blyth. The scale of collieries and the general Blyth workforce during these times were understandably not always of a humongous type; Blyth was essentially a small seaside town before the industrial revolution. On the other hand, shockwaves were felt among Blyth’s workforce if but a single local job was eliminated, and the scale of these industries regularly attracted new workers to Blyth from other towns or cities in the United Kingdom. Commercial and retail enterprises were naturally indirectly affected by the influx of miners and their families. Ultimately, Blyth would greet colliery and shipyard workers from many local counties of Northumberland, including Durham and Cumberland. Now, though, house and flat construction by Blyth workers has halted, and the black dust from at least too many collieries causes trade complaints, particularly from the neighborhoods of Blyth where miners live. With every coal shipload comes a mineful into Blyth Harbour, close to thousands of tons of Northumberland’s finest coal extracted and processed by skilled and experienced miners, heaved from seams at great personal danger using the most sophisticated and labor-saving machinery under the earth. The under and above the surface businesses provide work for no less than three thousand skilled workers, family men, and over six thousand if you count those deemed marginally skilled. All of these auxiliary businesses have been erected from the surrounding estate of Blyth, Cambois to Woodhorn. It’s all good for the bottom line of our good harbour.

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5. Modern Blyth

The transformation of the British economy as a result of globalization, changing consumer habits, and technological developments has resulted in significant economic changes in Blyth over the last three decades. The traditional industries of coble building, mining, shipbuilding, and coal export have given way to a more diverse economic base. Both the public and private sectors are more involved in the delivery of services such as health and social care, retail, engineering, shared services, education, and R&D. There are a number of new sectors developing in the local economy, such as renewable energy; both the manufacturing of offshore wind farm turbines and related supply chain developments, as well as the development of an offshore energy base. Both demographics and population changes have a socioeconomic impact on most communities. Over the last few decades, there has been a gradual increase in Blyth’s population size and changes in the occupational skills base. Many of the newcomers to the town are from nearby rural areas and are moving into new-build housing developments. Blyth and the surrounding communities have seen a wide range of capital investments. Significant sums of money have been invested in the redevelopment of Blyth’s town centers, for example, the Keel Row Shopping Centre and the Middleton Grange and Commissioners Quay development. A mixed accommodation development is planned to be built on the Commissioners Quay at the site of the former railway goods yard. Local amenities such as housing, schools, and healthcare provision are all changing to reflect customer preferences as well as wider social and economic changes. There is capital investment in the energy infrastructure with the ports at Blyth and Lynemouth exporting coal, timber, and biomass. There is capital investment in the delivery of services with new banding for continuing health care, investments in stable communities, sharing success in social care, and in the schools for the future. Having a bank and Green Award are all signs of having a successful harbor. The construction of the deep-water port has doubled the port revenue. Blyth has seen a 25% increase in visitor numbers. Blyth’s port and renewable energy developments have put the town ‘on the map’ with both national and international status as a UK and European hub for offshore energy.

5.1. Economic and Social Changes

The decline of traditional manufacturing industries in Blyth has affected the structure of the local labor market by reducing job opportunities in some sectors and creating openings in others. The shift out of traditional industries has also been paralleled by growth in some leisure and service-related sectors, such as retail, catering, health, and national market-goers seeking second homes. The knock-on effect of this is the closure of some traditional take-away locals, but with openings in others taking advantage of the eclectic mix of different races and needs. This has encouraged those of different cultures to open Asian take-aways and some African-Caribbean venues in the western end of the town, and Polish ex-store owners to open up other retail outlets. In general terms, the recent changes in economic linkages and the social and cultural diversification of the area coincide with general patterns in late modern consumer capitalism, namely the end of heavy industry, alongside service expansion and the decline of heavy manual labor. These changes are also connected with the combined impacts of late modern globalization and consumption patterns, and the role of public-private agencies in shaping local economies and societies. Three relatively recent types of planned initiatives have begun to influence economic and social change in the area. The first type includes the implementation of regeneration schemes, the resettlement of miners, the building of new houses and amenities, and the enhancement of the area through the cleanliness and neatness of the environment. The second is focused on the development of community and skills, whilst the third refers to the rejuvenation of small to medium industries and enters the realm of governance and partnerships that include relationships among local educational institutions, government agencies, voluntary associations, and local businesses. These varied processes of change have also been influenced by the repetition and experimentation of policies embarked upon by incoming representatives of political governance at local, regional, and national levels. New workers in the industries described, whose capital investments include varying degrees of cultural and symbolic backgrounds, have acted as resistors to complete acceptance of the rapid changes within work and communities in the area. Public policy at the same time has emphasized the role of education and re-training towards personal and social skills and post-industrial technological and professional traits as a partial answer to overcoming the loss of traditional industries and community coherence, to deal with what is considered the negative impact of capitalist competition on traditional industries and social fabric. Skill remains a key cultural capital in today’s employment, a source of advantage for individuals in the acquisition of the culturally embedded sense of empowerment, assertion, and manipulation of the opportunities and possibilities available outside the small community. This has become increasingly mediated by the need for technical knowledge. In the community, there is also the impact of volunteer and task force recruitment from management and other professionals who are willingly learning professional and personal skills; these are the ambassadors within the area for economic restructuring, skilled in community engagement and governance.

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