Day 45 - Hawick to Blyth

20 May 2023

The weather Gods definitely smiled on us today – it has been hot and sunny all day, and perfect conditions for our drive into England. Mum’s 3^rd Gt Grandmother is a very mysterious lady called Christiana Gray. According to the family bible she was born on 18 Jan 1812, and based on the 1851 census, in Coldstream, Scotland. To date we have been unable to identify who her parents might be, or identify her baptism, so she has become a bit of a ‘brick wall’. Today Mum and I decided to visit Coldstream before we left Scotland, just to get an idea of the area where Christiana might have come from. Coldstream is a delightful village perched on the edge of the River Tweed. As we stood in the gardens on the bank of the river, we were looking across to England (at this point the border is in the middle of the river), and over to where the Battle of Flodden was fought. Such a lovely spot, and we met very friendly people, both locals and visitors. The Coldstream Guards who are responsible for the protection of the monarchy were founded here, and Mum and I had a bit of fun playing dress ups in the museum. We even found some ‘Grays’ listed on an old map in the museum, so there is yet more research to do.

We crossed the border and had a typical English lunch of scones with clotted cream in a very busy town called Warkworth, complete with its own castle of course. From Warkworth on, there seemed to be a steady stream of traffic, with everyone out enjoying the lovely weather. This suited me because I am quite happy to sit in behind other cars and not feel rushed. As we continued south we took a bit of a detour to check out the coast at Druridge Bay – a sweeping, sandy beach with sand dunes covered in marram grass, that reminded Mum very much of Waitarere Beach in New Zealand.

 

Bottom photos are of Druridge Bay. Top right is at Coldstream looking across the river to England.

Mid afternoon we arrived in Blyth, where Mum’s Gt Grandfather, John William Nichol, was born in 1865. John’s parents moved the family to New Zealand in 1880, though no one is really sure why because they seemed to have been prospering and very well thought of in Blyth. Yet another family mystery! We had a wander around Blyth and saw both Bridge St and Waterloo St where the Nichol family had lived, then headed down to the harbour. The river is very wide here and it was easy to imagine the collier brigs loading at the wharves. There is a new housing development down at the wharves and they had an open home, so Mum and I went ‘information gathering’. The home was 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bath, water views, three stories high with the master bedroom and a balcony on the top floor. The finishing was of an excellent standard, and it felt very spacious. Cost is 255,000 pounds, which seemed very reasonable when compared with Brisbane prices, though I’m not sure what the wages are like here.

We finished off the afternoon with an ice cream in the sunshine in a large park with lots of children and dogs playing. Bliss!

Clockwise from top left: looking across Blyth harbour; the Blyth Library which possibly was the building that housed the Mechanics Institute (of which John William Nichol was the chairman); Bridge St; Ridley Park in Blyth.

We are staying tonight in a very welcoming pub in Blyth, and then will head down to Newcastle tomorrow.