Genealogy Chat

caroline... i am having the same trouble with my searching... especially when my ancesters all have common names..... :-D

Oh your ancestors were Mackems ?
poor lass

You will find Sunderland at the mouth of the river Wear. It is a very old industrial town in County Durham. There are other nearby towns which despite being famous fail to attract tourists, Jarrow , Gateshead, South Shields. Gateshead was doing ok for tourists thanks to its famous car park ( "Get Carter" ) until some turnip head decided to demolish it.

Durham town is a fine old place with a university, famous prison/castle and the oldest cathedral in England.

On the other side of the River Tyne is Newcastle. The Geordies can always be relied upon to give Mackems a warm welcome. So friendly are the two cities that the government decided to take a lump of Northumberland and a piece of Co Durham and call it Tyne and Wear tho' Geordies have other names for it.

Newcastle ( leave out the "t" ) always ply Mackems with their lovely beer, Newcastle brown.

As well as "Get Carter" ( based on "Our Friends In The North" ) there is a TV series about Tyneside in the 1920s called "When the Boat Comes In" which you can find on YouTube ( stars James Bolam as Jack Ford) which will tell you a lot about Sunderland.

G e o r d i e l a n d N a t i o n a l A n t h e m

( this is updated to modern verse as needed on match days but would break T&C for this web site lol )

Ah me lads, ye shud only seen us gannin',
We pass'd the foaks upon the road just as they wor stannin';
Thor wes lots o' lads an' lasses there, all wi' smiling faces,
Gawn alang the Scotswood Road, to see the Blaydon Races.

We flew past Airmstrang's factory, and up to the "Robin Adair",
Just gannin' doon te the railway bridge, the 'bus wheel flew off there.
The lasses lost their crinolines off, an' the veils that hide their faces,
An' aw got two black eyes an' a broken nose in gan te Blaydon Races.

When we gat the wheel put on away we went agyen,
But them that had their noses broke they cam back ower hyem;
Sum went to the Dispensary an' uthers to Doctor Gibbs,
An' sum sought out the Infirmary to mend their broken ribs.

Noo when we gat to Paradise thor wes bonny gam begun;
Thor was fower-an-twenty on the 'bus, man, hoo they danced an' sung;
They called on me to sing a sang, aw sung them "Paddy Fagan",
Aw danced a jig an' swung my twig that day aw went to Blaydon.

We flew across the Chain Bridge reet into Blaydon toon,
The bellman he was callin' there, they call him Jackie Broon;
Aw saw him talkin' to sum cheps, an' them he was pursuadin'
To gan an' see Geordy Ridley's concert in the Mechanics' Hall at Blaydon.

The rain it poor'd aw the day an' myed the groons quite muddy,
Coffy Johnny had a white hat on - they war shootin' "Whe stole the cuddy."
There wes spice stalls an' munkey shows an' aud wives selling ciders,
An' a chep wiv a hapenny roond aboot, shootin' "Noo, me lads, for riders."

(Chorus)

Oh! me lads, ye shud a' seen us gannin,
Passin' the folks upon the road just as they were stannin'.
Thor wis lots o' lads and lasses there, all wi' smiling faces
Gannin' alang the Scotswood Road to see the Blaydon Races.

Try under Northumberland.or just Durham.

Can just imagine when all the boundaries changed and the counties got on their little legs and wandered about aimlessly for a while :-S

I doubt that you will find "Tyne and Wear" mentioned on any older records as this is a relatively new name for the area - but you should find Sunderland under Co. Durham. This is sometimes under "C" for County Durham, and sometimes under "D" for Durham.

Kath. x

Sunderland is in Tyne & Wear, but used to be in Co Durham.
It hasn´t moved ;-) the county boundries & county name were changed in the 70s.

I'm having trouble searching for my ancestors. On various census it mentions Sunderland, County Durham Tyne and Wear.

Are these places ones that changed which counties they belonged to as on some websites when it asks for a county there is no mention of the above 3 on the drop down boxes.

What area of the country would these places belong to now?

Thanks :-S