'Gibson's', Front Street East, Bedlington

Introduction

The photograph on this page of 'Gibson's', Front Street East, Bedlington by Geoff Holland as part of the Geograph project.

The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.

There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk

'Gibson's', Front Street East, Bedlington

Image: © Geoff Holland Taken: 27 Sep 2022

Due to their links with the Bedlington Iron Works, the Gibsons were well known in the town. They were nail makers and, at their peak in the late 18th century, up to 12 men would sit astride anvils, cutting split iron from the works to make nails. One of the women of the family would carry a sack of nails 5 miles to market in Morpeth. The Market Cross in the town is often referred to as the nail, both due to its shape and in recognition of the importance of that this trade was to the town. Later, the Gibson’s dealt in hardware and even banking. Parts of the smart shopfronts, some of which have been converted for housing, survive in this sand-built terrace.

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0

Image Location

coordinates on a map icon
Latitude
55.129345
Longitude
-1.590337