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Powburn - Sound
Oral History Recording of Margaret Carr (22nd March 1978)
Transcription of an interview with Margaret Carr recorded on the 22nd March 1978
Margaret Carr was born at Hartford, near Bedlington, in 1911. During the full interview she recalls her family life, and life in general at Hartford from 1916 to 1925. She talks also of her move to the Rothbury and Whittingham areas. She also recalls stories of individuals living in the Powburn area.
During this extract Margaret Carr recalls the tale of one Powburn resident, who was blighted by the boys in the village playing tricks on him. He hatched a plan to catch the boys but not everything went according to plan.
[Transcription]
The lads in the village used to torment him. Winter nights you see, and Ernie would have his horse in the stable put away and ready to start the next night.
So in he went and got the horse yoked up and then he went to yoke it into the cart, the cart wasn't there, the flat cart, and he had such a hunt for it, and here it was, the lads had pulled it down and it was standing in the Breamish, that was the river that ran through the village, so he had to get it, and this happened quite a few times. So he said to his wife "I'll fetal them tonight".
He got some strong twine and he fastened it around the spokes of the wheel you see, and then he threaded it through the keyhole, and you see in those days nearly everybody had a bed in the kitchen. So, and he had the bars of the bed so he put the string through there and then when he got to bed, he tied the string around his ankle. So he went to sleep you see and then all of a sudden the cart was moving and so was Ernie, because he was getting pulled down the bottom of the bed, and you see his foot went through the rung you see, and he's away down, and he shouts to his wife "for gods sake Sarah cut the string or they'll have us through the keyhole".
This tape recording comes from the large collection of oral history recordings held by the Northumberland Archive Service. Interviews were conducted by Record Office staff from the early 1970's right through until the mid 1980's. The purpose of the recordings was to capture the essence of life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many different subjects were covered, including coalmining, farming, fishing, domestic life, World Wars and entertainment. Over 350 recordings have been collected comprising approximately 700 hours of recollections.