High Newton - Joiners' Arms

The Joiners' Arms

High Newton-by-the-Sea

Joiners' Arms c.2022

The building that is now home to the Joiners' Arms dates back over 200 years, but it wasn't originally the Joiners'. In a village where the other two pubs referenced the sea and the mariners and fishermen living in the village, the Joiners' started out under another name, the 'Plough Inn', in reference to the farming community in this part of Northumberland. How long the pub had been known by that name is unknown, but in 1841 James Potts and his wife Mary were running the Plough, as the census record below attests.

1841 Census - Plough Inn James Potts

1860 OS Map

I believe the 'Plough' was a rather short-lived affair, as it does not appear on historical records after 1841 and the man behind the subsequent naming of the pub, a George Geggie was already living in High Newton with his family then, working as a joiner. He was born in Warkworth in 1783, the son of a Henry Geggie and was to remain in High Newton until his death in 1863.

1841 Census - George Geggie

1851 Census - George Geggie

1858 Marriage of George Geggie Jnr. & Ann Summers

In 1858 George's son, George Jnr. married Ann Summers at the United Presbyterian Chapel in Embleton. The certificate above confirms that both father and son were 'master joiners' at that time and the Post Office directory of the same year listed George Geggie at the Joiners' Arms. I suspect the Geggie family ran the pub alongside the joinery business, as the directory records confirm the name was the 'Joiners' Arms', suggesting there was more than one joiner, although the census records only confirm the occupations of father and son as 'joiner' or 'carpenter', which we must assume was their primary source of income.

1858 Post Office Directory - George Geggie

1861 Census - George Geggie

By 1871 George Snr. had passed away leaving son George to bring his family up in the village. Whilst no longer living at the Inn, George was living close by, as the census below confirms, and the Joiners' Arms was being run by a local man, John Botton, who was a 'cooper' by trade. Listed next door to George was James Blair, a fisherman, who had been running the Fisherman's Arms in Newton Seahouses 10 years before and who would become the landlord here by 1881.

1871 Census - John Botton

Prior to James Blair taking over at the Joiners', a John Bell was there for a short stint in the late 1870s.

1879 Kelly's Directory - John Bell

1881 Census - James Blair Snr.

Account of the death of James Blair Snr. in1883

By 1871 James and Hannah Blair had moved from the Fisherman's Arms in Newton Seahouses to Newton village itself (High Newton) and his sole occupation was 'fisherman'. Sometime before 1881 they moved into the Joiners' Arms, and by 1881 he was shown as both a 'fisherman and publican'. Tragedy struck on 1st December 1883 when he was claimed by the sea. He and John Patterson put out to Dunstanburgh to haul in their lobster nets. A heavy wave hit their boat washing James and an oar overboard and knocking John over. With only one oar John could not control the boat and his attempts to reach James failed. John lost consciousness but fortunately his boat drifted to shore and he was found. James' body was not discovered until 18th December on rocks near Dunstanburgh. His inquest the following day, ironically held at the Joiners' Arms, which he knew only too well returned a verdict of 'accidentally drowned'. His son James then took over the running of the pub and is shown on the 1891 census below living with his family and widowed mother, Hannah Blair.

1889 Electoral Roll - James Blair Junior

1891 Census - James Blair Jnr.

Nearly 10 years after his father's death James Blair Jnr. moved on from the Joiners', and Ellen McKenzie, who had been running a grocer's shop in the village in 1891 took over the pub. Ten years earlier Ellen and her husband Daniel had been living in nearby Long Houghton, Daniel working as a 'Cooper' but she had moved to Newton village in early 1891 after Daniel's death and three years later she was running the Inn.

1894 Kelly's Directory - Ellen McKenzie

On 12th September 1895 Ellen married a local man, James Carss at Saint Nicholas, Newcastle Upon Tyne (the cathedral) and together they ran the pub.

1896 Kelly's Directory

1901 Census Ellen Carss

Sadly, James Carss died in late 1900, and the 1901 census saw Ellen running the pub on her own. Shortly afterwards she retired from the business and moved in with her nephew John Boon and his family in Christon Bank.

1911 Census Summary - Middlemiss

When George Middlemiss was running the pub in 1911 it's interesting to note that James Blair Jnr. was still living in the village next door to the pub, working as an 'Inshore Coast Fisherman' taking after his father.

1911 Census - George Middlemiss

Three years later George had returned to a life of farming but remained in the village until his death in 1929. 1914 saw another landlord behind the bar, William Graham, but following WW1, in 1921, directory records confirm the landlady was Miss Margaret Forrest.

1914 Kelly's Directory - William Graham

1921 Kelly's Directory -Margaret Forrest