This web-site contains the information I have been able to collect about the  ancestors of Ricky, Nancy and Tom Richardson.  Some of it is from documents and  photos which we got from Bill Wykes, and most of the rest is from censuses and birth,  marriage and death records which I have included here. It is usually quite easy to  track the families back in time from census records by matching names and ages. I  found maternal surnames from birth and marriage records. Alex Richardson's ancestors  all came from the borders, including some from Scotland - their surnames include  Thompson, Scott, Hall, Aris and Cow. Maggie's father's family came from central  Northumberland, and include Philipsons, Richardsons and Watsons.  Her mother was of  Irish descent and their surnames include Stafford and Corr.

Until the end of the 19th century, most of the ancestors were agricultural labourers. Exceptions  are Patrick Corr, who was Irish, joined the Army in 1811, fought in the Napoleonic wars before  moving to Cumberland, and James Stafford who came from Ireland after the famine in 1845 to become  a miner.  Towards the end of the 19th century, Thomas Richardson became the manager of a goose  farm, Andrew Thompson became a farm steward, and John Philipson was a brewer's drayman, and then a  corporation cartman.

John and I have visited many of these places in the last few years, and have taken photos. We were  only able to identify where they actually lived in one case (Lane House, Hawkwell), but the photos  give an idea of what the places were like. One thing that impressed us was how idyllic the  surroundings were.  They probably had to work very hard as agricultural labourers or miners to get  by, but at least they lived in beautiful places.

I have included all the relevant records which I have found.  The web-site calls these 'photos'  which is bit annoying!  It also asks for the date when photographs were taken, and I have given  the documents their original dates, and I have dated the photographs as being taken at the dates  when the ancestors lived there.