Wide Wednesday: "Historical"

Bobsblips's Widwed challenge for today (hosted by Steveng) is "historical".

My Editor and I wanted some exercise and she had some banking business in Gosforth, so we walked there & back and looked for a suitable blip subject on the way. We found a few suitable ones but this one (kindly pointed out by my wonderful Editor) won the day and prompted me to research it.

The modern-day centre of Gosforth, straddling the Great North Road (here called Gosforth High Street) originated in 1826 as a settlement known for several decades as “Bulman Village”. It was named after Job Bulman, a respected doctor who returned from India and built the now-demolished Coxlodge Hall as his home. The village originally consisted of a number of properties large enough to qualify occupiers for the franchise (so-called 'forty shilling freeholders' (£2)), built by the Bulman family in an attempt to provide voters for their cause in the 1826 elections!

The photo shows the Job Bulman pub which is just off the High Street and which occupies the former post office (built in 1928) which served Gosforth and district for more than 50 years. On becoming a pub it was named after Bulman. You'll see that I've popped an inset photo of the pub sign in the bottom right corner as you can't see it very clearly in the main photo.