{{Short description|Village in Northumberland, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}} {{Use British English|date=August 2019}} {{Infobox UK place | |country = England |official_name= Cambois |coordinates = {{coord|55.145|-1.521|display=inline,title}} |label_position = left |population= |unitary_england = Northumberland |lieutenancy_england = Northumberland |region = North East England |constituency_westminster= Wansbeck |post_town= BLYTH |postcode_district= NE24 |postcode_area= NE |dial_code= 01670 |os_grid_reference= NZ305835 |static_image_name = Cambois Fishing Fleet^ - geograph.org.uk - 742398.jpg |static_image_caption = Cambois Fishing Fleet }}
'''Cambois''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|æ|m|ə|s}} {{Respell|KAM|əs}}) is a village in south-east Northumberland, England.<ref name=OS81>{{cite map|title=Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 81 ''Alnwick & Morpeth (Rothbury & Amble)''|ISBN= 9780319242094 |publisher=Ordnance Survey|date=2014}}</ref><ref name=OSGaz50>{{cite web|url=https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/opendatadownload/products.html|title=Ordnance Survey: 1:50,000 Scale Gazetteer|format=csv (download)|date= 1 January 2016|publisher=Ordnance Survey|website=www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk|accessdate=30 January 2016}}</ref> It is situated on the north side of the estuary of the River Blyth between Blyth and Ashington on the North Sea coast.
==Etymology== According to earlier scholarship, the etymon of the name is probably Gaelic ''cambas'' "bay, creek". However, the name could equally be from the Cumbric cognate of ''cambas'', *''camas'' "bend in a river, bay", which would fit with Cambois's location at the confluence of the Sleek Burn and the River Blyth. In either case, the spelling seems to have been influenced by French ''bois'' "wood".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Fox|first=Bethany|title=The P-Celtic Place-Names of North-East England and South-East Scotland (Appendix: Discussion of Individual Names)|date=2007|journal=The Heroic Age: A Journal of Early Medieval Northwestern Europe|issue=10|url=https://www.heroicage.org/issues/10/fox-appendix.html#Cambois}}</ref>
==History== Cambois was a township in Bedlingtonshire which, until 1844, was part of County Durham. It was a coal mining village from 1862 to week ending 20 April 1968 when Cambois Colliery closed.
Cambois is now closely related to the area known as North Blyth. The main commercial activity was the importation of alumina for the manufacture of aluminium at Lynemouth, but that smelter has now closed. Alumina is still imported and moved by rail to a smelter powered by the Lochaber hydroelectric scheme, near Fort William on the west coast of Scotland.
In 1883, the Coal Company gave a list of the property it owned, or leased:
{| class="wikitable" |- | North Blyth Staithes || 7 houses |- | Mr Moore, colliery Manager || 1 house |- | Mood & Scott || 2 houses |- | Stable Cottage || 1 house |- | Schoolmaster's House (at Boca Chica) || 1 house |- | Sea View || 12 houses |- | Quality Row || 18 houses |- | Sinker's Row || 20 houses |- | Chapel Row || 20 houses |- | Mawburn Terrace || 30 houses |- | Gee's Houses || 30 houses |- | Watergate || 29 houses |- | Cowgate || 26 houses |- | Bridge Street || 40 houses |- | Boca Chica || 46 houses |- | Boat House Terrace || 46 houses |- | Mr Freeman || 5 houses |- | New Cottages || 18 houses |- | Store Row || |- | Institute Row || 3 houses |}
==The Tute==
thumb|left|The Tute Before the closure of the colliery, the social centre of the village was the Miners Welfare Institute in Ridley Terrace. The present building, the fourth, dates from 1929, and was built following the destruction of an earlier institute in a fire. It had "a large billiards room, a library and news room, committee room, a 200 seater meeting room....There was a smoke room and lecture hall also, and films were also shown here." <ref>[https://www.northeastheritagelibrary.co.uk/features/cambois-miners-welfare-institute Cambois Miners Welfare Institute page in the Northeast Heritage Library]</ref>
In 2023, the building, which had been unused for more than a decade, was reopened as an arts centre and community hub, [https://thetute.uk/ The Tute], by the choreographer Esther Huss and her partner, the writer Alex Oates. The Guardian reported, "As well as Huss making her own work here, she runs a dance group, and Oates runs a writing group, shivering through the winter with no heating and scraping together funding to keep everything free."<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/apr/25/choreographer-mining-village-northumberland-dance-nation Lynsey Winship, '‘Mam, show us your interpretive dance!’ How a former mining village got into the groove', The Guardian, 25 April 2025]</ref>
The Tute hosts an annual Rude Health festival, launched in 2024, which offers a feast of "daring and anarchic performance" from "world class artists".<ref>[https://www.theatrevillage.co.uk/rude-health-festival-2025-brings-bold-theatre-dance-art-to-cambois-oct-dec-2025/ Theatre Village website report on the Rude Health Festival]</ref> Alex Oates told the Northumberland Gazette, "Our audience deserve the same calibre of work you’d see in London or Edinburgh, and we’re bringing it here! This season brings together bold new performances, reimagined community projects, and unforgettable stories told through dance, theatre, film, and celebration.”<ref>[https://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/news/rude-health-festival-returns-to-cambois-with-programme-of-world-class-art-and-performance-5343731 Hannah Fitzhugh, 'Rude Health Festival returns to Cambois with programme of world-class art and performance', Northumberland Gazette, 2 October 2025]</ref>
==Proposed gigafactory, then data centre== {{main|Britishvolt}} In December 2020, Cambois was confirmed as the location for a new Britishvolt battery manufacturing plant.<ref>{{cite news | title = £2.6bn Gigafactory planned for Blyth | first = Sam | last = Sheehan | url = https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-ev/--163-2-6bn-gigafactory-planned-for-blyth/43495 | publisher = Pistonheads | date = 11 December 2020 | access-date = 11 December 2020 }}</ref> In July 2021, plans for the £2.6bn gigafactory employing 3,000 people were approved, with the new plant to be located on former coalyards adjacent to the now-demolished power station in Cambois. It would produce lithium-ion batteries for the automotive industry.<ref name="Harrison-04Jul2021">{{cite news |last1=Harrison |first1=James |title=Northumberland gigafactory set to secure planning permission |url=https://www.business-live.co.uk/manufacturing/northumberland-gigafactory-set-secure-planning-20965692 |access-date=30 August 2022 |work=BusinessLive |date=4 July 2021}}</ref> Britishvolt appointed ISG as its construction partner who began work on clearing the site in late 2021.<ref name="Electrive">{{cite news |title=Britishvolt begins construction on Blyth factory |url=https://www.electrive.com/2021/09/07/britishvolt-begins-construction-on-blyth-factory/ |access-date=30 August 2022 |work=Electrive.com |date=7 September 2021}}</ref> In January 2022, the UK government, through its Automotive Transformation Fund, invested £100m in the Britishvolt project, alongside asset management company abrdn and its property investment arm Tritax,<ref name="Jolly-21Jan2022">{{cite news |last1=Jolly |first1=Jasper |title=Britishvolt gets £100m boost to build UK's first large-scale 'gigafactory' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/21/britishvolt-electric-car-battery-uk-gigafactory-blyth-jobs |access-date=30 August 2022 |work=Guardian |date=21 January 2022}}</ref> developing what was planned to be Britain's fourth largest building.<ref name="Whitfield-22Jan2022">{{cite news |last1=Whitfield |first1=Graeme |title=Britishvolt: how a start-up found £1.7bn to make gigafactory vision a reality |url=https://www.business-live.co.uk/manufacturing/britishvolt-how-start-up-found-22841761 |access-date=30 August 2022 |work=BusinessLive |date=22 January 2022}}</ref> However, construction work was halted in August 2022 amid funding concerns,<ref name="Lowe-16Aug2022">{{cite news |last1=Lowe |first1=Tom |title=ISG pauses work on £2.6bn car battery 'gigafactory' amid funding delays |url=https://www.building.co.uk/news/isg-pauses-work-on-26bn-car-battery-gigafactory-amid-funding-delays/5118799.article |access-date=30 August 2022 |work=Building |date=16 August 2022}}</ref> with manufacturing planned to start in mid-2025, more than a year later than initially planned.<ref name="Gayne-30Aug2022">{{cite news |last1=Gayne |first1=Daniel |title=Britishvolt delays production plans for 18 months on gigafactory set to be built by ISG |url=https://www.building.co.uk/news/britishvolt-delays-production-plans-for-18-months-on-gigafactory-set-to-be-built-by-isg/5118975.article |access-date=30 August 2022 |work=Building |date=30 August 2022}}</ref> On 17 January 2023, Britishvolt went into administration, and its factory site was put up for sale.<ref name="Jack-17Jan2023">{{cite news |last1=Jack |first1=Simon |last2=Nanji |first2=Noor |title=Britishvolt: UK battery start-up collapses into administration |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64303149 |access-date=17 January 2023 |work=BBC News |date=17 January 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-01-17 |title=Battery startup Britishvolt enters administration as rescue talks fail |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/17/britishvolt-expected-enter-administration-tuesday |access-date=2023-01-17 |work=The Guardian}}</ref> thumb|Winding wheel from the Old Cambois Colliery
Some 15 months later, the site was acquired for construction of a data centre,<ref name="BEN-15Apr2024">{{cite news |title=Blackstone to build one of Western Europe's largest data centres on former BritishVolt site |url=https://benews.co.uk/blackstone-to-build-one-of-western-europes-largest-data-centres-on-former-britishvolt-site/ |access-date=15 April 2024 |work=BE News |date=15 April 2024}}</ref><ref name="BBC-15Apr2024">{{cite news |last1=Denten |first1=Mark |last2=Manning |first2=Jonny |title=Plans for gigafactory ditched in favour of data centre |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cw4rx2zxy7wo |access-date=15 April 2024 |work=BBC News |date=15 April 2024}}</ref> ending hopes for thousands of manufacturing jobs in the region.<ref name="Jolly-15Apr2024">{{cite news |last1=Jolly |first1=Jasper |title=Britishvolt 'gigafactory' site sold for £110m to US private equity firm |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/apr/15/britishvolt-gigafactory-site-sold-110m-us-private-equity-firm-blackstone-data-centre-northumberland |access-date=15 April 2024 |work=Guardian |date=15 April 2024}}</ref> However, plans submitted in December 2024 envisaged development of up to 10 data centre buildings totalling up to 540,000sq m, representing an investment of up to £10bn, with 1,200 long-term construction jobs plus employment in the data centres.<ref>{{cite news |title=Plans go in for £10bn Northumberland data centre |url=https://www.acenet.co.uk/news/infrastructure-intelligence/plans-go-in-for-10bn-northumberland-data-centre |access-date=4 December 2024 |work=Infrastructure Intelligence |date=4 December 2024}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://thetute.uk/ The Tute website] {{Commons category-inline|Cambois}}
{{Coastal settlements |place = Northumberland |settlement = Cambois |anticlockwise = Newbiggin-by-the-Sea |clockwise = North Blyth }}
{{authority control}}
Category:Villages in Northumberland Category:Populated coastal places in Northumberland Category:Northumberland places with etymologically Brittonic names