Heddon-on-the-Wall Local History Society
  • Home
  • Calendar
  • Introduction
  • Where are we?
  • History Map
  • Timeline
    • Prehistoric
    • AD43 to 1599
    • 1600 to 1799
    • 1800 to 1899
    • 1900 to 1999
    • 2000 to 2099
  • Heddon's History
    • Prehistory
    • Hadrian's Wall >
      • Vallum excavation (1893)
      • Hadrian's Wall excavation 1926
      • Wall ditch, Bays Leap (1958)
      • Hadrian’s Wall: Archaeological research by English Heritage 1976-2000
      • Throckley & Heddon entanglements
      • WallWatch
      • English Heritage (2020)
      • Wardell-Armstrong Archaeolgy Reports
      • Historic England Archives
    • Six townships >
      • 1 Heddon township >
        • Heddon in the Middle Ages
        • Common Land
        • Middle Marches
        • Tithe Award
        • St Andrew's Church >
          • Stained Glass Windows
          • Churchyard
          • Monuments of church & churchyard (1991)
          • Monuments Page 2
          • Vicars of Heddon
        • Village property
        • Heddon Hall >
          • Sale of Heddon Hall 2012
        • Heddon Banks Farm
        • Frenchman's Row
        • Methodist Church >
          • Heddon Methodist Church Centenary 1877-1977
        • Men's Institute
        • Women's Institute
        • Welfare Field
        • Knott Memorial Hall
        • Memorial Park
        • Schools
        • River Tyne
        • Coal Mining
        • Quarrying
        • Water Supplies
        • Transport
        • Waggonway & Railway
        • Occupations from 1800
        • Miscellaneous
      • 2 West Heddon township
      • 3 East Heddon township
      • 4 Houghton & Close House township >
        • Close House
      • 5 Eachwick township
      • 6 Whitchester township
    • Rudchester
  • People
    • Sir James Knott
    • Cadwallader J. Bates
    • Richard Burdon
    • Hugh Sinclair (Tim) Swann
    • George Clark
  • Old Photos
    • Postcards
    • Old photos 1
    • Old photos 2
    • Old photos 3
    • Old photos 4
    • Old photos 5
    • Old photos 6
    • Old Photos 7
  • Old News
    • Community News
    • Letter from the Emigrant Clergy of Frenchman's Row (1802)
    • Alleged Brutal Murder at Heddon-on-the-Wall (1876)
    • Sad boat accident at Ryton (1877)
    • Coronation tree (1902)
    • 65 Years on a Ferry Boat (1929)
    • Come claim your kiss at Heddon (1953)
    • The Swan (1972)
    • Heddon WI (1987)
    • Church House (1966)
    • Happy return (1993)
    • Hexham Courant (1997)
    • Butterfly Garden (1999)
    • Foot & Mouth (2001)
    • Remembrance Day (1996)
    • Remembrance Day (2016)
    • RAF at Ouston (2007)
    • Close House Golf Course (2009)
    • Heddon pupils celebrate British heritage (2011)
    • Roman Wall Forge (2011)
    • Diamond Jubilee (2012)
    • Auction of Bronze Statue, Close House (2012)
    • Heddon WI (2012)
    • Puffing Billy Festival (2013)
    • Heddon Village Show (2014)
    • View of the North (2014)
    • The Wall at Heddon (2014)
    • Heddon Village Show (2015)
    • War veterans singing send-off (September 2015)
    • Anglo-Saxon history (2014)
    • Heddon WI at 100 (2017)
    • Hadrian's Wall discovery (2019)
    • Tulip Mews (2020)
    • Mike Furlonger
    • Hadrian's Wall 1900 Festival
  • Memories
    • Olive White
    • Betty Cockburn
    • Betty Cockburn - miscellaneous information
    • Isabel Snowdon
    • William & Winnie Watson
    • Edith Ward
    • Mark Parker
    • Jack Lawson
    • Winnie Spoor
    • P Reay
    • Mr and Mrs Hall
    • Peter Chapman
    • Elizabeth Elenora Eames
    • Harry Murray
  • Other documents
    • Mackenzie (1825)
    • Bates (1886) >
      • Early & Roman
      • Townships
      • Heddon Church
      • Heddon & Houghton
      • Whitchester
      • Eachwick
      • West & East Heddon
      • Records
      • Addenda
      • Appendix A
    • History, Topography & Directory of Northumberland (Bulmer's) - 1886
    • History of Northumberland (1930)
    • Collingwood Bruce (1853)
    • Whellan (1855)
    • Post Office Directory (1879)
    • Prominent people in Heddon
    • Place names
    • Ad Murum
    • Archived documents
    • Thomas Bewick's History of British Birds (1826)
    • Census data 1801-1991
    • Historical Records 1888-1890
    • Knott Sale of Village Property (1924)
    • Extracts from Parish Council Records
    • Local colliery records
    • Blackburn (1938)
    • Clark (c.1963)
    • History of Church (1968)
    • Boundary Commission Report 1984
    • Village Atlas 2022
  • Walks
    • Walks 2
  • Blog
  • Contact us
  • Links
  • What's new
  • Site search
  • Past & Present
  • Photo of the Month
  • Place Name Studies
    • Meas & Meres
    • OS Name Books: Elsdon
    • OS Name Books: Allendale
    • OS Name Books: Cheviot Hills
    • OS Name Books: Other Parishes
  • Heddon 3D landscape

A Throckley Waggonway

24/3/2015

0 Comments

 
My friend, Les Turnbull, is conducting research at the Mining Institute on the work of the notable Colliery Engineer, William Brown who was based for time in Throckley. Every now and then he sends me interesting nuggets of information about our local waggonways that keep my spark of interest in that subject alive.

This time his message was:

Recently, I was asked to comment upon a manuscript that was sent into the MI from a former pitman who was born in Throckley and I quote below an extract for your interest and comments.

‘A northern branch of the way was built to the Meadow Pit and ran through the old Throckley School location and the Hill Pit. The last section of the way was elevated probably to bridge the road at Meadow Pit. A fairly large embankment was constructed which is still in existence north of the Hill Pit site’.

The ww was excavated in the grounds of Throckley School but only soil marks indicating the sleepers and rails were found. This is the first I’ve heard about an embankment and I wondered whether you have come across it during your first work.
The waggonway in question is shown on the plans of Throckley shown below.
Picture
A Plan of Throckley 'dated back 150 years from 1863' (NRO 536.1)
Picture
A Plan of Throckley 1769 (NRO 536.2)
Picture
OS six-inch map (1865)
The earlier plan (left), although unlikely to be anywhere as early as 1713 as suggested, shows a waggonway crossing the Military Road (which was only completed in the 1750s) from south-east to north-west, west of the Newburn Road junction. In a big single field north of the road, named as 'West Leagure', it served two pits, Honey Pit and Meadow Pit, the latter situated just west of a group of buildings annotated as 'Browns House'.

Several pits are also shown in 'Maddies Pasture' west of Drove Road and in 'Quarry Field' to its north, but no waggonways are shown serving them. On an plan from Alnwick Castle dated 1755,  a waggonway is shown, parallel to and on the south side of the Military Road, branches heading north-west and south-west from a point close to the Drove Road junction.

On the 1769 plan, 'Leagure' has been subdived into four fields, 'Ligger'. 
A waggonway crosses the Military Road as above but on the north side, in 'South Ligger', it branches. One branch heads west past New Engine Pit in 'South West Ligger', then north-west, crossing the Drove Road, to Duke Pit, situated then just beyond the enclosed land on what was Throckley Common. The other branch runs to the north between 'North West Ligger' and 'North Ligger', where Hill Pit is shown, to Meadow Pit, then located in another enclosure named as 'Fell Bulls Close'.

At this time, Throckley village was located south of the Military Road at Bank Top, connected to its Common by the Drove Road.

The waggonway to Meadow Pit is also shown on 'A Plan of the Inclosed lands of Throckley' of 1781 (NRO ZAN M17/197/A/37). The waggonway is not shown on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858 so was presumably out of use by this date.

The 6" OS map (surveyed 1860, published 1865), from which an excert is shown above, shows the location of Meadow Pit now served by a waggonway from the east, connecting to the Throckley Colliery waggonway. Its route passed just south of Throckley North Farm, presumably on the alignment of the present bridleway. Meadow Pit is indicated as disused in the 1913 revision.
The alignment of the waggonway is still clearly visible in the line of the broad boundary which runs between the fields, on the line maintained by the slanting east boundary of the Throckley Filter Beds and the school grounds. The former site of Hill Pit shows as a small wood east of that alignment, just north of the school.

Meadow Pit was located in the field north of the track (bridleway) that leads from the Drove Road east to Throckley North Farm. The site of the pit has been completely reclaimed. The waggonway alignment south of this track is heavily overgrown but still shows evidence of embankment. There is no sign of a bridge. The stone gate-posts still standing where it meets the bridleway are explained by the track shown on the 6" map which leaves the Military Road opposite the former location of Throckley Lodge which stood on the corner of what is now the Coach Road.
Archaeological investigation of the waggonway in the grounds of Throckley Middle School, Hexham Road between 2001 and 2003, described in the Tyne & Wear HER 1958.

An evaluation trench was cut across the line of the wagonway
i
n July 2002. It was found to be of 3 phases.

The earliest phase was a low-lying trackbed only 0.45m below modern ground level, at least 2.30m wide, cut into the natural subsoil. There was no evidence of sleepers or rails. To the east of this was an upcast bank comprising of re-deposited natural soil. The bank was 0.40m high and was 2.60m wide. On the west was a ditch, 1.18m wide and 0.38m deep. It had been infilled with crushed coal when it went out of use. A single stakehole was found cut into the western side of the ditch, presumably representing a simple fenceline.

The second phase of the wagonway involved the infilling of the putative trackbed and western side of the bank and the levelling of the eastern side, to create a broad embankment at least 4.20m wide and 0.40m high. To the east, a broad shallow ditch was excavated, 2.30m wide and 0.20m deep. This too was filled with crushed coal when it went out of use.

The third phase re-defined and deepened the wagonway's eastern boundary ditch. The wagonway went out of use in the late 18th century when Honey and Hill pits were closed and the area reverted to agricultural land.

A subsequent watching brief found that the wagonway was multi-phase. Ten groups of sleeper impressions were recorded, representing a single track wagonway diverging into a fan of sidings leading to Hill Pit. Two phases of trackside ditches were recorded.

Proposed Throckley housing development

As of March 2015, two main sites relevant to this discussion have been proposed for housing development, both on Green Belt land. Details of both sites are in the 'Greenwich Hospital Throckley Masterplan'. The plan and details below are copied from the Save Throckley's Open Spaces website.

Site A is to the East of Drove Road where 550 homes are planned. This site is part of the ‘One Core Strategy’ and if planning permission is granted, work could commence as early as 2015. Site B is to the West of Drove Road where an additional 550 homes are proposed.

The plan below shows the extent of both developments. Note that the sites are bordered by the A69 to the North, Hexham Road to the South and the brickworks to the East. The first plan shows the three potential access points. No.1, shown in yellow below being the preferred option. This involves demolition of two existing houses on Hexham Road (said to be already in Greenwich Hospital ownership) to create a new road, crossing the Drove Road.
Picture
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Author

    Andy Curtis

    Archives

    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    January 2024
    November 2023
    February 2023
    November 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    October 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    November 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011


    Categories

    All
    Agricultural Engineering
    Archaeology
    Barrow
    Bays Leap
    Beamish Museum
    Beer
    Beer-mat
    Bewcastle
    Books
    Border Line
    Brewery
    Brown
    Cabinetmaker
    Charlton
    Cheviots
    Churches
    Civil War
    Clennell Street
    Close House
    Coal Mining
    Cullercoats
    Cumbria
    Eachwick
    Earl Grey
    Elswick
    Family History
    Fishing
    Fishwives
    Folkestone Warren
    Forth Banks
    Furniture
    Gardens
    General
    George Clark
    Gibson
    Goods Station
    Hadrian's Wall
    Harbours
    Heddon
    Heddon Hall
    Hexham
    Hidden Chains
    Houghton
    Howick Hall
    Hunting
    Iron Sign
    Isaac Jackson
    John Grundy
    John Smith
    Knott
    Landscape
    Landslide
    Lead Works
    Lemington
    Lidar
    Lindisfarne
    Maritime
    Meetings
    Military Road
    Mill
    Monument
    Newburn
    Newcastle
    Newcastle Assizes
    News
    North Lodge
    North Shields
    Northumberland
    Northumberland Records Office
    Old Middleton
    Oral History
    Ouseburn
    Outings
    Photography
    Pit
    Place Names
    Place-names
    Ponteland
    Ports
    Postcards
    Prehistory
    Pubs
    Quarries
    Railways
    Redesdale
    River Tyne
    Rock Art
    Roman
    Sadler
    Sanderson
    Schools
    Seaton Delaval
    Ships
    Shot Tower
    Slave Trade
    Songs/Poems
    Spearman
    Stagecoach
    Stained Glass
    St. Andrews
    Stephenson
    Swann
    Tea Robbery
    Throckley
    Town Farm
    Transportation
    Trinity House
    Victorian Panorama
    Walbottle
    Walk
    Water Supply
    William Brown
    Williamson
    Woodhorn
    Ww1
    Ww2
    Wylam
    Yetholm

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.