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

Heddon Mill

28/12/2021

0 Comments

 
The Lesson of the Water Mill by Sarah Doudney from Wikipedia

Listen to the water mill
Through the livelong day;
How the clicking of the wheel
Wears the hours away.
Languidly the autumn wind
Stirs the withered leaves;
On the field the reapers sing
Binding up the sheaves;
And a proverb haunts my mind
And as a spell is cast,
"The mill will never grind
With the water that has passed."

We have no photos of the original Heddon Mill but you can still find it on old aerial photos, maps and archived plans.

The corn mill was powered using water taken from the Dewley Burn and stored in a mill pond just west of the Mill buildings.

The original site of the Mill was erased by open-cast coal mining and the building of the new A69 dual-carriageway. Few people notice the burn now chanelled under the slip-road where the road from Heddon passes under and joins the main road. You have to concentrate there on the sharp bend and the possibility of oncoming traffic from the narrow lane which comes down from East Heddon.

Although the proverb of the opening poem is of course true, it doesn't tell the whole story. Water passing over the water-wheel at Heddon Mill joined the Dewley Burn just below the Mill and becomes available down-stream.

Further east, north of Throckley, was another corn mill, Dewley Mill. Water was also taken from the Dewley Burn and led from a mill pond to the east of Burnside Farm by a long mill race in the fields now north of the A69. The Mill itself was just west of Dewley Farm.

Dewley Burn passes Dewley Farm and runs south through Walbottle Dene. It waters were in use again further down to power the mills of Spencer's Steel Works in Newburn before they join the River Tyne. Much of this section is now hidden in a culvert.
Picture
Google Earth historic imagery from 1945 aerial photos.
Picture
Google Earth satellite photo (2021) of same area showing former site of mill under the new A69 by-pass near Heddon turn-off.
Picture
OS 1:10,560 First Edition (1865)
Picture
OS 1:10,560 First Edition (1865)
NLS side-by-side map and aerial online link.

In this mode you can drag the slider above the map windows to change from the old map to the modern satellite image. It shows the site of Heddon Mill and the old Bays Leap Farm close to the line of the new A69. Also changes in the roads leading from Heddon to Heddon Mill and Bays Leap.

The original route to the Mill was from a junction on the Throckley Road near the bus shelter, over Charlton Hill (where the Bay [Horse] Leap'd) to join Mill Lane. Just along Mill Lane  was another old lane connecting with the start of the current road up to East Heddon at what is now the Heddon junction on the A69. The old lanes north of the modern A69, running west via Whitchester, may have all connected up and probably predate the Military Road built on the line of Hadrian's Wall.
Picture
NLS Side by Side showing OS 2nd edition map 25 inches to 1 mile (1899) and Bing satellite (2021)
Picture
NLS Side by Side showing OS 2nd edition map 25 inches to 1 mile (1899) and Bing satellite (2021)
Picture
Plan of Mill Farm, Heddon on the Wall. Surveyed by J. Brion (1855). Northumberland Archives ref. NRO 00309/M/46
Plan of Mill Farm, Heddon on the Wall. Surveyed by J. Brion (1855). Northumberland Archives ref. NRO 00309/M/46
The manor of Heddon was one of the six townships which comprised an isolated portion of the Barony of Styford and bestowed by Henry I on Hugh de Bolbec during the period 1100-1135, becoming known as the Bolbec Barony.

Following the death of Hugh de Bolbec, an extent (inventory) of the manor of Heddon was made:
"There are in demesne 160 acres at 6d per acre, sum £4; 3 acres of meadow at 8d per acre, sum 2s; 5 bondmen each of whom holds 24 acres worth yearly 18s 2d and they hold between them 12 acres 9s 1d; of the fishery of the said manor, 5 marks; the mills are worth yearly 5 marks; 22 acres worth yearly 15s 2d for farm and works; 13 acres worth 11s 1d; 5 acres of land which a certain widow holds worth yearly 2s 6d; 14 cottages worth yearly 26s 2d; Office of the smith worth yearly 2s 0d; of the Brew-house 4s 0d; Rent in hens yearly is worth 21d; pannage is worth yearly 2s 8d; birds taken at Wydestokes yearly 2s 0d; herbage of the same close yearly 12d; sum of the sums of Heddon £18 5s 5d."
The common lands of Heddon, amounting to 1,020 acres, were divided by award on 28th September 1717:
  • 504 acres on the west side of Heddon on the Wall township were assigned to the Earl of Carlisle
  • 260 acres on the north-east to Julian Hindmarsh
  • 256 acres on the south-east to Thomas Bigge, son of Isobel.
The Manor Mill and Miller's House which belonged to all three participants were left undivided, the rents to be divided in proportion. 12 acres of land was set aside to continue in common use, undivided for the use of villagers, in lieu of several stints [the proportion of a man's cattle which he can keep upon the common] adjoining the Mill.

Tennants of the lands of Heddon retained the liberty to come to the Mill Dams with their cattle in a storm to fetch their water as was their usual practice.
William Smith, died at Heddon Mill in 1801 aged 81. In 1828, the millwright was named as Ralph Laws. The corn miller was John Smith. William Laws succeded Ralph in 1856. In 1886, John Smith was farmer at Heddon Mill Farm.
In 1918, the widow of John Clayton, grandson of Nathaniel, sold the farms of Bays Leap, Heddon Mill and Towne House to Adam and James Hedley of Newcastle. East Town Farm and several other pieces of land were sold to Sir James Knott for £13,345.

In 1924, Sir James Knott sold East Town Farm to Adam and James Hedley for £2,800. A portion of East Town Farm was given over to the Ministry of Works to protect the Roman Wall as an Ancient Monument.

In 1957, the heirs of the Hedleys sold Bays Leap, Town House and Heddon Mill to the National Coal Board for open-cast mining.

70 acres of land was excavated to a depth of 200 feet to extract 2.5 million tons of coal. The land was returned to farming and Bays Leap was sold to Mr. J. Moffitt in 1965.

In 1959, James Hedley sold a portion of East Town Farm to Grady's the builders to build the Vallum housing estate.

The property currently bearing the name, Heddon Mill, is further west of the former Mill Farm location, on the lane that leads up to Halls of Heddon close to the interestingly named, Hassockbog Plantation (old maps show a small cottage called Hassock on the old lane just opposite Heddon House).

I can only assume that Heddon Mill was reinstated in this new location at the end of open-cast coal mining, as indeed was the farm of Bays Leap, also in a slighly different location from the original property, presumably taking into account the proposed line of the new by-pass.

The common land at the former Heddon Mill was, however, lost forever.so please refrain from taking your cattle there in a storm to use the water now!
Picture
Restored working water-mill at Path Head, Summerhill, Blaydon on Tyne. The corn mill dates from 1730. Photo wfmillar (2014).
Very few of England's many thousands of water-mills are still in use as heritage or working museums (although many have been converted). There is a list (probably incomplete) of those known from Northumberland here.

One nearby, is that at Path Head near Blaydon which takes its water from the Blaydon Burn. It's nice to imagine that Heddon Mill might have been similar.

Started in 1730 by the Townley family, the Path Head Mill worked as a corn mill until 1828. During its working life it changed owners to the Cowen family.

Around 1974 the farm buildings became derelict, of which the later 1930's farmhouse is the only survivor. The area was then surrounded by extensive gravel extraction and only poultry survived. Evidence of vehicles was found during the excavations around the mill building.

The mill pond was choked with fallen willow trees and these were removed to clear access to the building and the pond. The old corn stack terraces had their dry stone walls repaired and a pole barn was erected to cover some of our engineering artefacts.
Picture
Path Head Water Mill, Blaydon. Photo by A Curtis (2012).
A corn mill at Stocksfield (Ridley Mill) was first recorded in 1566 in the deserted medieval village. A mill building and waterwheel of much more recent age still survives. However, it seems unrecognised as a heritage asset unlike the nearby, Grade II listed, Ridley Mill House.
Picture
Ridley Mill near Stocksfield with its 16ft.waterwheel. Photo by Bill Cresswell (2006).

LINKS

Historic England - Mills - Introduction to Heritage Assets Link

Path Head Water Mill
0 Comments

    RSS Feed

    Author

    Andy Curtis

    Archives

    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
    Landslide
    Lead Works
    Lemington
    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
    Place Names
    Place-names
    Ponteland
    Ports
    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.