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

John Smith of High Close House

7/6/2020

2 Comments

 
I've not found a good local story for a while then this turned up which is definitely quite interesting. It comes from Chris Mitchell from Queensland, Australia who has strong evidence for being an ancestor of John Smith (1787-1853) who was brought up by George and Isabella Smith at what was then called High Close Farm. They had four other children, Margaret, Jane, George and Ann, all baptised at Heddon on the Wall.

At the time, High Close House, now a private residence surrounded by a golf course, was probably the Home Farm of Close House Estate, owned by the Bewicke family.
The family are remembered by a gravestone in St Andrew's Churchyard [14] which reads:

Sacred to the memory of Isabella Smith wife of George Smith of Close House who died the 13th of November 1822 aged 71 years. Also to the memory of George Smith husband of the above Isabella Smith who died the 5th of June 1836 aged 82 years. Margaret Smith daughter of the above died at Close House 25th July 1858 aged 75 years.
Picture
High Close House seen over Close House golf driving range. Photo A Curtis (2017)
John Smith married Frances Jackson from Southwell, Nottinghamshire on 21 October 1816 and emigrated with one infant, George, on the vessel, Shipley, bound for Australia on 18 December in the same year. By coincidence this was the same vessel which carried John Gill to Australia in 1821, having been convicted  for the Great Heddon Tea Robbery.

In January 1818 John Smith received a land grant of 500 acres at Bringelly, about 50km west of Sydney. He named it Close House. Owing to the effect of heat on Frances' health, in 1820 they decided to move to Tasmania. John applied for and received a location order for 500 acres at Breadalbane about 7 miles south of Launceston. The property was named Marchington, after property inherited by Frances from her father Magnus Jackson.

Although Chris seems sure of John Smith's connection with High Close House he is not quite so certain of the rest of the tale, a collection of family stories, heirlooms, family likenesses and genetics which suggest that John Smith might actually have been the son of Prince George (later King George IV 1820-30) and Maria Fitzherbert. They were secretly married in 1785 but later annulled.

Could John have been paid off for his silence and encouraged to emigrate as far away as possible? He is only one of several who claim to be children of George. If true, John Smith would have been a cousin of Queen Victoria.

Is there another reason John could have been placed with the Smiths at High Close House? No connection is yet known between Maria Fitzherbert and George and Isabella Smith. However, there are local connections. Maria's cousin, Sir Edward Smythe owned Esh Hall near Durham until his death in 1811, and her uncle, Henry Errington posessed Beaufront Castle near Hexham, only 15km west of Close House estate. Henry's will referred to his nephews (Maria's brothers), Charles and Henry 'Smith'.

Chris has produced a nicely written, well documented and balanced assessment of the evidence which you can read below. Perhaps more will come to light in the future. Read it and make up your own mind.

Read More
2 Comments

Tale of the Model Steam Locomotive at Close House

6/10/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
Isaac Jackson shows his model locomotive at Close House. Illustration by Bethany Whitehead (2013).
The illustration (above) for this story was kindly provided by Bethany Whitehead especially for this blog. Her work is showcased on Tumblr as Bethany Bluebell Illustration and is well worth a look.
The series of talks on early railways set up for the 2013 Puffing Billy Festival has been both informative and entertaining. However, the one on 25th September by Jim Rees entitled Hedley, Chapman and Isaac Jackson - who really did what? provided a gem of a story with a local interest that I just had to follow up.
Unlike my recent blog, Puffing Billy & the Heddon Balloon, where my early railway connection with Close House was somewhat fanciful, this story incorporates both real old news reports and cutting-edge research. That account also has one of Bethany Whitehead's drawings.

It's worth pointing out here that Close House always was, and still is, firmly in the parish of Heddon on the Wall, but is often referred to in the press as Close House, near Wylam, or worse, Wylam's Close House. This fact was pointed out in a letter to the Hexham Courant by Ian Armstrong, Chairman of Heddon Parish Council, published Monday, 1st October 2012.
I would like to thank Jim Rees (now at Beamish Museum) for providing much of the information I have used below. It was published in Early Railways 4 (Ed. G Boyes, 2010; ER4) as a followup section to his paper, The Sans Pareil Model: its purpose and possible origins, read at the Fourth International Early Railways Conference. The field of early railway research is a complicated and confusing one and any mistakes in the report below are my own, due both to my poor note keeping during Jim's lecture, and my even worse understanding of the issues and engineering.
Among the many things I learned in this talk, completely new to me, was about another Wylam man, Isaac Jackson, and his possible, mostly unsung, role in assisting in the local development of early steam locomotives that was taking place around him.
Picture
The 'Stephenson 1828' model, attributed to Isaac Jackson by Jim Rees. Early Railways 4 (2010).

Read More
0 Comments

    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.