Coalcleugh
Caldcleugh, Coldcleugh
An old mining settlement at the head of the West Allen valley at map reference NY8085 in Northumberland, close to the Durham and Cumberland border.
"Caldcleugh, as its name imports, is a cleugh or ravine near the source of the West Allen. It it about three miles south of Allenheads, and stands at the remarkable elevation of 1,600 to 1,700 feet above sea-level. A chapel was built here in 1704, to be 'nigh to the lead mines," but was turned into a school-house, when a new chapel-of-ease was built at Carr Shield in 1822. The benefice, though distinct from Ninebanks ecclesiastically, is now held by the incumbent of that parish." 1
The Caldcleugh family were established here at the begining of the 17th century with five wills at Durham (1609, 1614, 1616, 1617 and 1624 but subsequently left the area. 1
Sir William Blackett, third son of William Blackett of Hoppyland, Hamsterley, County Durham leased the Allendale mines from Sir John Fenwick in 1660. His third son, also Sir William Blackett, of Wallington, bought the Hexham estates from the Fenwicks in 1689. 4 (To be checked)
"In 1684 Sir William Blackett drove Shield Ridge Level, from
the south side of the burn and along the West Cross Vein, to
drain the Coalcleugh veins, but it was too high to allow access
to the Great Limestone." 2
NB This implies established workings above this level
before this date.
"In 1769 Wallace wrote that the Coalcleugh mine was "said to be the deepest mine in England, 100 fathoms, a subterraneous waggon way of a mile in length leading to its ostium". As the upper strata were exhausted, the need to sink to the the Great Limestone (in which most veins carried ore) became more pressing and was followed by the need to drain the mine. Accordingly, William Frostier, a Beaumont agent, designed and installed a hydraulic engine to work pumps at Coalcleugh mine in 1765." 2
For further details of the engine - the first such in England - see http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/museum/power/waterengine/waterengine2.htm (cached) which suggests that the engine was built by William Westgarth, the mine agent at Coalcleugh. Les Turnbull states it was developed by Westgarth Forster (William Westgarth's cousin and father of the Westgarth Forster, author of 'A Section of the Strata from Newcastle upon Tyne to Cross Fell)
"The rich mines discoverd in the Great Limestone in the Coal Cleugh mines by Sir W.C. Blackett, induced the Commissioners of Greenwich Hospital to reserve Rampgill vein for trial on their own account." 3
William Blackett was of course mining for lead but Coalcleugh might have been named after the coal which is also to be found there 300m north-west of the lead mine.
A cottage with a small amount of adjoining land was often provided for miners to encourage them to remain working for one mine rather than moving in search of the best pay.
The States
A group of miner's cottages shared The States, an enclosure of land around the Shieldrigg Burn between the Coalcleugh to Carrshield road and the Coalcleugh to Allenheads road. At 500m above sea-level it was never going to be very productive but would provide grazing for a few sheep and maybe a cow. The total enclosure was 114 acres, around half a square kilometer.
Miners' allotments at Coalcleugh - Crossdike and Bracken House
in distance
On the 1865 map we have (going anti-clockwise from the road junction) Mutton Hall, Far Houses, Whetstonemea, Allotment House, Rushymea, Bracken House, Cross Dyke, Shieldrigg Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, and an unnamed property (now named Shieldridge). The mining complex was to the west of the road but included a property called Sunnyside which is still standing. A more substantial house called Portobello stood to the east of the road, south of the junction. An estate plan of 1861 names another dwelling down the road from Far Houses as Allotment house (again), together with Shieldridge and High Shieldridge.
Far Houses?
All that is left of 'Far Houses' - or is it 'Mutton Hall'?
Map reference NY803453
According to the maps both Far Houses and Mutton Hall should be on the road side of the wall, ie the side shown below.
Allotment House #1
Allotment house No 1 (beside road) - August 2004 - looking
north-west
Shaft beside Allotment House
Map reference NY806455
Note: This is (incorrectly?) identified at Mutton Hall on the 1:10, 000 Ordnance Survey
Whetstone Mea
Whetstone Mea, Coalcleugh - August 2004 - looking north-west
Map reference NY808456
*"Meas are extensive stretches of land where springs of water abound, and consequently land where rushes, moss, and long grass flourish." William Morley Egglestone "Weardale Names of Moor and Fell" 1886
Allotment House #2
Allotment House #2, Coalcleugh - August 2004 - looking east
Map reference NY808458
Rushymea
Rushy Mea, Coalcleugh, August 2004 - looking east
Map reference NY808460
Breckon House (also known as Brekkon Mea, Bracken House)
Bracken House August 2004 - looking east
Approximately 1 km NNW of Coalcleugh (grid reference NY806462)
Tenancy agreement August 1873 Peter Swindle.
The Carrshield burial registers in 1901 list 12 year old Margaret Ann Swindle as being from Breckon House. Peter Swindle, her father or grandfather, appears to have been moving between different cottages around Coalcleugh (The States, Cross Dykes, Shieldridge). In 1865 and on the modern map the cottage is name Bracken House but in the 1841 census it is Breckon Mea. (Other neighbouring cottages are Rushy Mea and Whetstone Mea).*
 1865 map (Click on map for larger area) |
Crossdike
Crossdike, Coalcleugh, August 2004 looking east
Map reference NY805462
Shieldrigg Wesleyan Methodist Chapel
Shieldrigg Methodist Chapel, Coalcleugh, August 2004
Map reference NY804463
Shieldridge
Shieldridge, Coalcleugh, August 2004 - looking north-west
Map reference NY80345460
High Shieldridge
High Shield Ridge, Coalcleugh, August 2004
Map reference NY804458
Notes
1 A History of Northumberland Vol IV.
Hexhamshire: Part II" by John Crawford Hodgson 1897
pp 123, 4
2 Allendale, Tynedale and Derwent Lead Mines - R.A. Fairburn, Northern Mine Research Society, 2000 ISBN 0901450529
3 "Alston Moor, Its Pastoral People, Its Mines and Miners" William Wallace 1890
4 A history of
Northumberland: in three parts
Part 2, Volume 1 of A History of Northumberland, in Three
Parts,
John HodgsonPublisherPrinted by E. Walker,
1827
5 In 1429? Roger Thornton the Elder made a will leaving bequests in terms of fothers of lead
6 "In Kettledale above Colefangs road passes where high banks overhang dangerous from ambush. To Colefangs had to go, would speak with Layard, Jerry and Hunter with him only. They must have stolen news, for Red Shaw waited with ten, so Jerry said, till for last time unconscious. Hunter was killed at first shot. They fought, exhausted ammunition, a brave defence but fight no more." W.H. Auden PAID ON BOTH SIDES (Colefangs = Coalcleugh?!)