A1-The Great North Road
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Newton-on-the-Moor
| “So to Newton-on-the-Moor, which might be
more fitly named Newton-on-the-Hill, with its half a dozen cottages and
its coal-pits, and thence by a featureless but not unpleasing road to
Alnwick.” Harper 1901 |
“Heading north on the A1, we pass through the
lovely village of Newton on the Moor, with its stone cottages and
manicured gardens, which are vibrant with masses of flowers in full bloom.
This is a very quiet place; there is no one about and I smile, wondering
if they might all be on holiday as I am.” Susan
Wallace 2000 |
The 20th century has seen this area change from industrial
landscape to rural tranquility. The village lies west of the Great North
Road, mostly made up of single storey cottages, one time homes of coal miners
and quarrymen. The 1866 OS map shows half a dozen shafts serving the Newton
Colliery, while the modern map marks only the disused Whittle colliery, a mile
to the north east. Two limekilns were close to the village centre but one
has the A1 crossing its site. There was a “Tile Works” at North
Newton, now known as Newton Lowsteads Farm. There’s only one pub now, the Cook
and Barker but across the road there used to be the Northumbria Arms, now a
private house. Both had a smithy attached, that of the Cook and Barker, now
forming the pub restaurant. A mile to the north was a third pub, the Sun
Inn also now a private house, on the west of the road opposite the Morpeth
14, Alnwick 5 milestone.
The name of the existing pub, the Cook and Barker, is
intriguing. The 1866 map names it the Cook and Baker. This makes a
lot more sense and one wonders how and when the spelling changed for the
sillier. On the other hand a local guide states: “The village inn has a
strange name "The Cook & Barker" apparently the names of the
original proprietors”. Anyone know the truth?
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Whittle Colliery was right next to the A1, a mile north of
Newton-on-the-Moors. Turn east off the A1 by a row of little terraced
cottages and look at the road surface. There is quite a steep slope and
the tarmac is not wide enough to cover the original cobbles on this well made
stretch of the Great North Road. The steep gradient may have made this an
early priority for metalling. There’s plenty of evidence of the old
mines to be found down the track south of the cottages and east of the A1. This
and Shilbottle were the most Northerly recent collieries in the English
coalfields thought there were once several small mines towards Berwick.
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The geology here is Yoredale Series, rather than the younger Coal Measures, but
there are several rather thin coal seams within the strata. A railway used
to connect the Whittle mines with the mainline near Warkworth. Take the
footpath across the road from The Cook and Barker, under the A1 and across the
Hanzon Burn to find the old trackway. Here the Coal Authority are trying
to prevent pollution of the River Coquet from iron-rich emergent minewaters.
Reed beds and manganese extraction lagoons have been constructed.
Shilbottle Colliery is a little further to the north-east
“I remember that Shilbottle colliery used to supply
all the coal to Buckingham palace, because it was considered to be the finest
household coal in the United Kingdom. Shilbottle coal was requested by the late
King. The Queen burns house coal in many of her grates. Many people will now
have to burn Polish coal, because British coal cannot provide house coal for our
market.” Peter Atkinson, conservative Member of Parliament for
Hexham speaking in House of Commons in 1994
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Here is one of the last steam engines to work at these coalmines. Photo
thanks to Les
Richardson who has lots more pictures and info about these industrial
railways. This engine is now preserved not far away at the Tanfield
Railway. The railway to Shilbottle colliery ran from a shaft near what
is now Dene House, about a mile north-east of Shilbottle, down the hill towards
Alnwick, running next to and on the east side of the old A1 as it approached the
bookshop,…I mean, station.
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The vicarage at Shilbottle incorporates a 15th century pele tower.
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Tithe Farm
Bed & Breakfast
Lincolnshire
©Biff Vernon 2001
