|
Eshott Village Northumberland  Eshott Weather Records Weather records for Eshott have been logged for the past few years and summarised below. Please select a file to view:
2005 Weather Data (partial data) |
A
History of the Eshott Area
The area around Eshott is
rich in history. Signs of Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic) remains in
the Thirston area near West Moor Farm show that people were living
in this area over 10,000 years ago. The Mesolithic people lived
between 8500 – 4000 BC and were largely nomadic, probably following
natural food resources on a seasonal basis, making only temporary
settlements.
Two stone axes from the Neolithic (New Stone Age)
period (4000 – 2500 BC) have been found at East Thirston Moor.
Neolithic people tended to make more permanent settlements and it is
surprisingly common to find hand axes such as the ones illustrated
below. Neolithic finds also include arrow heads and bone tools of
various kinds.
Above : These axes are similar to the ones found at Thirston
Iron Age (600 BC – 50 AD) settlements have been identified from crop marks on the area where the runways of Eshott airfield now are. The picture below is from a different location, but shows how the remains of an oval-shaped settlement can be seen in crop marks (at the edge of the large field)
There is also some suggestion that there may have been a Roman settlement in the area, but it is difficult to find any detailed information about this.
In architecture, the term crenellation is used to describe the typical ‘battlements’ seen on the top of castles. A ‘licence to crenellate’ simply meant that the lord had permission from the king to add defensive structures to his property. A licence to crenellate did not mean that fortifications were ever built, nor does it indicate the actual date that a manor was fortified. Many lords received multiple licences to fortify their houses, but they were never modified or built. However, many private houses were fortified during this time, some to such an extent that they became known as castles, as seems to have been the case with Eshott.
In 1310 July 22, Rogerus Maudut (Sir
Roger Mauduit) was granted, by Edward II, (In year 4 of his
reign) a Royal licence to crenellate Esshete [Essetete]
The wording of this licence is;
"Licence to Roger Mauduit to crenellate his dwelling-house
of Esshete (mansum suum de Esshete), co. Northumberland."
Granted at
The original licence to crenellate was given in 1310
to Sir Roger Mauduit, but in 1358 it was taken from him
because he was a rebel against the crown, and handed over to
his son. Parker writes name in licence as Essetete, King
writes Esshete (Probably based on the published
transcription and probably correct.) Original source:
Calendar of Patent Rolls (1307-13) p272
www.ecastles.co.uk |
Fortified manor houses were often sited with a
view to ease of access and an ample water supply rather than for
tactical defensive reasons. This is why many castles (such as
Eshott) are found alongside rivers and roads, or in hollows, rather
than on the top of the hill. A fortified manor house in a similar
position can be found at Edlingham.
The castle remains can be found near the footpath
from Eshott to Wintrick, on the right before the bridge is reached.
It is a
[Insert Google Earth]
The presence of some sort of settlement is further
supported by the discovery in the 1980’s of a medieval pottery kiln
from the 12th century a small distance away from the
castle. Apparently this is a rare find outside of a town.
|
A medieval pottery kiln-clamp, possible
workshop and settlement at Eshott, Northumberland
Piers
|
There are large areas of earthworks near
Bockenfield which can still be seen, and which have been identified
as being the remains of a deserted medieval village. The picture
from Google Earth below shows these earthworks very clearly
[Insert Google Earth]
Historians also think that there may also be
another deserted medieval village at Wintrick, although there are no
visible remains. At Eshottheugh there are the remains of the mill
race of a corn mill and the trackways used by the farmers delivering
the grain to be milled. A small hermitage (chapel) is recorded at
Helm in 1551.
The history of Eshott Hall is covered on various
websites and is easily accessible. However, there is another
interesting building nearby, the Grade II* listed Bockenfield
Farmhouse. This is a small 17th century manor house which
was built for the Heron family and has some notable carving.
Although these days the area seems a rural
backwater, in the 19th century, there was a great deal of
industrial activity. Eshott tile works was operational from the
1860’s to the 1880’s. It was situated some distance to the south of
South Farm, and is now commemorated in the name of the wood which
replaces it, ‘Tilery Wood’. It appears to have produced tiles and
pipes for agricultural drainage. There was another tile works at
what is now Blackbrook Farm (near the airfield) which operated for a
much longer period (1861 – 1938) and where brick production took
place. Many tile works were short-lived, and were mainly operational
from the 1850’s – 1880’s if they produced agricultural materials, as
this was the heyday of agricultural land drainage.
The picture below is of a similar tile works which
produced agricultural pipework, although this one lasted a lot
longer than the one in the Eshott area. It gives an idea of the
industrial nature of the work taking place there.
|
Tile Works Chimney
Copyright
Will Anderson |
The coal mine at Eshott seems to have begun in the
1840’s. The 1851 census lists a Thomas Scott aged 25, living at
Eshott East Houses (now South Farm), as a ‘pitman’, and a Robert
Addison aged 57 and sons John (24) and Robert (25) as ‘coal miners’,
living in Eshott. The 1855 Gazetteer for Northumberland reports that
the colliery had been “discontinued for some time, re-opened last
year by a Mr R Cowen of Acklington”. In the 1861 census, ‘Eshott
Colliery’ is a separate entity and there are seven families listed
as living there. There are also two further families living in
Eshott where the head of the house is listed as a coal miner.
According to the census, the mining families at this time are
largely from
Eshott colliery was small and only about 25 metres
deep, but had a steam powered engine to pump water from the mine
shafts, and a horse gin winding engine to lift men and coal from
underground. It was a ‘land-sale’ colliery which means that the coal
was sold by land only. ‘Sea-sale’ collieries were usually much
larger and the coal was loaded onto ships and taken to more
profitable markets. There was one recorded fatality at Eshott, on
| Under the head of
Breakage of Ropes a case occurred at Eshott, a little
Landsale Colliery near Acklington, Northumberland. The pit
was only 14 fathoms deep, the coals drawn by means of a
horse gin fitted up with round hempen ropes. The rope,
otherwise sufficiently strong and good for the purpose, had
been temporarily applied to some heavy lifts in the engine
shaft, and became strained and broken, whence the splicing
had been ignorantly and unskilfully accomplished, so that
when applied to its ordinary purpose at the horse gin it
suddenly broke whilst drawing up a single man, who was
killed outright ; the circumstances were closely
investigated before Mr. Hardy, the coroner and jury ;
but a verdict of accidental death was recorded.
(1864 Mine
Inspector’s Report)
www.dmm.org.uk |
It is highly unlikely that this would be
considered to be an accidental death today.
In common with many collieries at that time, the
one at Eshott was relatively short lived. The limits of the
technology of the period meant that it was difficult to get
ventilation to depths greater than 25 metres, and the seams at that
depth were soon exhausted. By the 1871 census, there is only one
rather sad reference to mining in the census; an Isabella Keeny
(aged 28) is listed as a miner’s widow living at East Houses with
her 3 year old daughter.
Nowadays there are no remains of the colliery or
associated housing to be seen, but the colliery itself was near to
the small area of shrubs, on the public footpath which leads from
the side of Chapelside House towards the burn. After the harvest, it
is possible to see a quantity of shale on the ground in that area.
The picture below shows where the site of the
colliery was, although no visible traces remain.
[Insert Google Earth]
The most recent historical buildings are a number
of WW2 pillboxes overlooking the Coquet and the airfield which was
used for the training of Spitfire pilots.
Ten thousand years is a very long time, and it is
rather humbling to reflect that our presence in this beautiful area
is a mere speck in its history.
