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Saturday 20 Aug[us]t
We sett off this morning to view the Remainder of the Farms on the So[uth] Side of So[uth] Tyne and accordingly began with
Middledean Raw, which contains 82A.1R.15P & is under Lease to Nicholas Waugh for 6 Y[ea]rs expiring in 1779 at 53£ pAnn[um] being about 12s/10d pAcre. It consists of about 1/2 meadow & pasture; the rest arable, of which a small part is in fallow & turnips.
The Housing on this farm is very ruinous & bad, & the Dwelling House, in particular, very dangerously so. We are therefore of Opinion that the following Buildings, of the dimensions proposed by the Receivers & mentioned in the Estimate transmitted with their [space left] of the 3d of June last, are very necessary & proper, vizt.
£ s d
A new Dwelling House, estimated at 55 1 1
Dairy 10 14 2
Byer 24 5 3
Stable 15 18 0
105 18 6
and that the Slating of the Barn should be altered as they have proposed; vizt. the Skew Stones or Tabling taken down, & the Gabels slated over, which latter has not only a much better appearance, but has been found, by experience by far the best method of preserving the wall & keeping the slating firm. the expence of this alteration is estimated at 3£.10s.4d. We therefore recommend that the whole of the above Buildings etc should be proceeded upon next Y[ea]r; the season being too far advanced to do it this.
We proceeded next to the adjoining Farm of East dean Raw which contains 118A.3R.17P & is under lease to Thomas Coats for 6 Y[ea]rs expiring in 1779 at 61£ pAnn[um] being about 10s/3d pAcre. It consists of between 60 & 70 Acres of meadow & pasture, the rest arable, of which about 18 Acres are in fallow. The West bank Field which is very wet & overrun with Bushes etc should be drained, cleared & laid down to meadow.
The Housing is small & in very indifferent condition. The Addition proposed by the Receivers, to be made to the Dwelling house by raising the Stable, & making a Room over it appears to be very necessary & proper; there being only one lodging room at present, & that over the Byer where the Cattle stand; the expence of which improvement /will according to the beforementioned Estimate, be no more than 14£.6s.10 1/2d We also think that what the Receivers have proposed with respect to the altering of the Slating of the House & Barn, in the same manner as hath been beforementioned, in treating of the preceding farm, the expence of which is estimated at 5£.11s.8d , is very proper & therefore recommend that orders be given to cause the whole to be done. From hence we went to the
Lees which contains 166A.1R.16P & is under lease to William Swinburn for 6 Y[ea]rs ending in 1779 at 126£ pAnn[um] being about 15s/1 1/2d pAcre It consists of between 50 & 60 Acres of meadow & rough pasture, the remainder arable, of which upwards of 40 Acres is fallow or Turnips. The Lees Haugh & Low West Field want draining, all the rest of the Land is in remarkable good condition, Swinburn appearing to be an excellent Farmer & therefore certainly deserving of any preference which can be properly given him at another Letting. The Tyne has made some Inroads upon this Farm & considerable Wears have been from time to time to defend the Land, part of which are now blown up, but the River having in some Measure changed it's course, what remains of these two Wears, seems by the experience of the last two winters, sufficient.
The Housing is in good condition, but wants the Skew Stones to be taken off & the Gabels slated in the manner we have before mentioned. There are some Cottages adjoining which having been built by the Tenants & therefore not repaired by the Hospital, are in a very ruinous condition. These should either be taken down or put into repair, as they are, in their present state, a disgrace to the other Buildings.
From hence we entered the adjoining farm of Langley Castle which contains 434A.2R.30P & is under Lease to Geo[rge] Thompson & Thomas Brown's Representatives, for 21 Y[ea]rs expiring in 1779 at 110£.10s.0d pAnn[um] being about 5s/1d pAcre. It contains about 1/2 meadow & pasture, besides what is laid to Langley Mill as beforementioned, the remainder arable of which a good deal is fallow or Turnips. Thomas Fall is a Sub Tenant to Thompson & seems a decent intelligent young man.
The Housing is very indifferent, the whole adjoins to the castle which has now nothing but the outside walls standing & 2 or 3 small arched rooms made use of by the Tenants for Granaries etc. From this Farm we went to the adjoining one of,
Light Birks which contains 87A.3R.11P is under Lease to William Eshton for 68 y[ea]rs ending in 1779 at 80£ pAnn[um] being about 18s/2d pAcre. It is in the occupation of Joseph
Pigg junr. a Sub Tenant, & consists of between 20 & 30 Acres of meadow & pasture, the remainder arable, of which a small part is in Fallow. Some part of the Land wants draining & Broad Field, which alone contains 57 1/2 Acres should be divided into smaller parcels. From hence we entered the Lands of,
Esphill, which farms contains 79A.2R.25P. & is in the occupation of Thomas Coats under a 99 Y[ea]rs Lease which will expire in 1780, at 22£ pAnn[um] being about 5s/6d pAcre. It consists of between 20 & 30 Acres of meadow & pasture some of which wants draining, the remainder arable of which a small portion is Fallow or Turnips. Two small pieces of the meadow called the Strothers containing together 4A.0R.30P are on the opposite side of the Tyne a little above Haydon Bridge. In Esphill pasture is a piece of woodland which we recommend to be cleared where necessary & planted with Acorns.
The Housing, as usual upon these kind of Leaseholds, is mean, old & ruinous.
Having finished the above Farms which are all on the South side of the Tyne to the Westward of Haydon Bridge except the Land's End, and the Evening coming on, we returned to Hexham; leaving the last mentioned Farm [un]til Monday as we had some particular enquiries to make concerning abuses said to have been committed there.
