EPW043827 ENGLAND (1934). The Garesfield and Chopwell Railway, Hollings Hill, 1934

Airey Hill Farm

Ravenside

Garesfield and Chopwell Wagonway (later railway) carried coal from Garesfield and Chopwell pits to staithes on the River Tyne, later this industrial branch line joined to the Blaydon-Dunston railway line. These two pits were in production in 1894 and continued until 1959 (Chopwell) and 1960 (Garesfield). Chopwell is to the North West (eg right in this image). The railway was mostly single track. Some way to the North West of this location the track bed has become a footpath, but in this area is is largely lost although some segments are still clear on the ground.

Woodhead Farmhouse, Hedley Hedley, Northumberland NE43 7SZ Grade 2 listed building - English Heritage Building ID: 240527 House, originally two dwellings. C17, altered. The east (right) part of the house may be an unusually easterly bastle (fortified farmhouse, border counties and Northumberland).

Barn and Gingang to North of Woodhead Farmhouse, Hedley Grade 2 listed - Barn probably C18, gingang early C19 Not visible in this image - Hexagonal gingang to rear -roof in poor condition at time of survey. I spent hours looking up gingang, it seems to be a word invented by English Heritage! Not even in the big Oxford dictionary, lat alone Chambers or Collins. Usually it is two words except on building listings... The word "gin" comes from "engine" and the horse does the "ganging" or "going" - this is Northumbria. Typically a threshing mill. The building was to keep the wooden gears dry. In the 19th century there were 575 gin gangs in Northumberland but between the 1890s and the 1960s, hundreds of these were destroyed. In the 1970s, 276 survived in Northumberland The hexagonal gin gang ruin is hiding behind the barn - it is better visible on bing maps satellite view, or the tile address is: http://ak.t1.tiles.virtualearth.net/tiles/cmd/ObliqueHybrid? a=03131112101-1251-19-37&g=2265 (you will need to remove the space after the question mark)