Building stone in the district
Akeld BastleNorthumberland, as a whole, is a county characterised by sandstone buildings. However, a number of rock types in addition to sandstone have been utilized within the district. Erratic boulders from superficial deposits such as till, glacial sand and gravel, or river deposits, have yielded small, but locally important, sources of building material. Many have been obtained as clearance stones from fields. They may comprise a variety of rock types. Carboniferous sandstones and limestones, and Whin Sill dolerite are most abundant, though greywacke sandstones and granitic rocks from south-west Scotland and a variety of volcanic rocks from the Lake District may also be conspicuous. Walls and buildings constructed from these stones can generally be recognised from the varied, and sometimes exotic, nature of the stones and commonly their rounded shape.
Around the Cheviot fringe there are examples of buildings utilising igneous rocks often with sandstone dressings: in Akeld the bastle, cottages and farm buildings, in Earle Parish Langlee and Langleeford farms, in Kilham Parish the forge and farm buildings and Thompson’s Walls farm, and in Ingram Parish farm buildings including Hartside and Linhope. Some of these are painted and may not be immediately obvious. Over the border in Scotland, Yetholm Church is built of the pitchstone-andesite from Thompson’s Walls Quarry.
Cheviot Volcanic rocks have also been used in field boundary walls, the more flaggy varieties of andesite have been quarried for local stone walling near Fairhaugh. Elsewhere, for example near Biddlestone, the well-jointed and thus easily worked trachyte dykes have been used. In the south of the district the old quarry cottages at the entrance to Barrasford Quarry are constructed principally from dolerite.
Although limestones are abundant within the district, they have not been employed as building stones, except in some drystone walls near outcrops. The main use of limestone in the built environment appears to have been as a source of lime for making mortar. Substantial quantities of mortar would have been required in the construction of Hadrian’s Wall. As well as providing mortar for building, the use of lime on fields stimulated agricultural improvements, which in turn led to greater use of stone for new buildings, walls and roads.
Sandstone suitable for building is found throughout the Carboniferous succession of the district. Thickly bedded or massive fluvial sandstone provides the ideal material for building purposes; it has a siliceous composition making it durable and resistant to weathering, yet it can be freely worked. Almost every village and town throughout the district originally had its own quarry. Sandstones from different geological formations and in different parts of the district often have subtle variations in composition, which impart a distinctive character to the stone and result in differences in building appearance from place to place. For example, the contrasting colours of the rich ironflecked brownish buff sandstones of the Bellingham area compared to the paler cream-coloured stone of Glanton, or the pinky red hematite-rich sandstone of the Wooler area. These variations contribute to the local distinctiveness of the landscape and the built heritage. Some sandstones are notably coarser grained with a gritty texture, and in places were quarried for millstones as well as building stone. Abandoned partially completed millstones can be seen in Prudham Quarry.
Flagstone roofing stones once characterised some buildings. These were obtained locally from suitable thinly-bedded, mica-rich sandstone deposits wherever they were geologically available, but most notably in the south of the district, although typically as far north as Bellingham. For example, a small quarry in laminated flagstones [NY 881 785] provided roofing stone for the nearby village of Birtley. More prestigious buildings throughout the county used flagstone roofing where the cost of transportation could be afforded. However, many roofs were probably originally ‘black thatched’ using heather. These were replaced by Welsh slate during improvements in the 19th century. Today, the uniform purple Welsh slate is widespread, although several areas in north and mid-Northumberland display pantile roofs.
