Elsdon : Roads and Communications
Elsdon was a hub of communications probably as early as the medieval period. Ultimately as many as seven different routes can be traced leading away from the village in different directions (cf. Conzen 1969, 76-7; Rushworth 1996, 16-21). The main turnpike route from Eldon to Carter Bar via Otterburn has been discussed elswhere (see Upper Redesdale - 1700 to 2000: Communications), but the others merit consideration since they all contributed to the development of the village.
Elsdon - Otterburn - Redeswire Road
One of the earliest routes ran westward towards Otterburn, like the present-day road which exits the village green in this direction, running past 'the Bird in the Bush'. Beyond Otterburn this trackway continued up the dale towards the Border crossing at Redeswire (near the modern Carter Bar crossing), following roughly the same course as the present A696 and A68. The early track adopted a much more meandering course than its modern counterpart, however, as Armstrong's map of 1769 makes clear, and repeatedly forded the Rede, especially above Byrness (cf. Hodgson 1827, 161).
The Great Drove Road (north)
Just outside Elsdon, at the Elsdon Gate toll bar, another route diverged from the Otterburn road, heading in a north-westerly direction. This route, which can still be followed as a minor trackway, climbed onto the high moors crossing Davyshiel Common running along the ridges which formed the watershed between the Redesdale and Coquetdale, before joining with Dere Street near Featherwood which then crossed the border at Chew Green. This moorland route may have been of very great antiquity. It has been suggested that it may have originated as prehistoric ridgeway (Charlton & Day 1976, 229; Charlton 1996, 125).
In the post medieval period it was known as the 'Great Drove -' or 'Drift Road', and was used by drovers moving cattle from the Scottish Highlands to the markets of England, men such as the Highlander, Alexander Munro, who expired at Dudlees on June 15th 1801, aged only 34 (EPR 226). It was may well have been preferred over the Redeswire route and the course of Dere Street through High Rochester, because/as it largely avoided the enclosed fields in the valley and the problems that inevitably arose when livestock were moved through cultivated land.
It was doubtless also this route which was used by General Carpenter in 1716, when he crossed the moors with three regiments of cavalry to forstall an anticipated push towards Newcastle by the Jacobean forces at Carlisle. Leaving Jedburgh on the 2nd November, he reached Elsdon that night and Newcastle on the morning of the 4th, which demonstrates just how rapid communications could be at this time in extreme circumstances (Hodgson 1827, 87-8).
As noted above, in its definitive form this route follows the same course as the Otterburn Road heading west out of the village, only diverging when the Elsdon toll gate is reached 800m outside the settlement. This probably reflects the state of affairs after Enclosure in 1731 and more particularly the turnpiking of the Otterburn Road in 1776. Originally, however, it is likely that the droveway traced a separate course northwestward out of the village, as is indicated by a surviving right of way across the fields to the west and north west, which joins the present course of the drove road 0.7km NNW of Elsdon Gate.
The Great Drove Road (south)
The Great Drift Road continued southward towards Stagshaw Bank, just north of Corbridge, where a great annual livestock fair was held. It naturally followed the corridor of common leading off the south end of the green, crossing the Elsdon Burn beside the bridge for current Elsdon-Morpeth road, and thence continued more or less due south. It's course can be traced on the Elsdon tithe map and the Corsenside and Woodburn Inclosure Award (1792).
The Hepple Trackways
Conzen (1969, 76) argues that another early routeway, which connected the village with Hepple and Rothbury in Coquetdale, left the green just to the east of the church. Its course crossed the Elsdon Burn by means of a ford at the site of the modern bridge, then traversed the fields south of the present village hall to reach Landshot, before continuing east and then northward under the Fell Sandstone scarp of the Hepple Moors, with an alternative trackway leading to Rothbury over the south eastern flank of the Simonside hills.
These routes are shown on Armstrong's map of 1769. The same approach via Landshot, crossing the fields to the east of the village, is also shown on the tithe map in 1839 (NRO DT 164/4 M), and on an 1811 plan of a projected road from Elsdon to Rothbury (Aln Cas O XXIII 40/2), but not on the 1731 enclosure map (QRD 3).
However, it is likely that a route which exited the north end of the village was at least equally if not more important in providing access towards Hepple and the Coquet valley. This took advantage of the corridor of common land which opened outward like a large funnel giving access to the township's moorland common grazing. The original course of this route meandered past the tower house heading northward along the west side of the Elsdon Burn as far as Elsdon mill where it crossed the burn. It then crossed the moors before following the course of the Grasslees Burn down towards Hepple and the Coquet.
Although it was omitted by Armstrong, its course is shown on the earlier enclosure map and today serves as the main route into the village from the north. However the precise means by which it enters the village was subjected to a complex sequence of alterations in the early 19th century, discussed below.
Turnpikes and Other Road Improvements
The earliest attempt to improve road communications to Elsdon through the creation of turnpiking trusts and the charging of tolls was made in 1751 with the establishment of a turnpike road connecting the village with turnpike system further east.
The course of this road is shown on Armstrong's map and can still be used today. It used the main exit corridor at the south end of village, crossing the burn by a ford (or by an earlier bridge) which was replaced by current bridge built about 1792. The road changed direction at the site of the later Starmyers Cottage, heading SSE then ESE across the wild moorland of Ottercops Moss and Harwood Moor (now Forest), and then continued via Cambo, Scotsgap and Mitford to Morpeth. Near Gallows Hill it connected with a system of turnpike roads leading to Newcastle, Hexham, Alnwick and Alnmouth. Despite its many links the route was too circuitous to attract sufficient through traffic and the trust was wound up around 1824 for lack income (Conzen 1969, 76-7; Taylor n.d., 22).
More successful was the route from Elsdon via Otterburn up the valley to the Scottish Border at Carter which was turnpiked in 1776 and was to continue to operate as such until 1881. This was subject to steady improvements, which transformed into the road of today a route once notorious for the number of fords along its course by which it repeatedly crossed from one bank of the Rede to the other.
However the final major improvement, the 'New Line' of 1833, which involved the construction of the Ponteland turnpike from Belsay to Otterburn, bypassed Elsdon at a distance of over a mile and must have been a serious blow to the village's economy when it was completed in 1836, taking away a lot of trade from the three inns around the green.
Moreover the steep road complete with a new bridge over the burn providing a direct link from the village to the new turnpike at Raylees was not constructed until 1865, almost thirty years later. Moreover it was to be almost thirty years before a direct link to the new turnpike was completed in the Newcastle direction, involving the use of a short but steep stretch of road leading from a new bridge over the Elsdon Burn to a junction with the 'New Line' at Raylees in 1865 (Conzen 1969, 77; Taylor n.d., 23). Today this final addition to road network around the Elsdon provides the most convenient route into village from Newcastle.
The northern entrance to the village was also improved during the early 19th century in a complex sequence of alterations which can be followed in estate plans of the period. The original route into the village from Hepple crossed the Elsdon Burn at Elsdon mill then ran along along the west side of the burn passing close by the walls of the tower house to enter the north end of the green.
Such tight control of one of the main access routes into and out of the village may have been useful during the turbulent medieval period or the 16th century, but was obviously rather inconvenient for the rector in the 19th century, particularly when Thomas Singleton, the incumbent from 1812 - 1842, set about making substantial improvements to the property.
An alternative route ran via the Mote Hills farmstead, passing around the east and south sides of the Norman earthwork castle, crossing the burn by a ford where the present bridge stands and entering via the east side of the green. Both these early trackways are shown on the 1731 enclosure map (QRD 3) and on an 1811 plan of a projected road from Elsdon to Rothbury (Aln Cas O XXIII 40/2). The first alteration was the construction in 1825 of a bridge across the Elsdon Burn to the west of the castle earthworks which brought the route from Elsdon Mill back over to the east side of the burn, bypassing the tower and the rector's grounds.
The new route then joined with the road from Mote Hills and entered the village on the east side of the green. The final alteration saw the 1825 bridge itself become redundant as the stretch of road to the north was rerouted along the east side of the burn. This work appears for the first time on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey.
Transport
By the early 19th century a number of operators were taking advantage of these early turnpike improvements to offer transport services which connected Elsdon to the major population centres (cf. Taylor n.d., 23). Thus the famous 'Chevy Chase' coach left Newcastle at least two days a week, bound for Edinburgh via Cambo, Elsdon and Jedburgh.
The coach left Newcastle at six o'clock in the morning, alternating between the Queen's Head, Pilgrim Street and the Sun Inn, Newgate Street, and arrived in Edinburgh at eight in the evening. In addition, a weekly carrier, Messrs Keith and Boiston departed the Bigg Market and the Robin Hood Pilgrim Street every Thursday for Elsdon and Otterburn.
