anniemarr

[anniemarr]

Does anyone have any information on Sparrow House Farm, a photograph or why it was demolished? Is there anything remaining? I am asking for a friend who lived there in the fifties.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

@anniemarr - not a farm I had heard of but I did a search for "Sparrow House farm" and it does get one mention on this group. Back in 2014  on a discussion in History Hollow - about Netherton Lonnen -  Alan Dickson & Hihg Pit Wilma commented :-

 

Alan dickson

Posted March 25, 2014

Aye years ago I had a walk over Sheepwash Bridge up to where Sparrow HOUSE Farm was. Then decided to have a look at the old Farm I could see from my side of the river.An old lady told me it was last inhabited in the 1940s.

Her granny had worked there and every Xmas got an invite up to Bothal Castle with the rest of the hired help for the Xmas party. She said it was in the Portland Bothalhough Estate.

Also said the Bothal Vicar at one time resided at Sheepwash and walked up to Bothal every day along the river. Alas it is no longer there

the local kids demolished what was left of it.l asked the Farmer to let me try my metal detector on the land but met a refusal.

HIGH PIT WILMA

Posted March 29, 2014

A builder-friend of mine told me that when he was on the team that renovated the rectory[?] at the Ashington side of Sheepwash bridge,beside the traffic lights,they found loads of boxes of ancient records and financial documents,plans,etc in the loft of the house.

How old is that property,Alan,thought you would know..!

Don't know what happened to the documents,I presume they would surely have given them to Woodhorn colliery museum.

Alan dickson

Posted March 29, 2014

Don't/ know exact date but it was hospice for weary travellers in mediaeval times as the road was the main coastal road North.

When they built the new houses on left side some very old skeletons were uncovered said to be monks who ran the hospice.

A few years ago the man who lived there told me the kitchen was being renovated and a big pile of flagstones were stacked up for the next day and the door locked.

On going in the next day they were strewn all over,he moved shortly afterwards. A secret tunnel is said to be rumoured .l think the road split the hospice in two...........

 

Is that the Farm you are interested in ?

[anniemarr]

Thank you very much, yes this is the farm and I am trying to get a photograph.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

5 minutes ago, anniemarr said:

Thank you very much, yes this is the farm and I am trying to get a photograph.

Just about to go out but I will have a search online later today but I would be surprised if there was anything on the www - but always worth a try 

Edited July 1, 2019 by Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

@anniemarr - a quick check - 1938 map & Google street view 2019.

Could Sparrow House now be a copse?

[anniemarr]

Hi, Yes it could.  I believe it was demolished probably 1980's, it was a very old farm.  My friend, Sylvia, is so keen to have a photo, sketch and information on the farm and I have tried Ancestry but no luck so far.  Thank you so much for helping. Annie

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

@anniemarr :- had a search of the www but only found one reference to the farm and that was in the London gazette of 1924 in connection with the Ashington Coal Company.

Then I checked on a Facebook group - Past Times History, Admin @johndawsonjune1955 - as there has been info on Sheepwash etc posted on that group before. When I searched for Sparrow House farm I found three photos that a Helen Birch had given to John Dawson and John posted them with this comment  :-   

Ashington Sparrow House Farm in the garden Photograph Helen Birch

 

 

Edited July 2, 2019 by Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)

[anniemarr]

Oh Brilliant, thank you very much. Sylvia will be so pleased. Annie

[Chris Verguson]

I visited my grandmother Ella and stepgrandfather George Allen. They had been housed there when George could no longer work the land as a temporary measure probably. They had previously been at Stable Cottage, Bothal and I think the farm there was owned by the NCB although my mum thought it was  the co-op. It is almost certain that the NCB by this time owned Spruggy Hoose as everybody called it. The lighting was by oil lamp, cooking on a range and I still remember that when the wardrobe door was open you could somehow hear men’s’ voices from the coal seam below. Quite a shock to a young child from suburban Merseyside. I also have memories of Stable Cottage but can’t work out where it was. I think my dad said it was demolished to make way for a fire station which was itself demolished and its place taken by housing. They do have a photo of Sparrow House at the Northumberland Archives at Woodhorn.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

19 hours ago, Chris Verguson said:

. They do have a photo of Sparrow House at the Northumberland Archives at Woodhorn.

@Chris Verguson - just checked and I see @anniemarr who started this topic on June 29th 2019 hasn't visited this site since July 4th 2019 but you never now she may come back

[Frank Fletcher]

With regard to Sparrow house Farm. As a result of researching our family tree we got back to the 1800's in relation to Sparrow House Farm. It appears my great great great grand father lived at the farm and indeed died their in 1884 aged 68 years. He had at some point had owned about 680 acres at the Coneygarth Moor Farm which was farmland adjacent to Sparrow House Farm. In respect of its demolition,  I believe it was carried out by an American who rented almost all the NCB Farms around the 1960's.  all of which had been bought up by the Ashington Coal Company and then passed on to the NCB. His name was Roodie or Roody and during his tenancy he demolished several farm houses on some of the Farms. including both Coneygarth Moor Farm and Sparrow House Farm. 

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

12 hours ago, Frank Fletcher said:

With regard to Sparrow house Farm. As a result of researching our family tree we got back to the 1800's in relation to Sparrow House Farm. It appears my great great great grand father lived at the farm and indeed died their in 1884 aged 68 years. He had at some point had owned about 680 acres at the Coneygarth Moor Farm which was farmland adjacent to Sparrow House Farm. In respect of its demolition,  I believe it was carried out by an American who rented almost all the NCB Farms around the 1960's.  all of which had been bought up by the Ashington Coal Company and then passed on to the NCB. His name was Roodie or Roody and during his tenancy he demolished several farm houses on some of the Farms. including both Coneygarth Moor Farm and Sparrow House Farm. 

Cheers Frank - 'anniemarr' still hasn't logged back into this group since July 4th 2019. She must have given up on us🙂 

[anniemarr]

Been trying to log in again. Anniemarr

[anniemarr]

Looking for information for a friend, Sylvia Cowe, she used to live in Sparrow Hall in the fifties.  Any info or pictures most welcome.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

4 hours ago, anniemarr said:

Been trying to log in again. Anniemarr

 - can't find any more info from the Facebook groups

[Geoff Thompson]

I was looking for information on Sparrow House and found your "conversation" about it . I 'd looked for the house on a recent visit to the area, but of course found nothing -- Interested to learn that it had survived until the 1950's or '60's when I still lived in Newcastle. 

Like your member "Newbie" , Frank Fletcher, my great, great, great grandfather Richard Spearman also lived and worked at Sparrow House farm,  in the 1790's as an "agricultural labourer". Perhaps he might even have met Frank's 'ggggrandfather' ! I guess Richard perhaps raised himself up a notch by marrying the then owner , James Watson's daughter Sarah in 1792, by license at Bothal St Andrew's church .  ( His older brother Edward married her widowed sister Ann a year later and became owner & miller at Sheepwash as a result). Richard & Sarah had 4 children , all born at Sparrow House farm, until Richard ( perhaps with the help of his father-in-law and brother ? ) became the miller at Bothal Mill on the Duke of Portland's estate, in 1801. 

I don't know if Richard Spearman held the lease on Bothal Mill from !801, but I did find the lease he signed with the Duke in 1807, in the Northumberland Archives. Richard was first in a line of 5 members of the Spearman family to be millers at Bothal, up to my great grandfather Richard Robert Spearman and his mother Margaret who finally gave up a rapidly declining business in 1877.     

[Lynn]

My Friend Mabel Tiffin(Knox) told me about Sparrow farm she lived there from 1934 to 1940 her father was a dairyman. In her photo album she has a small photo of the farm and one of her sat on a stye as a young girl.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

38 minutes ago, Lynn said:

My Friend Mabel Tiffin(Knox) told me about Sparrow farm she lived there from 1934 to 1940 her father was a dairyman. In her photo album she has a small photo of the farm and one of her sat on a stye as a young girl.

Welcome to the group @Lynn. @anniemarr who started this topic in 2019 hasn't logged back into the group since her last comment above on June 4th 2020. 

If a member registers to receive notifications if any member comments on their posts they will be notified via an email. I don't know if 'anniemar' has registered but I have attempted to notify her by preceding her login Id with an ampersand and that triggers off a notification. 

Edited July 31, 2022 by Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)

[Keiren Scott]

On 03/06/2020 at 22:06, Frank Fletcher said:

With regard to Sparrow house Farm. As a result of researching our family tree we got back to the 1800's in relation to Sparrow House Farm. It appears my great great great grand father lived at the farm and indeed died their in 1884 aged 68 years. He had at some point had owned about 680 acres at the Coneygarth Moor Farm which was farmland adjacent to Sparrow House Farm. In respect of its demolition,  I believe it was carried out by an American who rented almost all the NCB Farms around the 1960's.  all of which had been bought up by the Ashington Coal Company and then passed on to the NCB. His name was Roodie or Roody and during his tenancy he demolished several farm houses on some of the Farms. including both Coneygarth Moor Farm and Sparrow House Farm. 

Hi Frank, 

Your great great great grand father you refer to wouldn't happen to be George Thompson who died at Sparrow House Farm in 1884 would it? George is my great great great great grandfather. Would be keen to learn how we are related!

 

Best,

Keiren

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

1 hour ago, Keiren Scott said:

Hi Frank, 

Your great great great grand father you refer to wouldn't happen to be George Thompson who died at Sparrow House Farm in 1884 would it? George is my great great great great grandfather. Would be keen to learn how we are related!

 

Best,

Keiren

@Keiren Scott I checked @Frank Fletcher's profile to see when he last visited this group. The last time he logged in was the same day he joined and the same day, 3rd June 2020, he posted the comment you are referring to.  

[Keiren Scott]

6 minutes ago, Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) said:

@Keiren Scott I checked @Frank Fletcher's profile to see when he last visited this group. The last time he logged in was the same day he joined and the same day, 3rd June 2020, he posted the comment you are referring to.  

Hi Alan,

Thanks for checking! Maybe in a couple of years he may drop back in again. 🤞

[Andy Millne]

@Keiren Scott Frank has messaged the site in error instead of replying to this topic. I have messaged you directly with his response as it contains some private info. Hopefully he’ll be able to get logged in if there is anything you wish to share publicly. 

[Keiren Scott]

17 minutes ago, Andy Millne said:

@Keiren Scott Frank has messaged the site in error instead of replying to this topic. I have messaged you directly with his response as it contains some private info. Hopefully he’ll be able to get logged in if there is anything you wish to share publicly. 

Thanks I have replied to you privately. 🙂

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

21 minutes ago, Keiren Scott said:

Hi Alan,

Thanks for checking! Maybe in a couple of years he may drop back in again. 🤞

[Stuart Ashing]

My great grand parents lived on sparrow house farm from around 1905 to 1950’s  the armstrongs. Moved over from Carlisle.