Axwell Park, corn mill

HER Number:
13587

District:
Gateshead

Site Name:
Axwell Park, corn mill

Place:
Axwell

Map Sheet:
NZ16SE

Class:
Industrial

Site Type: Broad:
Mill

Site Type: Specific:
Corn Mill

General Period:
Post Medieval

Specific Period:
C17

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
Around 1635 William Selby III carried out a major redevelopment at Winlaton. The 1636 total vend was probably around 2000T, making Winlaton the second biggest colliery on Tyneside. The Derwent face of Winlaton Hill (now in Axwell Park) was exploited. The Brockwell seam outcropped near the 50 foot contour, which is where pits were located around 1600. The coal could be worked from the dip in the north-east corner of the present park. Somewhere in this area Selby provided a waterpit. To power its mill Selby diverted one stream into a trench cut along the foot of the slope and collected the run-off. A tailrace was created from a second falling into the Derwent at 'Selby's Ford'. These works later became the ornamental lake. In 1638 the new colliery was flooded, possibly by pent-up water in old workings north of the fault. Selby diverted water from the Derwent to power more water wheels to drain the mine. The water ran into a much bigger millpond, which beame the fishpond of the park lake. In 1629 John Clavering bought Axwell. He sued Selby and Hodgson in 1639 because water which powered his corn mill was dammed at their colliery. In 1645 James Clavering made a settlement which agreed that Winlaton Colliery could make full use of the Derwent until it closed.

Easting:
192

Northing:
619

Grid Reference:
NZ192619

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
Eric Clavering and Alan Rounding, 1995, Early Tyneside Industrialism: The lower Derwent and Blaydon Burn Valleys 1550-1700, Archaeologia Aeliana, Series 5, Vol XXIII, pages 249-268