Journal entry – John Grey – 25 Apr 1834

Friday 25th



Passed the day at Milfield Hill. Having received the Boards Minutes of the 2nd Instant, wrote to inform Mr Thomson that they had given the fullest consideration to the case in dispute respecting the price of Coals delivered to him by the Lessees of Scremerston Colliery & could not interfere therein.  And to Mr Hogarth, in answer to his petition for a reduction of Rent, that the only relief that can be granted him is, that the farm should be valued & relet.   Saw the Mason who had accompanied my Son in an examination of the Cottages at Glororum.   They state that three of them which are only one Storey high, may with little repair, be made to last for a Lease, but that five others, the walls of which had been originally built at a distant period of Stone & Clay, & upon which at a later time a building of additional height to obtain a Granary above, had most incautiously been erected, are in a condition dangerous to the occupiers as Mrs Thomson had represented.  no use had been made of the Granary for a long time, the Walls having seperated [sic] from the Timber in many places.  The Wood of the Roof they report to be foreign & in good state so as to admit of being used again & also a good many of the Pantiles.  As there seems no alternative but to build new Cottages I would recommend that they should be placed in a more convenient situation at a little distance from the farm Offices & that they should be made only one Storey high, as there is a fair share of Granary over the Cattle Sheds, & it is neither safe nor desirable to keep Corn over Cottages.  The old Materials will go far to build the new houses, but as the farm Servants cannot in the mean time be dispensed with, it will be necessary to build two Cottages first, & then by removing the occupiers, get the materials of the vacant houses to apply to the building of others, & so on progressively.  The part of the old farm House too which has been left & is occupied as a back Kitchen & Dairy to the new one, is in a state of such rottenness & decay as to be dangerous, the Wood having broken in & being now standing upon props. To have given the necessary accommodation would have cost little, had it been done when the present house was built, which was only a few years ago but it is such a curious & inconvenient structure, consisting of two rooms on a floor, carried up in the shape of a square tower with windows on all sides, that it is not easy to add to it.  I must take an early opportunity of examining these matters particularly upon the spot, which I could not do at present, not having made arrangement for a longer absence, & to try to fall up the cheapest & best plan of arranging these buildings & getting the Lime Kiln put into a condition to be useful to the tenants which is much complained of.



Saturday 26th April 1834



Returned by Newcastle to Corbridge.