Old Maps of the Consett area (Pre-1848)

[Elliven]

hanes teulu,

Also note that the Target/Grey Horse was in a very good position and was built in 1848 in the infancy of the steel works when Consett was just emerging as an important industrial town.

It was positioned at the end of a reputed drover's trail and was ideally placed for moving animals to Durham City and the two important market towns of Shotley Bridge and Lanchester.  Before the rise of Stanley (coal mining) and Consett (steel making), these two places were much more important than they are today - they are now both very attractive dormer villages for the wider areas but they were both important administrative centres at that time.

[hanes teulu]

This map shows a Roman Road coming into Leadgate - and a smithy is marked. Would drovers have been using this route?
https://maps.nls.uk/view/101168243#zoom=5.8&lat=3165&lon=6643&layers=BT

[Elliven]

hanes teulu,

No, that road goes from York to Scotland but if Scottish drovers used it, they would have branched off somewhere north of Consett, perhaps towards Shotley Bridge.

The map was revised in 1895 and shows the whole of Sherburn Terrace but, when the Target/Grey Horse was built, there were large gaps in Sherburn Terrace.  If you look carefully, the pub was located on the road just below the second r in Carr Ho(use).  Carr House being the extreme edge of Consett (or Conside and Knitsley as it was then known).

This map no longer shows the footpath/drover's trail that existed at the time and is now all built over.  It is so frustrating as I live only about 2 miles away from the site of the pub and I can find virtually nothing on it's history!

[MollyC]

Looking at the OS 6-inch map 1857/1862:  https://maps.nls.uk/view/266662366
Follow your path to the NW, across Barhouse Lane to Black Fine.  It crosses a parish and township boundary where it appears to have been disrupted by quarries and an enclosure road, Black Fine Bank, but then it sets off northwestwards across fields probably enclosed during the 18th cent.  This part of the route was probably modified by an enclosure award.  Then it joins a pre-enclosure lane to Benfieldside and Shotley Bridge.  I would be asking Durham Archives if there is an enclosure award for Benfieldside township, and looking at the section which sets out bridle roads, usually near the beginning, between sections on roads and footpaths.  Hopefully there is a map.

Carr House is in a small detached piece of Ebchester parish and township (137 acres) which may have its own enclosure award.

[Elliven]

Thank you MollyC,

That is an interesting idea.  By 1848, when the pub was built, the drover's roads were becoming less important but I am curious to know whether there was a smithy on the site of this pub before the actual pub was built.

I don't believe that this was a major drover's route.  I just wonder whether there was a smithy there before the pub was built.  Even a minor droving route would provide blacksmithing and pub business at this point.

If there was a proper smithy there, he might well have brewed ale as a sideline - effectively proving that there was a pub there, or even an inn - if he provided overnight accommodation for one or more persons - even if they slept in a barn.

[hanes teulu]

At Carr House on the '41 Census is Robert Shotton. I have checked the Census pages (Iviston) for a blacksmith in the locale. The nearest popped up in Kyo.
The only publican is Sarah Swallwell. Her address is simply Iviston.

I checked the tithe maps for the area. There's a map that predates the building of the pub but cannot post details (Ts & Cs of my subscribing).

regards 

[Elliven]

hanes teulu,

Thank you for that information.  Sadly, Iveston is at least 2 miles from Carr House and Kyo is confusing because there are three places with that name.  New Kyo was only built in the late 19th Century and can be discounted.  East and West Kyo are both very old villages but all three are even further away from Carr House than Iveston.

It looks like this is going to be mission impossible - but I will keep trying!

[hanes teulu]

On the '41 Census the Census sheet for Carr House is headed "Township of Iviston". The transcribed address reads "Carr House, Lanchester" - Lanchester being the Parish. I checked all the Census sheets headed Township of Iviston, failing to spot a blacksmith amongst them. The nearest blacksmith to Carr House was in the "Township of Kyo, Annfield Plain".

Sadly, many addresses didn't drill down to house/street number or similar. 

Best of luck with the search. 

   

[hanes teulu]

At reply #14 Sarah Swallwell appears as a publican at Iviston.

See page 177 - Iveston. This tome published 1828. 
https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_MbA3AAAAYAAJ/page/176/mode/2up