A postcard view of the Beaumont’s smelt mill at Allen Mill. Mainly constructed 1835-40, by 1847 it comprised two calcining furnaces, six roasting furnaces, nine ore-hearths, two reverberatory furnaces, one reducing furnace, four refining furnaces, one slag hearth and a separating house with 18 Pattinson pots. Later the smelt mill was connected to the nearby Hexham … read more
Allen Mill bridge (1828) and the road to Catton. With the smelt mill output more than doubling between 1800 to 1820, the existing poor roads became a major problem for getting the ore in and the lead pigs out. The original road hugged the river and exists now as a public footpath. A new road … read more
Aerial view of Mill Cottages, Allendale. These were built for workers at the nearby smelt mill. Note the farm behind, now converted to two dwellings – that track by the river, that enters Catton at the Methodist chapel, was the only road from Catton to Allendale until 1828.
Collecting the milk from John Ridley’s farm at Allen Mill. This shows an early milk tanker from the ‘Ridley’s’ fleet of local lorries and Reg Lowery (1926-2010) is the driver. Reg lived at Podsbank in Thornley Gate and was married to Dorothy Lancaster (1925-2018), who ran the riding school there. These farm buildings were subsequently … read more
The Smelt Mill Bridge, built by Wentworth Beaumont in 1813. This replaced an earlier wooden bridge and a ford. Foundation Stone, coins
Mill cottages, and Allen Mill Bridge, with the station in the background. Note that part of parapet on bridge is missing.
This bridge near Allen Mill that carried the lead flue over the road was carefully dismantled in the early 1920s and rebuilt at Sinderhope as a road bridge called Barnsley Bridge.
The bridge that carried the lead flues across the road between Allendale Smelt Mill and Thornley Gate.
