Lemmington Coalhouses

[lazytee]

Hi Northumbrian Rootschatters!

Can anyone with local knowledge of Lemmington/Alnwick please help me with the exact location of  "Lemmington Coalhouses". My great x 3 grandfather, John Stephenson, is recorded in an 1817 document as being "of Lemmington Coalhouses"; he was pitman and later a "Colliery Occupier".  I have looked on old and modern maps, but have not been able to find them.  Modern maps show disused shafts in the wood on the north side of the B6431 near Lemmington Bank Top, and the website of the Baliffgate Museum in Alnwick states that there is mention in some Edlingham records that coal was worked at Lemmington Bank Top from at least 1686.  Tracing the steps of the enumerators in the 1851 and 61 censuses, I can find some coalmining families living at the "Coalhouses", but cannot work out exactly where they are situated.  Do they still exist, even if they now have a different name? 

Your expert advice, please.

Lazytee.

[stanmapstone]

"Pit Houses" are marked on this map, probably the original "Coal Houses" http://maps.nls.uk/view/102346311#zoom=5&lat=9326&lon=7710&layers=BT

Stan

[lazytee]

Hi Stan!

Yet again you have answered my query brilliantly.  The position of the "Pit houses" on the map corresponds exactly with the "Coalhouses" on the enumerator's round in the 1851 census.  I feel sure this is the spot where my great x 3 grandfather lived in 1817.  Next time I am in Northumberland I will be visiting!  The old 6" maps are a huge blessing to family historians.

Very many thanks,

Hazel.