The Auction Mart the Railway Moved

The opening of the railway in 1904 changed many things for Ponteland. One of these was the location of its cattle market. From at least the 1870s this had been held where the allotment now are behind the Diamond Inn. In 1921, the company that controlled the Market; Ponteland Auction Mart Company Ltd. relocated to be next to the railway goods yard in the western end of the village behind St Matthew’s Catholic Church. The site was a large one with rows and rows of pens to hold the livestock waiting to be auctioned and transported away after the sale.

The railway was closed to passenger traffic in 1929 but this did not affect the market as it remained open for goods traffic and the transport of livestock was a large part of its business. The railway eventually closed completely in the 1970’’s but the market lived on as in 1964 a large abattoir was built next to it which was able to process much of the livestock which continued to be sold at the market. This was built by R. Manners and Sons Ltd.

The Manners family were five brothers and their father. Before the Second World War, each of the brothers had their own local farm and after the War they collectively owned a butcher’s shop in West Moor. Traditionally butchers had slaughtered the livestock they had purchased behind or at the back of their shop. In towns, this had been increasingly replaced by municipal abattoirs provided by local authorities. This had not happened in Ponteland and R Manners and Sons spotted the opportunity to set up a new, modern abattoir next to the market. It was described as “a break-through for the meat trade in the area” and was opened by the Duke of Northumberland in April 1964.

This provided a new lease of life for the market. Butchers could buy their stock at the auction and sometimes before they had paid the bill at the mart, the carcass was hung-up and ready for inspection. The abattoir could handle 100 to 125 cattle a day and was equipped with the most modern machinery for both the slaughtering and processing the carcass.

This worked well until 1990 when the cost of increasing animal welfare and hygiene regulations meant that the abattoir part of R. Manners and Sons was no longer viable and they closed down that part of the business. This was a major blow to the auction market which faced a cash crisis from losing one of its biggest customers.

There were still sale notices being published in the early 1990’s and the market looks to have started winding down shortly afterwards and is said to have closed completely in 2006.

In 2002, the pens which formed the western end of the market were demolished and a new access road to the Meadowfield Estate, the Lairage was laid down along their route. By 2011 the entire site was cleared and redeveloped as the Royal Hampton Care Home in 2015.