From Cattle Market to Allotments

The allotments in the centre of Ponteland, running between Eland Road and the river, were the site of Ponteland’s first cattle market. Ponteland started as an agricultural village serving the farms with used to surround it. From at least the 1870’s, these services included this auction market.

The auction mart was run by Brown and Hedley, auctioneers from Corbridge. Farmers would drive their cattle and sheep into the village where they would be separated into pens before being led into the auction ring at the end of the pens, to be auctioned off. These would be bought by butchers. On a good day over 500 head of cattle and a similar number of sheep would be sold on a sale day.

From 1883, the sale was run by R Hedley and by 1885 R Hedley and Sons. By the start of the 20th century, the firm was run by R Cecil Hedley, (later Major R. Cecil Hedley). As well as being an auctioneer, he was also the Land Agent for many of the principal landowners in the district, helping them run their estates more profitably. He joined with E. Fenwick Brewis, the Land Agent for Lord Ridley and founded the Ponteland Auction Mart Company Ltd in 1913.

The coming of the railway to Ponteland was making it much easier to transport livestock in and out of the village and this new company was probably formed to take advantage of the opportunities this offered. However, the First World War intervened and it was not until 1921 that the company was able to close the market here and relocate next to the railway line at the other end of the village.

This site here was sold by the company in 1922 to a Mr. George Clark for £111.