South East Farm, Still Working

South East Farm at Berwick Hill is still a working farm and the farmhouse and adjoining cottage is a listed building.

Like its neighbour across the road, West End Farmhouse, this building has two date stones commemorating building work, one from 1956 and another dated 1723. The 1723 stone is likely to have been placed there sometime later than the date inscribed on it. Most probably it was placed there by the Fourth Baronet Matthew White Ridley who inherited the estate in 1836 and devoted his life to the management and improvement of his farming estates, building or renovating many of his farms and marking the work with date stones. The 1723 date was probably to indicate the original build date. This is borne out by the listing which describes the house as dating to around 1840 with a 18th century core.

The farmstead has an unusual shape for this part of Northumberland. There were two ranges of buildings enclosing the south-facing farmyard. The main farmhouse stands at the eastern edge of the north range, and it also is south facing with its rear to the main road.

The farm was tenanted by the Reay family in the middle of the 19th century who at that time ran all the farms in the village centre.

The first time in the census’s that the farms in the village centre are individually named does not occur until 1881 when “East End Farm” is run by the Hall family when it is described as being of 450 acres and employing one labourer.

In recent years the farm has been run by the Carmichael family and is known locally as “Carmichael’s Farm”.