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Home >> The Project
>> History of the Site
History of the Site
The land around Bassett's Lookout is fell and was historically known as Blackfell. The 1800s saw the development of eleven coal mines within 1 mile of Bassett's Lookout. In 1823 the first chain pulling railways, haul house station and reservoir was set up very close by to pull the coal wagons. This is known as Blackfell Haul House and a picture of the haul house in its current state can be seen on the left.
The A1 diversion from the old A69 was planned during the 1960s and opened in 1989. By this time the land was being intensively grazed by horses. The land had fallen into disrepair, with old stone walling in need of repair, drainage ditches and hay meadows that had been trodden flat by horses and several areas of scrub and boggy land.
When Ann and Arthur Adlington bought the land in 2001 they began to turn the fields back into traditional hay meadows with wildflowers and herbs, started to repair the stone walls, re-instated ditches and replanted lost hedgerows. This work is still ongoing and will be augmented by the development of the carp and coarse fishing lakes to be known as Angel of the North Fishing Lakes.
