Coney Close Windmill

The windmill was built following the granting of a lease to Edward Greene at a Common Council meeting on 1 June 1649 of "a parcel of ground lying about the old fort (HER 5482) within Conney Close, with grass for a horse in and upon the west ballast hills, with liberty to build a windmill to grind corn… and to build a little house near to the windmill for a miller to dwell in, for the term of 21 years". Greene renewed his lease in 1659. In 1699 when Anne Reay petitioned for the lease of the ground, the mill was said to be in need of repair. By the early 18th century the land was in the hands of the Shaftoe family and in 1733 passed to Sarah Ord, wife of Rev. Thomas Ord of Kirknewton, and daughter of Rev. Leonard Shaftoe, vicar of Gateshead; and then to George Atkinson, miller of Pandon. Atkinson passed the land to Thomas Finley in 1747, who passed it to Robert Radcliff in 1757. The Radcliff family leased the mill until the turn of the 19th century when Robert died and his son James assigned it to Thomas Wood. Wood must have died shortly afterwards, because in 1808 his daughter Sarah passed the lease onto John Carr, millwright of Barras Bridge. In 1815 the mill was assigned to Mary Carr of Plessey. In 1819 Henry Carr was awarded £50 compensation for the injurious effects of a building being erected near the mill. This may have presaged the closure of the windmill. In December 1815 Ralph Rewcastle was leased a piece of land at the east end of Ouseburn Bridge for a steam mill for grinding corn. This must have severely affected the work of the Coney Close windmill. The windmill is not shown on maps of 1844, suggesting that by this time it had disappeared. The mill was a timber-framed post mill, which would have rapidly decayed after its closure. The ballast hill on which it stood retained the name Miller's Hill. A road was built through the hill in 1878. The demolition of the ballast hill retaining wall and the rest of the hill in 1990 will have removed all trace of the mill.