Croft Stairs, Sinclair's Cooperage

This former gardener's cottage once lay within the walled garden of the Barber Surgeon's Hall (HER 498). It is first shown on Corbridge's map of 1723. Its lower courses were constructed of rough unmortared sandstone. It was rebuilt, probably in 18th century with brick at first storey level. Welsh slate roof with brick chimneys. Sash windows, mostly renewed. In 1698 Celia Fiennes wrote of the Hall "a pretty garden walled in, full of flowers and greenes in potts and in the borders". The Barber Surgeons Hall was demolished in 1847 to make way for the railway bridge, but the gardener's cottage survives and has been restored and is home to a firm of accountants. Note that the listed building description describes this building as a former Sinclair's Cooperage with outbuildings to west. More research required. LISTED GRADE 2.