Allensford

Allensford
Allensford is located in County Durham
Allensford
Allensford
Location within County Durham
OS grid referenceNZ 07708 50201
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
PoliceDurham
FireCounty Durham and Darlington
AmbulanceNorth East
List of places
UK
England
County Durham
54°50′48″N 1°52′53″W / 54.846561°N 1.8814900°W / 54.846561; -1.8814900
Waterfall on the Wharnley Burn near Allensford just before it meets the River Derwent

Allensford is a small country park and hamlet in County Durham, in England. It is on the River Derwent, about 2 miles SW of Consett, and 1 mile north of Castleside.

Allensford was first recorded as Aleynforth in Bishop Hatfield's survey of c. 1382.[1][2] The placename is sometimes listed as Allansford; "At Allansford...is a bridge over the Derwent into Northumberland, surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery on that stream; there are a few cottages on each side of the river".[3]

It is uncertain when a bridge replaced the ford. However, a bridge was in existence in the late 17th century when the structure was in a "very ruinous and in greate decay” according to the Northumberland Quarter Sessions for 1687–1697.[4]

Allensford Mill farmhouse was originally called the Belsay Castle Inn, named after the estate of the Middleton family of Belsay Castle.[5] Part of the inn was built in the late 17th century and may have been a bastle. Later additions continued throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. The inn was licensed until 1869. The upper room in the outbuilding served as a nonconformist chapel.[6]

Denis Hayford (c.1635–1733), a pioneer of the steel industry, acquired the lease of Allensford furnace and forge in 1692; this was upstream from his established business in Shotley Bridge. The lease seems to have lapsed in 1713. The site of the furnace is marked on Ordnance Survey maps.[7]

It has a dedicated campsite. The adjacent woodland forms the Allensford Woods Local Nature Reserve, covering 17.5 hectares (43 acres).[8][9]

  1. ^ Greenwell, William (1857). Bishop Hatfield's survey, a record of the possessions of the see of Durham, made by order of Thomas de Hatfield, bishop of Durham. Durham: Surtees Society. p. 124.
  2. ^ Watts, Victor (2002). A dictionary of County Durham place-names. Nottingham: English Place-Name Society. p. 1. ISBN 0904889653.
  3. ^ Lewis, Samuel (1848). A Topographical Dictionary of England. pp. 466–470. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  4. ^ "Northumberland Quarter Sessions". The National Archives. p. QSO/2, f3v. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  5. ^ "Papers of the Middleton family of Belsay". The National Archives. p. ZMI/B2/V/8. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  6. ^ Historic England. "Allensford Mill Farmhouse and adjacent outbuildings (1045297)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  7. ^ "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Retrieved 30 May 2013.
  8. ^ "Allensford Woods". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
  9. ^ "Map of Allensford Woods". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. Retrieved 4 August 2013.