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EAST FARM PEGSWOOD.
Pevsner, architectural historian, describes East Farm as; ‘Eighteenth
century brick farmhouse with an early nineteenth century gin gang.’ East Farm
has been in the hands of the Laidler family certainly since the middle of the
eighteenth century. Presumably, therefore, they may well have been the first
tenants of the farm
There
is a persistent myth that haunts East Farm, which states that it was once a
Coaching Inn. However, two things don’t fully add up. Firstly, Coaching Inns were
there for the use of long distance coaches on routes such as Newcastle to
Edinburgh and even further. They were overnight stopping places on the route
there to give drivers and passengers a rest on a long journey as well as to
change the horses. Even if there had been a road in those days, the distance
between Morpeth and Newbiggin, the furthest east that you could travel hardly
warrants the use of an Inn to give passengers and drivers a rest. Romantic
though it may seem, it’s very fanciful to say the least.
Secondly, as East Farm has been in the hands of the Laidler family
seemingly since it was built and all the Laidler family were farmers there
seems to be no room for and inn keeper. East Farm was used for the purpose that
it was built for: a working farm.
However, there is evidence that alcohol was sold from East Farm. A sign,
now in two halves, remains in the care of the Laidler family. The top half is
almost devoid of decoration, stripped of almost all paint by age and weather.
The bottom half, however, is painted rather crudely with a stylized landscape
of hills and a representation of a plough. Over the years this has led many who
have seen the sign to believe that East Farm was once a pub named the The
Plough. There is nothing else on the sign to suggest that this is what it was.
The emblem of the plough as well as the landscape is very crudely painted and
looks very primitive.
Painted at the bottom of the sign, in very large letters, is the legend;
‘James Laidler’.
Under the name are the words; ‘Dealer In
Foreign Wines, Ales Spirits etc’. James Laidler was a farmer who sold foreign
alcohol from his farm. There is a world of difference between a coaching inn or
a pub and a dealer in foreign alcohol but the former is more romantic and suits
the myth.