[David O’Brien]

Hello
I am aiming to piece together an indepth study of the Armstrong family (and their businesses in Hexham) who owned and operated the Northumberland Brewery in Priestpopple (also known as ‘Armstrongs Brewery’), which I understand was on the site of the County Mills buildings, next door / across the lane from the County Hotel. Originally the dividing lane was Kiln Lane, which was later renamed Argyle Terrace.They also owned land known as the Bush Estate in Warden and the Westend Town Estate in Haltwhistle which were put up for sale in 1841. A John Armstrong who died in 1742/43 had previously operated a Brew house on another site next door to the Abbey before his death. William Armstrong operated the Northumberland Brewery in Priestpopple under the name ‘William Armstrong & Son’ until 1831 when the partnership was dissolved due to his ill health. The same William Armstrong, Malster & Brewer died in the late 1830’s and his wife Mary Armstrong died in 1849 (in Priestpopple) aged 73. The Northumberland Brewery was put up For Sale or To Let on a number of occassions between 1849 and 1870. The Armstrongs (brewers) are also known to have lived in Hencotes / Hencoatrs in Hexham. There were at least two sons, named John Armstrong (died 1871 in Hencoats) & Thomas Armstrong (died Elswick 1875), but there could have been more. Both of these two sons were Malsters and Brewers. John Armstrong is believed to have married Mary Johnson in 1827, and Thomas Armstrong married Elizabeth Fairlamb of the White Horse Inn in 1849. Thomas Armstrong was Inn Keeper at the WHite Horse Inn for a time before moving to Newcastle upon Tyne by 1859. By 1879, the Northumberland Brewery was being run by the Pearson family, who had previously been Inn Keepers at the Bird in Bush Inn located in Hall Garth, Hexham and were related to the Armstrongs. That arrangement wasnt to last too long as within 5 years a large part of the site had been demolished to make way for a new industry that was to replace it in the shape of Andrew & George Little’s County Roller & Tyne Mills, QUOTE “A&G Little’s Flour Mill and grain warehouse that was built on the site of the former Northumberland Brewery in 1884” UNQUOTE cited from https://www.hexhamhistorian.org/historic-hexham/test-your-hexham-building-knowledge/answer-april-2019/.
If anyone has any information that can add to the above, no matter how small, I would be interested in hearing from you. It may be that there are some descendants who have already done their own research on the family links, which would help to build a powerful storyline. If so, and you are willing to share details I would be very greateful. I am also trying to identify how many major Breweries existed in Hexham in 1783, as I have some detailed plans by John Smeaton FRS, the renowned Civil Engineer who designed the construction of the new bridge at Hexham, from a brewery project that he worked on in Hexham in 1783. I suspect that his work related to the Northumberland Brewery in Priestpopple, but I am not 100% certain of that. If anyone can offer any further information on that subject, I would also be extremely thankful.

David O’Brien

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