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The scaffolding is up and the roof is coming off!
We've all seen it slowly deteriorating, sat there sad and unloved. And yet even now the skeleton of the building looks remarkably sound.
But, the end has arrived for Link House Farm. Over the coming days another piece of Blyth's history will be erased.
Back in the day it was part of something mush grander, but they too are now part of our history.
A sad end for such a beautiful old house.
The buildings behind the farm, which were demolished in 2021 and are being replaced with a small retail park, They used to include a public house called the half Moon Inn.
A group of urban explorers recently filmed the interior of the buildings.
Warning - The video contains bad language and offensive graffiti.
We found Linkhouse farm mentioned in a document dated 1683 but this house is clearly much later than that so presumably was rebuilt at some point. The complex itself however contains some stone buildings that appear to pre date the house by quite some time. Possibly what remains from the earlier buildings.
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If you've seen any photographs of Link House, you might have noticed a small bridge crossing a stream. That bridge today would be over the road right outside the car sales room that's there today.
The stream is still there today but it now runs underground. It empties into the sea via a short concrete pier many of us will have played on as children.
The photo above shows exactly where Link House stood. The garage appears to be under construction.
If you looked closely among the buildings, you would have come across a gate post which seemed to come from a different time.
Standing without it's twin, the post is the last remaining piece of Link House, a mansion house which dated from the eighteenth century. That building stood where Coastline chippy is today. It was demolished around 1965, more on that soon.
The post has listed status but will be moved to an alternative location.
An extremely detailed report on the buildings and land they stand on in May 2009 and named The Bamburgh Report was carried out for The Blagdon estate.
You can read the report here.
An exert from The Bamburgh Report on the gate post is below.
The limited evidence available makes it difficult to be certain if the listed gate pier (HER 12026) still present at the site (the second now at Wallington Hall) was built as part of the original house first mentioned in 1683 or as part of the ‘new mansion’ of 1751. The gardens of the house were in place by 1796 and were still in use in 1887. They are depicted on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map (Figure 5) as both extensive and well laid out, but had been replaced by an open area by the 2nd Edition (Figure 6). An academy was run from the house by 1827 and records of owners continue up to 1971.
Link House appears to have replaced an earlier mansion house on the same site. The building to the left was built in 1751 and was built by Nicholas Ridley. It isn't certain whether the listed gate post on the site date from the original house or the 1751 building. However it is likely that they formed the entrance to the formal gardens which were present on the first edition Ordnance Survey Map.
The gardens were still present in 1887 and described as well laid out and extensive.
Very little is known about the Half Moon Inn. The only record we could find is references to it on maps from the time.
There is a record of an advert placed by the Ridley family in 1744 which makes reference to the existence of a malt house on the site which would seem to indicate that brewing was taking place on some scale.
It was however quite common at the time to brew on quite a small scale and sell the product from a room or outbuilding in a private residence.
So, it is at least possible the Half Moon was a reference to something along those lines.
Link House was demolished in 1965.
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