IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Leeming, NORTHALLERTON, DL7 9SZ

18thC Corn Mill with attached dwelling. This property was sold by auction in May 2013, the previous incumbent had lived here for 65 years, and in all that time the mill had flooded just once in Sept 2012. The new owner told me that sadly the milling machinery had been removed in the late 1940's, but the building still has many interesting features.

Although surrounded by barns and sheds, this doesn't look much like a typical Yorkshire farm house, which isn't surprising as it was once the village corn mill, the mill race once running along a channel immediately to the right of the gate. Another surprising thing is that the mill doesn't appear as a listed building.

Rustic charm in this oak-planked sluice. The A1(M) atops the embankment in the background.

Plans to canalise the River Swale and Bedale Beck in the 1760's never came to fruition and the scheme collapsed. There is some debate as to whether this lock at Leeming was ever completed, but all that remains now are the well constructed side walls. Another lock that was finished is at Topcliffe in SE3976. In nearby Bedale one can walk or drive down 'Harbour View' a road that leads to the site of the harbour where there is an information board and metal mooring rings.

This part of Bedale Beck is known as Main Cut, this was down to it being part of the proposed Bedale Navigation. A grand scheme to link Bedale with the Swale, Ure & Ouse in the late 18thC, the work began at Bedale building a stone lined dock and the beck was straighten, here there was a lock built, the large stone wall is part of it, there are slots for the lock gates hidden under the ivy. However the scheme went bust, the gates were never built and the local mill owner built this brick bridge over the beck to link to Bedale market. The timber pailling is part of the Sustrans improvements to the bridleway.

In the late 18th century it was planned to make the Bedale Beck navigable from the River Swale to the town of Bedale. A harbour was constructed in Bedale and a lock at Leeming, the remains of which lie between the trees in the foreground of this picture. Unfortunately the plans to make the Swale and Bedale Beck navigable were never completed.

Looking north on the A1(M).

This Church is just to the south west of centre of the O/S grid it occupies

The relatively recent concrete structure nearer the camera carries the A1(M) over Bedale Beck, whilst beyond, the bridge carrying the A6055 can just be seen.

Eddie Stobbart Articulated Lorry crosses Bedale Beck under which the rerouted bridleway passes.