Over the years and decades – Morpeth has lost many buildings important to our local heritage. Fortunately we do have some records of the buildings, so we will gradually build up a guide to “Lost Morpeth” here
These two houses were built as a near-identical mirrored pair in 1853 for Nicholas Wright and George Brummell, two prosperous Morpeth businessmen. The houses were on the south side of Gas House Lane to the east of The Terrace. Ordnance Survey grid reference is NZ 2025 8592.
They were private houses until the 1930s when they were purchased by Northumberland County Council. They were used by ARP personnel and the Red Cross during the Second World War, and subsequently by the Council. From the 1950s they were used by the Library Service. They were abandoned after the Great Flood of 2008 and demolished in 2019 to make way for a Leisure Centre.
Northumberland County Council commissioned Archaeological Services, Durham University to carry out a basic survey and pictoral record of the buildings before and during demolition. That report is available (19.1 Mb PDF) here.