This windmill on Darn Crook was pummelled by Scottish artillery during the Siege of Newcastle in 1644, but survived for another three centuries. It’s pictured here in 1894, shortly before it was demolished.
Darn Crook is a corruption of the old dialect words ‘dern’, meaning ‘secret’; and ‘crook’ meant a ‘bend’. So this was an appropriate name for the discreet lane that wound its way behind St Andrew’s Churchyard towards the Town Wall, where it came to a dead end near Gallowgate until that part of the wall was removed in 1810.
The Town Wall had been around twenty feet high at this point and would have interfered with the flow of air to the windmill’s sails, so it was built on top of a house to catch the gusts of wind that ground the town’s corn. This made it an obvious target for the Scots, who were hellbent on starving the inhabitants of Newcastle into submission.
They had an artillery battery situated on the high ground where the St James’ Park football stadium is now, which bombarded the town for several months. The windmill overlooked St Andrew’s Church, where the defenders had mounted a cannon in the bell tower, and the church was so badly damaged by the Scots that no services were carried out there for a year. The windmill was in the thick of the action and wore its scars for several centuries.
Wind is usually welcomed by millers but this windmill was nearly destroyed again on ‘Windy Monday’, when a hurricane hit Newcastle on January 7th, 1839. According to newspaper reports from the time, the wands of the mill were torn off with considerable violence, and after hovering a little time in the air, fell into the adjoining churchyard with a tremendous crash.
The windmill was repaired and had by now switched from milling corn to milling bark, which was in great demand by the tanneries nearby, where it was used in the process of converting raw animal hides into leather. Production ramped up in the 1860s when the Co-operative Store opened on nearby Newgate Street, their tanneries occupied almost the entire area between there and Stowell Street, alongside the Corporation Slaughterhouse. The stench in this part of town was overwhelming.
Steam power was found to be more efficient for milling than wind, and the windmill on Darn Crook fell into disuse and was pulled down in April 1896. The photo can be dated by a poster that says ‘He Is Coming, Zimerman’. This refers to a visit to Newcastle by Arthur ‘Zimmy’ Zimmerman in August 1894, although his name had been misspelt. He was an American who had become the first world champion cyclist the previous year, and was taking part in a race at Gosforth.
Darn Crook was entirely rebuilt over the following decade, and lost its historic name in 1980 when it became officially known as St Andrew’s Street.