Path Head Conservation Area

Designated on 27th April 1990. The Conservation Area was designated to give recognition and protection to an exceptional combination of historic, architectural and ecological sites within the surviving elements of the former Stella Estate (HER 5245). The site of Stella Hall (built soon after 1600, HER 1694) is now a very ordinary modern housing estate and is excluded from the CA. The CA includes part of Newburn Battlefield 1640 (HER 1297). Later C19 stone terraces can be found at Summerhill and Path Head. Elsewhere there are C20 brick terraces. Image Hill and Summerhouse Hill offer commanding views of the Tyne valley. The majority of the CA is in agricultural use, mostly laid to pasture. At Image Hill and Path Head Meadow there are Sites of Nature Conservation Importance designated for their floral and herbal richness. Path Head Wood and Stella Wood are attractive but need managing. Path Head Wood is bisected by the line of the Towneley Main Waggonway (HER 3317). Path Head Farmstead (HER 1679) includes a C19 farmhouse, shelter sheds, a fold-yard, cottage, byre and barn and a corn mill and granary extension. The corn mill has been fully restored. There are a number of stone houses on Summerhill, a terrace with small front gardens and detached and semi-detached houses with larger gardens. Rear gardens ascend the steep slope of Summerhouse Hill. At the bottom of Summerhill there is a stone structure known as the Cowen Fountain (HER 7619). The summerhouse of 1750 still stands on the hill (HER 1699). On Stella Road, Stella Hall Cottage is a simple two-storey three-bay house of late C18 (HER 8336). It was the gardener's cottage of Stella Hall. At the rear part of the original estate wall survives. In Stella Wood walls and a bath house survive (HER 1698 and 7611). The Church of St. Mary and St. Thomas Aquinas (HER 1696) was built 1831-32. Attached to the north is a presbytery in a completely different style. There is a triangular area of brick terraced houses of early C20 date aligned at right angles to Stella Road. South of Stella Lane there is the Board Inn Public House (HER 7655) and two detached stone houses. Part of Image Hill is designated as a Site of Nature Conservation Importance (SNCI) because of the range of flowers which thrive on its acidic soils. Part of Path Head Meadow is also an SNCI due to the diverse range of plants, particularly herbs. Path Head Wood extends over 9 acres.