Solicitors' documents, deposited at the Northumberland Record Office in
1959, provide much of the information about the owners and occupiers of
Street Houses during the 18th and 19th centuries, and also make it
possible to attempt to fix the boundaries of the property after 1724.
By 1724 Jane Carr (nee Shafto) was the sole surviving member of Lawrence
Shafto's family and, together with her second husband, Robert Carr,
owned the west part of Prestwick. They had been married with a lycence
in May 1692 in Bedlington ; in 1693 he was overseer of ye poor for
Prestwick .
A family settlement of 1724 arranged for the estate to be divided
equally between Robert Carr's two daughters, Mary, wife of John Coulter,
and Dorothy Carr. Failing heirs from the Carr sisters, the inheritance
would go to their four older half-sisters, daughters of Jane Carr and
her first husband, William Fenwick. He had been vicar of Lesbury and
Shilbottle and had died there in September 1688 .
A deed drawn up in 1733 deals specifically with the part of Prestwick
West Farm known as Mengeys (or Mindseys) Close, the site of what was to
be known later as Street House Farm. Described as a Messuage Tenement
and Close with John Coulter as the tenant, the property was to be for
his use during the lifetime of his parents-in-law. Since John Coulter
was of the Town and county of Newcastle, he and his family may not have
lived at Prestwick. The Coulters were married, in 1716, at St. John's,
Newcastle, where their four sons and seven daughters were all baptised .
Jane Carr was buried at Ponteland 7 May 1736 and her husband the
following February , leaving their two daughters tenants in common of
Prestwick West Farm.
John Coulter, tobacconist and feltmaker , died in 1743. According to the
Land Tax Returns for 1748, 1750 and 1753, Mrs Coulter was liable for
the tax on a property in Prestwick, whether as owner or occupant is not
clear.
In 1756 Mary Coulter of Newcastle and Shafto Coulter of the same place
Merchant eldest son and Heir of the said Mary Coulter..had documents
drawn up to destroy the entail (so that the possessor would be allowed
to sell the property outright) on all that full undivided moiety or half
part of Prestwick West Farm.
Mrs Coulter's will was proved in 1774. In 1779, Shafto Coulter and
Robert Carr [cousins] were . . Tenants in common for life of Prestwick
West Farm containing by Estimation 200 acres and wanted to divide the
estate between them. Since the capital messuage [large house i.e.
Prestwick Hall] and the greatest part of the other Houses and Buildings
[had] fallen to the lot of the said Robt. Carr Shafto Coulter was to be
awarded £122.10s. to be paid by ...Robt. Carr together with a further £2
in view of the greater value of wood piling in Robt. Carr's allotment.
This £124. 10s. was to be extended and laid out by Shafto Coulter in
making and erecting a new Dwellinghouse outhouses and other necessar,'
Buildings upon the said Premises so awarded to him.
The new house was a well designed, U-shaped farmstead. Solidly built of
stone, it had a meticulously balanced brick facade facing the road. The
two-storied central portion was flanked by two single-storey wings,
housing the kitchen and a large reception room. The rest of the
farmstead included: good Stabling, Coach House, Dog Kennel, Dove-Cot, a Garden walled with bricks, with other Offices and Outhouses, besides all necessary Buildings for a Tenant.
The dove-cot was artistically positioned in the field opposite, so as to be visible from the main windows of the house.
