Lou is the owner of Cragend Farm with her husband Shaun, and deals with everything from Holiday Accommodation inquiries to egg collection from the chickens; she is the social media and web design finger-tapper.
Beyond Cragside:
Discover More of the Armstrong Legacy with Heritage Open Days
Heritage Open Days are hosting a number of events in Newcastle and in Rothbury, Northumberland. Linked by the pioneer inventor Lord Armstrong of Cragside, this is an opportunity for everyone to follow the Armstrong legacy trail and learn more about our North East heritage.
Cragend Farm ‘Heritage Open Day’ 17th September 2026, Rothbury Northumberland X14 bus
Cragside’s little neighbour with a big story to tell!
Cragend Farm is an award-winning Historic Houses site. A rare breed farm in Northumberland where the idea of “everyday histories in farming life” can be experienced through their tour. From the Big Bang to the 21st century, enjoy a sensory historical tour, including artefacts and research, and the engineering of businessman and innovative engineer Lord Armstrong of Cragside*.
Cragend Farm sits on the edge of the famous Cragside Estate, Rothbury, originally owned by both Alnwick and Bamburgh Castles, in Northumberland, and designed by Lord Armstrong* for his prize cattle as a demonstration centre for his water powered hydraulics as a show piece for future hydraulic projects such as Tower Bridge. We are pleased to be linked with other Armstrong* Legacy projects, at High Bridge Works, Jesmond Dene and The Banqueting Hall in Newcastle.
Cragend is an ancient Northumberland farm with a Celtic Camp and Border Reiver heritage. It was re-modelled and transformed to use hydraulic engineering by North-East industrialist Lord William Armstrong of Cragside from the 1860s.
It has a unique history thanks to this great innovator's vision for engineering and science including a Grade II* Agricultural Site. A place where great engineers Lord Armstrong*, H. Pooley, Gilbert Gilkes, Henry Watson from High Bridge Works* came together to create amazing new technologies.
Visit the farm, its buildings, the agricultural hydraulic machinery and see the engineering skills of The Magician of the North, the Hydraulic Silo, Victorian Weigh Machine, the Cragend Grange hydraulic ‘Turbine Room’, the courtyard and dairies. You may picnic in the grounds afterwards if you wish.
We have been shortlisted and you can vote for us here.
Biographer Henrietta Heald writes : ‘On the eastern edge of Newcastle upon Tyne is the beautiful public park called Jesmond Dene, cut through by the river Ouseburn. The steep-sided, wooded park and its spectacular, semi-ruined Banqueting Hall were created in the mid-19th century by William Armstrong*, later Lord Armstrong of Cragside. In 1883 Armstrong gifted the Dene and the Hall to the people of Newcastle in perpetuity, and the Prince and Princess of Wales, the future King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, officiated at the handover.
The Armstrong* Project CIO is now working with Newcastle City Council and local community groups to restore the Hall as a place of education and enlightenment that will again be open to all, as Armstrong* intended. It is hoped that the restoration will be part of a wider regeneration of Jesmond Dene, honouring a unique urban legacy from the Victorian age.’
High Bridge Works Henry Watson* Engineers:
Home to engineering pioneers since 1767, High Bridge Works is located on the site of the original 18th century engineering works of the same name. This was the home of Henry Watson's workshops, in which Lord Armstrong* brought his original Victorian inventions to be fabricated. Built on the bridge of the Lort Burn it was eventually covered over and the burn is not visible anymore, but there are tunnels beneath the streets behind Grey Street.
The original Works was demolished at the turn of the 20th Century, and architects Cackett & Burns designed the Ward’s Building which stands on the site today. From the late 19th Century to the 1960s the building was the premises of Ward's Printers. The printers published annual directories featuring the names and addresses of thousands of local businesses and establishments. From the 1990s to present day the building has been an art gallery and home to creative studios.
This event was supported by leading family history website, Findmypast, who provided access to their records as part of their sponsorship of ‘Everyday Histories’, the festival theme.
Discover your ancestors' stories at findmypast.co.uk
Find Out More About Cragend
Cragend Farm has a interesting and diverse history, from technical innovations to historic buildings. Tied in closely to the neighbouring Cragside Estate home of Victorian inventor and industrialist Lord Armstrong.
Wonderful Dog Friendly B&B and self catering cottage, Amazing unique historic site, (featured on TV: Matt Baker’s Travels with Mum & Dad North East)
Original Cragside Architecture and Machinery. Celtic Camp and Ducal Border Reiver settlement, remodelled by Victorian Lord Armstrong of Cragside as his show case for hydraulic machinery.
ACCESSIBILITY STATEMENT in ABOUT US.