development of a new turnpike road along the route which is now Durham Road, running from Newcastle to Durham through Low Fell. The new road was completed in 1827. A well was also to be provided at Blue Quarries. A number of the existing residential properties on the Fell were demolished, including sixteen at Sour Milk Hill, Sheriff Hill; an act which apparently had caused the commissioner considerable distress, with one Thomas Bell noting: ...the pulling down of these cottages was one of the most unpleasant duties of the Commissioners, the greater number having to be taken down by force''. Progress was slow, with the last allotment land disputes not settled until almost 1830, but by the time of completion, Gateshead Fell was, at last and after centuries of dispute, enclosed. The divisions which enclosure created were to prove more or less settled: so much so that almost two hundred years later, the old Fell remains divided almost exactly as enclosed, and it was from the enclosure sprang the birth of villages (notably Sheriff Hill and Low Fell) which form part of the metropolitan borough of Gateshead today. References and Notes External links Durham Mining Museum – View of the Collieries Parks and open spaces in County Durham