Roger North, referring to a visit paid to Newcastle by his brother, the
Lord Keeper Guildford, in 1676, writes:—“Another remarkable thing is
their _way-leaves_; for when men have pieces of ground between the
colliery and the river, they sell the leave to lead coal over the ground,
and so dear that the owner of a rood of ground will expect £20 per annum
for this leave. The manner of the carriage is by laying rails of timber
from the colliery down to the river exactly straight and parallel, and
bulky carts are made with four rowlets fitting these rails, whereby the
carriage is so easy that one horse will draw four or five chaldron of
coals, and is an immense benefit to the coal merchants.”