 'Joe the Quilter's' home, in Warden, near Hexham, was demolished in 1872 
 
 The cottage of a Northumberland quilter who was murdered nearly 200 years ago is set to be recreated at a North East museum. “Joe the Quilter’s” home, in Warden, near Hexham, was demolished in 1872 but investigations by Beamish Museum in County Durham have identified the location and local people are being given the chance to take part in an excavation of the site. The cottage will be part of the Remaking Beamish scheme, which has received initial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Joe’s cottage is part of the Remaking Beamish project, which include plans to expand the museum’s Georgian area, as well as building a 1950s Town. Geraldine Straker, Remaking Beamish project officer, said: “We’re inviting everyone to come along and find out more about Joe the Quilter and his fascinating yet tragic story. “We want the local community to be part of this project to recreate Joe’s cottage at Beamish, so we’ll be letting people know how they can get involved, from taking part in excavating his cottage, to helping plan its recreation at Beamish.” 
 
 Chintz basket quilt, c1815, Haydon Bridge, very likely made by Joe the Quilter of Warden 
 
 Joe was a talented quilter, whose fine work was sent as far afield as America and Ireland.
– When renowned quilt maker Joe Hadley, who lived in a small cottage on the outskirts of Warden in the UK in 1826, was found brutally stabbed to death one cold January morning, the mystery captured a nation. The crime unsolved to this day, his story was retold in the Monthly Chronicle of North-Country Lore and Legend 1887 (as recounted by the blog PieceNPeace), which notes that his cottage was finally taken down in 1872, "so that all landmarks of the mournful tragedy have vanished, leaving nothing to recall the circumstance but the silent page of the local historian." Well, not exactly nothing. The Evening Chronicle in July reported that old maps, sketches, and reports of the crime enabled the Beamish Museum in County Durham to locate the approximate location of the home. Now a team of community archaeologists has managed to unearth actual remnants of Hadley's home, reports the Evening Chronicle as spotted by the Week. "As archaeologists it's extremely rare to be working on a site inhabited by a named individual about whom we know so much," project officer John Castling said. "It's even more unusual that the individual isn't a royal or a wealthy landowner. It gives us a poignant and tangible link to the day-to-day life of an ordinary working person in the early 19th century." So far the team has found floor pieces, pottery, remnants of the cottage's fireplace, and a "silver groat coin given as Maundy money to the poor." The museum intends to recreate the cottage; "visitors will not only be able to stand in a replica of Joe’s cottage, but they can stand on the flagstones Joe would have stood on," says Castling. (Over in Ireland, these bones might help archaeologists settle a controversy.)