Great Tosson : In The 20th Century During the last century Great
Tosson witnessed profound social, economic and demographic
changes in common with the other villages in the National Park.
Two world wars left their mark on this part of Coquetdale in
terms of the casualties amongst those who went off to fight.
World War II also left a tangible reminder in the fabric of the
locality in the shape of the concrete pillboxes built at Newtown
and Ryehill as part of the Coquet Line of defence in 1940.
Agriculture now employs fewer people than in the past, but it
remains a crucial element in the economy of the locality and the
farms in the village continue to operate, having acquired the
usual assortment of large modern shelter sheds and the like.
However other local industries have also declined. The limestone
quarry has long since fallen into disuse, as lime is no longer
such an important agricultural input, and the woollen mill which
was still flourishing at the beginning of the century, when
Dixon wrote (1903, 469-