Bellingham ( ) is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

, to the north-west of

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

and is situated on the Hareshaw Burn at its confluence with the River North Tyne. In 2011 the parish had a population of 1334.

Features

Famous as a stopping point on the

Pennine Way The Pennine Way is a National Trail in England, with a small section in Scotland. The trail stretches for from Edale, in the northern Derbyshire Peak District, north through the Yorkshire Dales and Northumberland National Park and ends at Kir ...

trail, it is popular with walkers and cyclists. Nearby is the Hareshaw Linn, a waterfall and the site of early coke blast furnaces. The village's local newspaper is the ''

Hexham Courant The ''Hexham Courant'' is a weekly newspaper serving Tynedale in Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bor ...

''. There is an 18-hole golf course which was established in 1893. The Heritage Centre is the local museum. It has exhibitions on the Border Counties Railway, the

Border reivers Border Reivers were Cattle raiding, raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border. They included both Scotland, Scottish and England, English people, and they raided the entire border country without regard to their victims' nationality.Hay, D. "E ...

, mining, farming, the photography of W P Collier, and the Stannersburn Smithy. It has a database of local family names and one of old photographs. It also holds special exhibitions of historical or artistic interest, and readings and performances by poets, storytellers, musicians and dancers.

St Cuthbert's

The Grade-I listed Church of St Cuthbert (13th century, substantially reconstructed in the early 17th century) is described as "almost unique in England" owing to its stone

barrel vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

, which runs the length of the nave and extends into the south transept. Three miracles in Bellingham connected with the mediaeval cult of St

Cuthbert Cuthbert of Lindisfarne () ( – 20 March 687) was a saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Hiberno-Scottish mission, Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monastery, monasteries of Melrose Abbey#Histo ...

are recorded in the twelfth-century ''Libellus'' of Reginald of Durham. Within the churchyard on the north side is "The Lang Pack", purportedly the grave of a burglar who attempted to infiltrate a local house by hiding in a beggar's pack, but was discovered after he suffered an ill-timed coughing fit, and was promptly run through with the sword of the house's proprietor. Adjacent to the church is St Cuthbert's Well, known locally as "Cuddy's Well", an ancient

holy well A holy well or sacred spring is a well, Spring (hydrosphere), spring or small pool of water revered either in a Christianity, Christian or Paganism, pagan context, sometimes both. The water of holy wells is often thought to have healing qualitie ...

. The well is in the middle of a grassy path leading down to the river, on the other side of the churchyard wall. From 1735 the parish rectors at Bellingham were under the patronage of the Governors of Greenwich Hospital. The Governors stipulated that the rectors were to be graduates of Oxford or Cambridge, and naval chaplains. Bellingham Rectory was one of six such rectories in the Simonburn area, the others being Falstone, Greystead, Thorneyburn, Wark on Tyne and Simonburn.

Landmarks

Bellingham Bridge is a

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

built in 1834. It crosses the North Tyne. Bellingham Town Hall was completed in 1862. Two miles north-east at Hole Farm is a 16th-century

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

, Hole Bastle, a well-preserved example of a

bastle house Bastel, bastle, or bastille houses are a type of construction found along the Anglo-Scottish border, in the areas formerly plagued by border reivers. They are fortified Farmhouse (building), farmhouses, characterised by security measures agai ...

. Another example is Black Middens Bastle House which is situated at an isolated spot on the north side of the Tarset Valley. It is managed by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

. Shitlington Crags is a crag near Shitlington Hall, south of Bellingham, at 170 metres elevation. The Pennine Way passes by the crag. There is a former

Union Workhouse In Britain and Ireland, a workhouse (, lit. "poor-house") was a total institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses. The earliest ...

located along the main street of Bellingham.

Notable residents

*Sir David Lindsay Keir, the historian and academic, was born and brought up here.

Governance

Bellingham is in the

parliamentary In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

constituency of

Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden nearby, and close to Hadrian's Wall. Hexham was the administra ...

. Joe Morris of the Labour Party is the Member of Parliament. For local government purposes it belongs to

Northumberland County Council Northumberland County Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Northumberland in North East England. Since 2009 it has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority, having also ...

, a

unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

. There is an

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

of the same name; it stretches north to the Scottish border and has a total population of 4,074. The incumbent councillor for the Bellingham ward is John Riddle, who is a member of the Conservative Party. Bellingham has its own parish council, ''Bellingham Parish Council''.

Sports

The village football team competes in the Tyneside Amateur League First Division.Tyneside Amateur League Division One: League Table

References

External links

Hexham Courant

The Pennine Way Site
(Accessed: 1 November 2008)

(Accessed: 1 November 2008) {{authority control Villages in Northumberland Civil parishes in Northumberland