Corsenside is one of the largest parishes in

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

, however the area is mainly a vast expanse of rolling hills and farmland, with three tiny villages: West Woodburn, East Woodburn and Ridsdale with about 600 inhabitants in total. The area runs alongside the

A68 road The A68 is a major road in the United Kingdom, running from Darlington in England to the A720 in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It crosses the Anglo-Scottish border at Carter Bar and is the only road to do so for some distance either way ...

about north of

Corbridge Corbridge is a village in Northumberland, England, west of Newcastle and east of Hexham. Villages nearby include Halton, Acomb, Aydon and Sandhoe. Etymology Corbridge was known to the Romans as something like ''Corstopitum'' or ''Coriosopit ...

. The A68 roughly follows the route of the old Roman 'Dere Street'. There are many historic points of interest in this area including the remains of the Roman Camp of Habitancum, Bell Knowe an Iron Age burial site, and the remains of Ridsdale Iron Works, which had its heyday in the Industrial Revolution.

Governance

Corsenside is in the

parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democracy, democratic government, governance of a sovereign state, state (or subordinate entity) where the Executive (government), executive derives its democratic legitimacy ...

constituency of

Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, 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, Northumberland, Warden nearby, and ...

Geography

Corsenside is on the

River Rede The Rede is a river in Northumberland, England. The river rises on Carter Fell on the Anglo-Scottish border feeding Catcleugh Reservoir and joins the River North Tyne below the village of Redesmouth. The Rede is one of only two rivers in the N ...

, which flows from the Scottish border south through the

Northumberland National Park Northumberland National Park is the northernmost national park in England. It covers an area of more than between the Scottish border in the north to just south of Hadrian's Wall, and it is one of least visited of the National Parks. The park ...

and Corsenside before meeting the

River North Tyne The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Water ...

Redesmouth Redesmouth is a village in Northumberland, England, just over to the south-east of Bellingham. Governance Redesmouth is in the parliamentary constituency of Hexham. Transport Redesmouth (old spelling: Reedsmouth) was served by Re ...

. The

also runs north–south, crossing the Rede at West Woodburn, the main village in the parish, with a pub, school, and post office. East Woodburn is on minor roads to the east, and Ridsdale, with 80 houses and the Gun Inn pub, on the A68 in the south of the parish.

Religious sites

The tiny church of St. Cuthbert at Corsenside, between the road and the river, contains a

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

chancel arch. The age and dedication of the church makes it probable that this was one of the spots where the body of St. Cuthbert rested during the flight of the monks from

Holy Island Sacred space, sacred ground, sacred place, sacred temple, holy ground, or holy place refers to a location which is deemed to be sacred or hallowed. The sacredness of a natural feature may accrue through tradition or be granted through a bless ...

, 875–882 AD. They probably came here from Elsdon; and continued by way of Bellingham,

Haydon Bridge Haydon Bridge is a village in Northumberland, England, with a population of about 2000, the civil parish Haydon being measured at 2,184 in the Census 2011. Its most distinctive features are the two bridges crossing the River Tyne, River South T ...

Beltingham Beltingham G.M. Miller, ''BBC Pronouncing Dictionary of British Names'' (Oxford UP, 1971), p. 13. is a small village on the River South Tyne in Northumberland, in England. It is situated southeast of Bardon Mill and to the west of Hexham. In t ...

, etc. The neighbouring house with small mullioned windows is a 17th-century building.

References

External links

GENUKI
(Accessed: 28 November 2008) Villages in Northumberland {{Northumberland-geo-stub