Cresswell is a village 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 ...

, England. It is about to the north of

Ashington Ashington is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, with a population of 27,864 at the 2011 Census. It was once a centre of the coal mining industry. The town is north of Newcastle upon Tyne, west of the A189 and bordered to the ...

, on the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

coast.

History

The place-name 'Cresswell' is first attested in the

Close Roll The Close Rolls () are an administrative record created in medieval England, Wales, Ireland and the Channel Islands by the royal chancery, in order to preserve a central record of all letters close issued by the chancery in the name of the Crown ...

for 1234, where it appears as ''Kereswell''. It appears as ''Cressewell'' in 1242 in the Book of Fees. The name means 'stream where

water cress Watercress or yellowcress (''Nasturtium officinale'') is a species of aquatic flowering plant in the cabbage family Brassicaceae. Watercress is a rapidly growing perennial plant native to Europe and Asia. It is one of the oldest known leaf v ...

grew'. Between 1875 and 1944, Cresswell village had a lifeboat. The lifeboat crews were successful in saving 91 lives, and the lifeboat station still stands. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

operated two radar sites south of the village on the road to Lynemouth. Both sites have since been cleared and have no above ground evidence of previous activity. Cresswell is a popular bird watching area with Cresswell pond and bird hide nearby and the Druridge Bay Country Park less than away. The village has one ice cream shop which closes out of season, and a café on the beach just to the north of the village, open year-round. The village also has two caravan holiday home parks – Cresswell Towers and Golden Sands. Cresswell Towers takes its name from the old

pele tower Peel towers (also spelt pele) are small fortified keeps or tower houses, built along the English and Scottish borders in the Scottish Marches and North of England, mainly between the mid-14th century and about 1600. They were free-standing ...

nearby, Cresswell Tower, and is owned by

Parkdean Resorts Parkdean Resorts is a holiday park operator in the United Kingdom. It was formed in November 2015 through the merger of Parkdean Holidays and Park Resorts. As of 2022 it operates 66 holiday parks across England, Scotland, and Wales, and is the ...

. At the 2001 Census, the village had a population of 237, which by the 2011 Census, had dropped to 206.

Landmarks

Snab Point, south of The Carrs, is a sheltered bay with the site of the former

Alcan Alcan was a Canadian mining company and aluminum manufacturer. It was founded in 1902 as the Northern Aluminum Company, renamed Aluminum Company of Canada in 1925, and Alcan Aluminum in 1966. It took the name Alcan Incorporated in 2001. During t ...

aluminium smelting plant on its south side. Embedded in the small cliffs of Snab Point are the remnants of fossilised trees. The beach area is littered with the remnants of fossilised wood and small seams of coal can be seen in the cliffs. Depending on the tides and wind, vast swathes of sea coal is washed up within the bay. The area was formed during the carboniferous period some 310 million years ago, when the current land mass was in a region below southern

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, more than south of its present position. File:snabcoal1.jpg, Sea coal washed up at Snab Point. File:snabrocks.jpg, Fossilised tree remnants embedded in the cliff File:cresswell strata.jpg, Fossilised wood.

Music

Cresswell was the inspiration for 'Tidelines' by UK composer Peter McGarr a piece written for

Gamelan Gamelan () ( jv, ꦒꦩꦼꦭꦤ꧀, su, ᮌᮙᮨᮜᮔ᮪, ban, ᬕᬫᭂᬮᬦ᭄) is the traditional ensemble music of the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments. T ...

at Fenham House.

References

External links

Cresswell Towers Caravan Park

Cresswell House B&B

Golden Sands Holiday Park
Villages in Northumberland Populated coastal places in Northumberland {{Northumberland-geo-stub