Milfield 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 on ...
, England about northwest of
Wooler. The
A697 road passes through the village.
History
Milfield is the likely location of the
Northumbria
la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria
, common_name = Northumbria
, status = State
, status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...
n royal settlement of Maelmin, given "mael" is a Brythonic word meaning "field".
Bede
Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...
tells us that a residence was built at Maelmin to supersede
Edwin of Northumbria's residence of Ad-Gefrin at
Yeavering.
Evidence of a high-status Anglo-Saxon settlement at Milfield strongly suggests that this is the location of Maelmin, because of its proximity to Yeavering.
On Milfield Plain, which is part of the bed of the prehistoric
Lake of Glendale, was fought one of the many battles between Scots and English. In the month before the tragedy of
Flodden, some Scots, under
Alexander Home, 3rd Lord Home
Alexander Home, 3rd Lord Home (died 1516) was a Scottish soldier and nobleman, Chamberlain of Scotland and Warden of the Eastern March. He fought at the Battle of Flodden where his forces defeated the English right wing before the Scottish army ...
, were returning from a raid into England where they had burnt several villages. Laden with booty which they had "lifted", Home's men were surprised by a band of English under Sir
William Bulmer of Brancepeth in County Durham. The Durham men were victorious and for long years afterwards the Scots name for the road through Milfield was "The Ill Road". Many years after the rout of Home's men,
General Monk waited at Milfield with his forces before his momentous march south which brought about the Restoration.
During the Second World War, an air training unit operated from the nearby
RAF Milfield
Royal Air Force Milfield or more simply RAF Milfield is a former Royal Air Force station which operated during the Second World War, located near Milfield, Northumberland, England.
History
The airfield opened on 26 January 1942, hosting No. 5 ...
.
Notable people
One of Northumberland's most notable daughters, Josephine Butler, Josephine Grey, the social reformer, was born at Milfield House, about six miles from Wooler. This woman, who did so much valuable work in the nineteenth century to combat the social evils of the day, is more generally known by her married name of Josephine Butler, Butler. A Josephine Butler College, college was named after her at Durham University and a residency block there was named Milfield in honour of her birthplace. At the end of her long life she returned to her beloved Northumberland and is buried in Kirknewton, Northumberland, Kirknewton churchyard under the shadow of Yeavering Bell.
References
External links
Northumberland Communities(Accessed: 27 November 2008)
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Villages in Northumberland