The

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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

of Ovington lies in southern

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 the north bank of the River Tyne. It is one of the smallest parishes in the county.

History

Very little has been found from prehistoric times except for a

cup and ring mark Cup and ring marks or cup marks are a form of prehistoric art found in the Atlantic seaboard of Europe (Ireland, Wales, Northern England, Scotland, France (Brittany), Portugal, and Spain (Galicia) – and in Mediterranean Europe – Italy (in Alp ...

ed stone at Hunters Hill. It had an extraordinary range of symbols carved on it and is our only clue to the people who lived here in the Neolithic. There is a big gap in the evidence for the rest of the prehistoric period, as well as the Roman and early medieval periods. The next hint of life in the parish comes in medieval times. Ovington Hall has some 14th-century stonework in its outbuildings and may have an old building at its core. To the north on the west bank of the Whittle Burn adjacent to the A69 are the vestiges of the medieval Nafferton Castle. At a time when northern

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

was suffering the ravages of war with

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, Ovington seems to have escaped without mention. Likewise, it has no trace of the 16th and 17th century defensive farmhouses, called bastles, that are found elsewhere in the county. The earliest buildings in Ovington seem to have been built in the 16th and 17th centuries. Village Farm may be one of the earliest and, although it is a little like a bastle, its walls are much thinner and would not have withstood any prolonged attack. Hunter's Cottage is another 17th or 18th century farm and is a rare survival of an earlier type of farm. The 18th and 19th centuries were a fairly prosperous time for the border region of England and fine buildings such as Ovington Hall were built. As well as developments in farm methods and practice, new industries developed, such as brewing at the Old Brewery.

Governance

Ovington is in the

parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...

constituency of Hexham.

Geography

''Whittle Dene is a deep woody dell which stretches southwards & joins the Tyne east of Ovington. The waters of this dene (peculiarly soft & clear) are the most celebrated in the north of England for whitening linen cloth. Mr. William Newton's bleach green, situated on this stream at the confluence of the Tyne is known and famed throughout all these northern parts.'' (Mackenzie 1825). The Whittle Burn can be traced back to the present day Whittledean Water Works on either side of the Roman Wall near Welton Hall.

References

External links

Villages in Northumberland {{Northumberland-geo-stub