Stocksfield is a small, yet sprawling commuter village situated close to the River Tyne, about west of

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

in the southern part of

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. There are several smaller communities within the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

Stocksfield Stocksfield is a small, yet sprawling commuter village situated close to the River Tyne, about west of Newcastle upon Tyne in the southern part of Northumberland, England. There are several smaller communities within the parish of Stocksfie ...

, including

Branch End Branch End is part of the village of Stocksfield in Northumberland, England. It is situated at the junction of the A695 Main Road with New Ridley Road. It lies east of Stocksfield Station, between Hexham and Newcastle upon Tyne. Local serv ...

, New Ridley, Broomley, Hindley and the Painshawfield Estate. Other villages in Stocksfield's postal district include

Bywell Bywell is a village and civil parish in Northumberland, England. It is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne opposite Stocksfield, between Hexham and Newcastle. The parish has a population of around 380 and Newton is now its most populo ...

, Newton, Mickley, and

Hedley on the Hill Hedley on the Hill is a village in Northumberland, west of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is located between the valley of the River Derwent, and the watershed to the River Tyne. Despite being close to a major city, Hedley is typically Northumbrian ...

History

Dere Street Dere Street or Deere Street is a modern designation of a Roman road which ran north from Eboracum (York), crossing the Stanegate at Corbridge (Hadrian's Wall was crossed at the Portgate, just to the north) and continuing beyond into what is n ...

, a Roman road, passes through the parish to the south of Broomley, and Roman stone was used in the construction of St Andrew's Church in 803 AD.

gained in importance in the 600 years following the

Norman conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Con ...

as a centre of

metalworking Metalworking is the process of shaping and reshaping metals to create useful objects, parts, assemblies, and large scale structures. As a term it covers a wide and diverse range of processes, skills, and tools for producing objects on every scal ...

. It was in the hands of the Barony of Balliol until 1296 when it passed in turn to the Nevilles, the

Fenwicks Fenwick () is an independent chain of department stores in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1882 by John James Fenwick in Newcastle upon Tyne, and today consists of nine branches. It was a member of the International Association of Depart ...

, and finally in 1809 to the

Beaumont Beaumont may refer to: Places Canada * Beaumont, Alberta * Beaumont, Quebec England * Beaumont, Cumbria * Beaumont, Essex ** Beaumont Cut, a canal closed in the 1930s * Beaumont Street, Oxford France (communes) * Beaumont, Ardèche * ...

family. The

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

of "Stokesfeld" was first mentioned in 1242, and was part of Bywell St Andrew's parish. The origins of the name are uncertain, but it may be derived the from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

for "open land belonging to an outlying hamlet". in 1673 Birches Nook was home to Ann Armstrong, a "notorious witch-finder" whose accusations caused a great sensation throughout the county.

Governance

Stocksfield 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.

Guy Opperman Guy Thomas Opperman (born 18 May 1965) is a British politician serving as Minister of State for Employment since October 2022. He served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Pensions and Financial Inclusion at the Department for Wor ...

of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

is the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

. For

Local Government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-l ...

purposes it belongs to Northumberland Council a

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

. At a local level it is governed by Stocksfield Parish Council. On 11 January 2019 the name of the parish was officially changed from "Broomley and Stocksfield" to Stocksfield, reflecting developments in the area and changes in population over the years.

Demography

In the 2011 census the median age in Stocksfield and

Broomhaugh Broomhaugh is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Broomhaugh and Riding, in Northumberland, England. It is situated between Hexham and Newcastle upon Tyne, to the south of the River Tyne near Riding Mill, and adjacent to the ...

was 49 years. 98.6 per cent of the population had white ethnicity and 68.8 per cent were Christian. No other religion exceeded 0.3 per cent with 23.9 per cent having no religion.

Transport

;Railway The village is served by the Tyne Valley Line, with trains running to

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

, Hexham and Carlisle. Stocksfield station was opened on 9 March 1835 by the

Newcastle and Carlisle Railway The Newcastle & Carlisle Railway (N&CR) was an English railway company formed in 1825 that built a line from Newcastle upon Tyne on Britain's east coast, to Carlisle, on the west coast. The railway began operating mineral trains in 1834 between ...

. Passenger services are operated by Northern, with the line also being used for

freight Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including tran ...

. ;Road Stocksfield is linked to

and the A1 by the A695 which passes through the village. It is also linked to Leadgate and Stamfordham by the B6309. The A695 and B6309 meet near the railway station. The village is served by the 10 bus service operated by

Go North East Go North East operates both local and regional bus services in County Durham, Cumbria, Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Tyne and Wear, England. It was previously known as the Northern General Transport Company and Go-Ahead Northern. The comp ...

running from Hexham (25 minutes away) to Newcastle (1 hour).

Education

Stocksfield has a school, Broomley First School, which is part of the ''Whittonstall and Broomley First Schools Federation''. Stocksfield lies in the catchment area for Ovingham Middle School and Prudhoe High School.

Mowden Hall School Mowden Hall School is a co-educational day and boarding preparatory school in the parish of Bywell, in Stocksfield, Northumberland, England approximately west of Newcastle upon Tyne. It has been part of the Prep Schools Trust since 2007 and i ...

is a private prep school near Newton, north of the river.

Religious sites

There are four Christian places of worship in Stocksfield: a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

Church, Quaker Meeting House,

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

Church and

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

Church. Nearby are the twin churches of St Peter's and St Andrew's in

Public services

Amenities in Stocksfield include two post offices, an Esso

petrol station A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Gaso ...

, Spar store, garage, newsagent, three hairdressers, chemist, day nursery,

first school Three-tier education refers to those structures of schooling, which exist in some parts of England, where pupils are taught in three distinct school types as they progress through the education system. Terminology In a three-tier local educ ...

, convenience store, pottery and studio, ice cream parlour, doctor's surgery and veterinary surgery. Stocksfield Community Centre is owned and managed by Stocksfield Community Association (formerly SICA) which is a charitable company limited by guarantee. The Association's objectives are to promote the benefit of the all inhabitants of Stocksfield and its neighbourhood, without distinction by associating with local authorities, voluntary organisations and inhabitants in a common effort to advance education and provide facilities, in the interests of social welfare for recreational and leisure time occupation, with the object of improving the conditions of life for residents. The Community Centre is available for hire by local groups and individuals for events, activities, meetings and private functions.

Sports and Recreation

Stocksfield boasts many sporting facilities including a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

club, tennis club,

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

club. and a running club known a
Stocksfield Striders
There are also two play areas and a well-utilised Community Centre. In 2012, Stocksfield was one of the official stop off points for the Olympic torch before it made its way to the Olympic Games opening ceremony.

Awards

The parish of Broomley and Stocksfield was officially crowned Calor Northumberland Village of the Year in November 2008. The competition is organised annually by Community Action Northumberland (CAN) with sponsorship provided by LPG ( liquefied petroleum gas) supplier Calor.

Photographs of Stocksfield

Bridge over the Tyne at Bywell - geograph.org.uk - 37255.jpg, Sign for the Dr. Syntax - the other side, spot the differences - geograph.org.uk - 1056715.jpg, Foot Bridge and Ford on Batt House Road - geograph.org.uk - 210158.jpg, 1st Tee Stocksfield Golf Course - geograph.org.uk - 1536439.jpg, The Parish Church of St Andrew, Bywell - geograph.org.uk - 416672.jpg, View over Apperley Bank - geograph.org.uk - 98555.jpg,

Notable people

;Born in Stocksfield * Mabel Atkinson (1876–1958), feminist and socialist * Dame Veronica Wedgwood (1910–1997), historian ;Lives (or lived) in Stocksfield * Rodney Atkinson (born 1948), academic and author * Rowan Atkinson (born 1955), actor and comedianChronicle.co.uk. ''Stocksfield''.
/ref> *

Edgar Bainton Edgar Leslie Bainton (14 February 18808 December 1956) was a British-born, latterly Australian-resident composer. He is remembered today mainly for his liturgical anthem ''And I saw a new heaven'', a popular work in the repertoire of Anglican ch ...

(1880–1956), composer * Francoise Boufhal (born 1988), actress and model *

Alan Clark Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark (13 April 1928 – 5 September 1999) was a British Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), author and diarist. He served as a junior minister in Margaret Thatcher's governments at the Departments of Employment, Tr ...

(born 1952), ex Dire Straits keyboard player * Brendan Foster (born 1948), ex athletics 10,000 m record holder *

Frances Hardcastle Frances Hardcastle (13 August 1866 – 26 December 1941) was an English mathematician, in 1894 one of the founding members of the American Mathematical Society. Her work included contributions to the theory of point groups. Biography Born in ...

(1866–1941), mathematician and women's activist *

Richard Harpin Richard David Harpin (born 1964) is the founder and CEO of Homeserve, an international home repairs and improvements business. Early life Harpin was born in Huddersfield Graeme Lowdon Graeme Paul Lowdon (born 23 April 1965) is a British businessman and entrepreneur. He served as chief executive officer of the Virgin and Marussia Formula One teams. Originally from Corbridge, Lowdon grew up in Stocksfield. He gained both a bach ...

(born 1965), businessman and entrepreneur *

Alan Milburn Alan Milburn (born 27 January 1958) is a British Labour Party politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for Darlington from 1992 to 2010. He served for five years in the Cabinet, first as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 1998 to 1999, a ...

(born 1958), politician *

Chris Paisley Christopher Samuel Paisley (born 24 March 1986) is an English professional golfer currently playing on the European Tour. In January 2018 he had his first win on the tour, the BMW SA Open. Amateur career Paisley played college golf at the Univ ...

(born 1986), professional golfer *

Sir Richard Pease, 3rd Baronet Sir Richard Thorn Pease, 3rd Baronet, DL (20 May 1922 – 9 March 2021) was a British banker, who was chairman of Yorkshire Bank, and vice-chairman of Barclays. Early life Pease was born in May 1922, the son of Sir Richard Arthur Pease (1890 ...

(born 1922), banker * Ethel Williams (1863–1948), physician and suffragist

References

{{authority control Villages in Northumberland