Tarset is a

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 ...

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, created in 1955 from parts of Bellingham, Tarset West and

Thorneyburn Thorneyburn is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Tarset, in Northumberland, England, to the northwest of Bellingham. In 1951 the parish had a population of 74. Governance Thorneyburn is in the parliamentary constitu ...

parishes. It is west-north-west of Bellingham. Today it shares a parish council with the adjacent parish of Greystead. It is partly located within the Northumberland National Park, and also mostly within the international dark skies park.

History

The Comyns, Scottish knights, were established in Tynedale in the 12th century and the manor of Tarset was granted to William Comyn in around 1222.

Licence to crenellate In medieval England, Wales and the Channel Islands a licence to crenellate (or licence to fortify) granted the holder permission to fortify his property. Such licences were granted by the king, and by the rulers of the counties palatine within th ...

was granted to John Comyn in 1267, and

Tarset Castle Tarset Castle is a ruin near Tarset in Northumberland. History A licence to crenellate was granted to John Comyn in 1267, and the castle was built half a mile south-west of the present village of Tarset. The castle, which had four square corner ...

was built half a mile south-west of the present village, of which only grassed-over remains can now be seen. Two miles to the south-west on Birks Moor are the remains of the fortified house known as

Dally Castle Dally Castle is a ruined 13th-century stone motte-and-bailey fortress in Northumberland, and one of the first hall houses in Northumberland. It lies west of Bellingham Castle, and west of Bellingham on the Chirdon Burn, a tributary of the Nor ...

, believed to have been erected by David Linsey in his manor of Chirdon.

Governance

Tarset 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.

Demography

Tarset has a population of 196. In 1831, its population was 169. In 1968, its population was 149.

Transport

Tarset was served by Tarset railway station on the Border Counties Railway which linked 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 ...

, near Hexham, with the Border Union Railway at Riccarton Junction. The first section of the route was opened between Hexham and Chollerford in 1858, the remainder opening in 1862. The line was closed to passengers by British Railways in 1956. Part of the line is now beneath the surface of Kielder Water.

Notable people

John Candlish John Candlish ( bapt. 28 April 1816 – 17 March 1874) was a British glass bottle manufacturer and Liberal Party politician. Early life Candlish was born in Tarset, Northumberland, the eldest son of farmer John Candlish and Mary, née Robson. A ...

– politician, Liberal mayor of Sunderland, shipbuilder and glass-bottle manufacturer, owner of Sunderland Beacon and founder of Sunderland News.

Matthew Festing Fra' Robert Matthew Festing GCStJ OBE TD DL (30 November 1949 – 12 November 2021) was an English Roman Catholic official who was the Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta from 2008 until his resignation on 28 Ja ...

– Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta from 2008 until his resignation in 2017

References

External links

Tarset Community WebsiteA detailed history of Tarset CastleLocation and History of Greenhaugh and Tarset (Northumberland National Park Authority)Tarset on Google MapsBlack Middens Bastle House (English Heritage)Tarset Weather (Gatehouse Weather Station)Sidwood (Forestry England)
{{authority control Civil parishes in Northumberland