Thockrington is a village and former

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 authority ...

, now in the parish of

Bavington Bavington is a civil parish in Northumberland, England. The parish includes the villages of Great Bavington, Little Bavington and Thockrington. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 99 people. The population taken at the 2011 cen ...

, 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. The village lies about north of

Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden, Northumberland, Warden nearby, and ...

. In 1951 the parish had a population of 18.

Governance

Thockrington is in the

parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democracy, democratic government, governance of a sovereign state, state (or subordinate entity) where the Executive (government), executive derives its democratic legitimacy ...

constituency of

. The parish was abolished on 1 April 1955 to form Bavington.

Religious sites

Thockrington church, which stands so prominently on a spur of the

Great Whin Sill The Whin Sill or Great Whin Sill is a tabular layer of the igneous rock dolerite in County Durham, Northumberland and Cumbria in the northeast of England. It lies partly in the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and partly in Nort ...

, is one of the oldest churches in the county. The church is dedicated to

St Aidan Aidan of Lindisfarne ( ga, Naomh Aodhán; died 31 August 651) was an Irish monk and Christian missionary, missionary credited with converting the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity in Northumbria. He founded a monastic cathedral on the island of Lindis ...

. Here are buried several members of the ancient family of

Shafto Shafto is a surname. The Shafto family origins can be traced back to the Ffolliot family, who were established by the 14th century at Shafto Crag, Northumberland and adopted the alternative surname of Shafto. The following people have the name Shaft ...

, the earliest mention of whom is in 1240. The Shaftos lived at nearby

until the eighteenth century when, as a result of their support of the Jacobite cause in 1715, their estates were confiscated by the Crown, and ultimately sold to a

Delaval Delaval is the surname of a family of gentry/aristocracy in Northumberland, England, from the 11th century to the 19th century. Their main estate was the manor of Seaton Delaval. The 18th century Delavals are noteworthy for their colourful life ...

. The Shaftos had connections with the county of Durham and lived on their Durham estates until 1953, when Mr R. D. Shafto returned to

Bavington Hall Bavington Hall is a 17th-century privately owned country house at Little Bavington in Northumberland. It is a Grade II* listed building. A tower house (Little Bavington Tower) was recorded on the site in 1415, but this was replaced in the late 1 ...

Landmarks

A little over a mile south-west of the village are the ruins of Little Swinburne Tower, a fifteenth-century

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 ...

Notable people

Lord Beveridge William Henry Beveridge, 1st Baron Beveridge, (5 March 1879 – 16 March 1963) was a British economist and Liberal politician who was a progressive and social reformer who played a central role in designing the British welfare state. His 1942 ...

, founder of the modern welfare state, is buried in the churchyard * The author

Tom Sharpe Thomas Ridley Sharpe (30 March 1928 – 6 June 2013) was an English satirical novelist, best known for his '' Wilt'' series, as well as ''Porterhouse Blue'' and ''Blott on the Landscape,'' all three of which were adapted for television. Life ...

's ashes were buried in the churchyard in 2014 by his Spanish partner, witnessed by a Spanish TV crew. Sharpe's father was once vicar of Thockrington."Ashes of writer Tom Sharpe buried at ceremony in remote Northumberland church yard"; ''The Journal'' 3 June 2014
/ref> * The aviatrix, Connie Leathart (1903–93), is buried here; her remains are marked by a simple stone bearing the initials "CL".

References

External links

GENUKI
(Accessed: 19 November 2008) {{authority control Villages in Northumberland Former civil parishes in Northumberland