Wooler ( ) is a small town in

Northumberland Northumberland () is a ceremonial counties of England, 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 Ab ...

, England. It lies on the edge of the

Northumberland National Park Northumberland National Park is the northernmost national park in England. It covers an area of more than between the Scottish border in the north to just south of Hadrian's Wall, and it is one of least visited of the National Parks. The park ...

, near the Cheviot Hills. It is a popular base for walkers and is referred to as the "Gateway to the Cheviots". As well as many shops and pubs, the town has a

youth hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared ...

, many hotels, and campsites. It lies on the

St. Cuthbert's Way St Cuthbert's Way is a long-distance trail between the Scottish Borders town of Melrose and Lindisfarne (Holy Island) off the coast of Northumberland, England. The walk is named after Cuthbert, a 7th-century saint, a native of the Borders ...

long-distance footpath A long-distance trail (or long-distance footpath, track, way, greenway) is a longer recreational trail mainly through rural areas used for hiking, backpacking, cycling, horse riding or cross-country skiing. They exist on all continents ex ...

between

Melrose Abbey St Mary's Abbey, Melrose is a partly ruined monastery of the Cistercian order in Melrose, Roxburghshire, in the Scottish Borders. It was founded in 1136 by Cistercian monks at the request of King David I of Scotland and was the chief house of tha ...

and

Lindisfarne Lindisfarne, also called Holy Island, is a tidal island off the northeast coast of England, which constitutes the civil parish of Holy Island in Northumberland. Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th century AD; it was an important ...

. The main A697 links the town with Morpeth and Coldstream on the

Scottish Border The Anglo-Scottish border () is a border separating Scotland and England which runs for between Marshall Meadows Bay on the east coast and the Solway Firth in the west. The surrounding area is sometimes referred to as "the Borderlands". The ...

. Wooler has two schools; Wooler First School (including Little Acorns Nursery) and Glendale Community Middle School. The schools and nursery share a single campus on Brewery Road (from September 2015) providing education for children in the Glendale area from 2 years old to 13 years old. Close by to the west is Yeavering Bell, crowned by a large

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

fort, a stronghold of the

Votadini The Votadini, also known as the ''Uotadini'', ''Wotādīni'', ''Votādīni'', or ''Otadini'' were a Brittonic people of the Iron Age in Great Britain. Their territory was in what is now south-east Scotland and north-east England, extending fr ...

. The remnants of many stone huts can be seen on its summit, which is surrounded by a collapsed stone wall.

History

Wooler was not recorded in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

, because when the book was written in 1086, northern

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 ...

was not under Norman control. However, by 1107, at the time of the creation of the 1st Baron of Wooler, the settlement was described as "situated in an ill-cultivated country under the influence of vast mountains, from whence it is subject to impetuous rains". Wooler subsequently enjoyed a period of prosperity and with its expansion it was granted a licence in 1199 to hold a market every Thursday. The St. Mary Magdalene Hospital was established around 1288. Wooler is close to Humbleton Hill, the site of a severe

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

defeat at the hands of Harry Hotspur in 1402. This battle is referred to at the beginning of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's play ''

Henry IV, Part 1 ''Henry IV, Part 1'' (often written as ''1 Henry IV'') is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597. The play dramatises part of the reign of King Henry IV of England, beginning with the battle at ...

'' – of which Hotspur is the dashing hero. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the patronage and tithe income from the parish church passed from the

Bishop of Durham The Bishop of Durham is the Anglican bishop responsible for the Diocese of Durham in the Province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler has been the Bishop of Durha ...

to the Earl of Tankerville. Wooler also used to have a drill hall that was the local "picture house" which children were evacuated to in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. There also used to be a fountain situated at the top of Church Street in the town. Alexander Dalziel of Wooler (1781–1832) was the father of the celebrated Dalziel Brothers. Seven of his eight children were artists, and became celebrated wood-engravers in London. Their sister Margaret was also a wood-engraver. Between 1887 and 1965 the town was served by Wooler railway station on the Alnwick to Cornhill Branch.

Places of worship

Wooler has several places of worship including: * St Mary's Parish Church (

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 ...

, 1765), Church Street, a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

. (There has been a building on the site for over 700 years.) * Wooler United Reformed Church (1784), Cheviot Street, a Grade II

. (Before the union that formed the

United Reformed Church The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2022 it has approximately 40,000 members in 1,284 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers. Origins and history The United Reformed Church resulte ...

in 1972, this was Wooler Presbyterian Church.) * St Ninian's Catholic Church (1856), Burnhouse Road, a Grade II

. * Wooler Evangelical Church ( Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches, 2003), Cheviot Street. At one time, there was also a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...

congregation in Wooler. The old Methodist chapel on Cheviot Street is now the Glendale Hall.

Meaning of place-name

Wooler may be from Old English ''wella'' "well, spring" and ''ofer'' (

ridge A ridge or a mountain ridge is a geographical feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for an extended distance. The sides of the ridge slope away from the narrow top on either side. The line ...

, hill). A record of the name as ''Welnfver'' in 1186 seems to suggest this origin. The well or spring referred to is the River Till. The Wooler Water, part of which is also known as Happy Valley, is a tributary of the River Till and is formed by a confluence of the Harthope and Carey Burns which rise in the Cheviot Hills, to the south of Wooler. Another possible origin is "Wulfa's hillside", from the Old English personal name ''Wulfa'' "wolf" and ''őra'' "hillside, slope", although this word in place-names usually means "river mouth, shore". A record of the name as Wulloir in 1232 may suggest this origin. It is not certain which is the actual origin.

Governance

An electoral ward in the same name exists. This ward stretches from the Scottish Border south-east to Ingram with a total population taken at the 2011 Census of 4,266.

Freedom of the Parish

The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Parish of Wooler.

Individuals

* Anthony Murray : 27 May 2021. * Rev Cuthbert Allen of Wooler 1730-1779 http://cullenproject.ac.uk/case/1/

References

External links

Community website
*

{{authority control Towns in Northumberland Civil parishes in Northumberland