Eglingham is a village in Northumberland, England, situated about north-west of

Alnwick Alnwick ( ) is a market town in Northumberland, England, of which it is the traditional county town. The population at the 2011 Census was 8,116. The town is on the south bank of the River Aln, south of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the Scottish bor ...

and from Wooler. It lies in the sheltered valley of the Eglingham Burn, a tributary of the River Aln, about above sea level, in a rural

conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

set amongst rolling countryside, within of the Cheviot Hills. The village is surrounded by mainly arable farmland, moorland and woodland, including an

arboretum An arboretum (plural: arboreta) in a general sense is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, man ...

and some commercial forestry. The village has about 60 dwellings and a population of about 100, most situated either side of the through-road, and including the local manorial property, Eglingham Hall. Eglingham is also a parish, about nine miles (14 km) in length by four and a half in breadth, with an area of . It comprises 2 villages: South Charlton and Eglingham; and 4 settlements – Bassington, Ditchburn, Harehope, Shipley – and several smaller places. The

River Breamish The Breamish is a river in Northumberland, England, which rises on Comb Fell in the Northumberland National Park on the southern side of The Cheviot. It is one of the eight rivers rising in the Cheviot Hills, the others being the College Valley, ...

, which rises in the Cheviots, runs through the parish. The geological composition of the parish includes rich gravelly

loam Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–sil ...

along the path of the river; clay predominating in the centre of the parish, and unenclosed moorland in the south and east. Within the moor area is Kimmer Loch, covering , and reputed to abound in perch and

pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus of ...

. The parish is largely agricultural, although gravel extraction continues to the west. Villages in the parish also serve as bases for commuters working in Alnwick and Newcastle upon Tyne.

History

The earliest records of human occupation in the parish are finds of neolithic or Bronze Age flint tools, a spearhead, and many burial sites, variously cairns, barrows and cists. A number of Iron Age settlements are evident, including a

promontory fort A promontory fort is a defensive structure located above a steep cliff, often only connected to the mainland by a small neck of land, thus using the topography to reduce the ramparts needed. Although their dating is problematic, most seem to da ...

east of Shipley moor. Settlements dating to Roman times are found on Beanley moor. It may be surmised that the parish was well populated and involved in extensive farming, from the ability to support multiple communities, a number of which – such as at South Charlton, North Charlton, and possibly in Eglingham village – had early medieval churches. A leper hospital was established at Harehope. Eglingham village was situated on the historic route from Alnwick to Wooler. In addition to agriculture, the parish's population was also engaged in mining coal and quarrying limestone and freestone, all of which are described as being available in abundance.National Gazetteer
, 1868, from the Genuki website A nineteenth-century travellers' guide describes a stream of water which "is turned black as

common ink Iron gall ink (also known as common ink, standard ink, oak gall ink or iron gall nut ink) is a purple-black or brown-black ink made from iron salts and tannic acids from vegetable sources. It was the standard ink formulation used in Europe for t ...

by an infusion of galls". Eglingham colliery closed in November 1897, after becoming unprofitable owing to the costs of removing water from the main coal seams at Black Hill. In more recent times, in 1972, the village and a considerable amount of surrounding land were declared a Conservation Area. According to the ''History, Topography, and Directory of Northumberland'', its population in 1801, was 1,536; in 1811, 1,538; in 1821, 1,666; in 1831, 1,805; in 1841, 1,832; and in 1851, 2,000. The parish offered a relatively prosperous ''living'' in the form of a vicarage in the diocese of Durham, valued in 1868 at £835. The church of St Maurice is a stone structure, rebuilt after the English Restoration, having been destroyed, together with neighbouring chapels, by the Scots during the

Rebellion Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority. A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...

, and was enlarged by the addition of a transept in 1836. Some time between 1217 and 1226, Richard Marsh, the Bishop of Durham, gave the tithes of Eglingham to the Abbey of St Albans to help the monks make a better ale, "taking compassion on the weakness of the convent's drink", according to an eighteenth-century historian.

Landmarks

Eglingham Hall, dating to the 16th or 17th century, built originally as the home of the Ogle family. Harehope Hall was built in 1848 as a sporting lodge for the Baker-Cresswell family. Village facilities include a village hall, and a pub-restaurant, the highly regarded ''Tankerville Arms''.

Religious sites

The 13th-century parish church is dedicated to

St Maurice Saint Maurice (also Moritz, Morris, or Mauritius; ) was an Egyptian military leader who headed the legendary Theban Legion of Rome in the 3rd century, and is one of the favorite and most widely venerated saints of that martyred group. He is the p ...

and may originally have served as a fortified pele tower where the villagers could take refuge from marauding bands of cattle thieves, or

Border Reivers Border reivers were Cattle raiding, raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border from the late 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century. They included both Scotland, Scottish and England, English people, and they raided the entire border ...

. The church bell, cast in the Low Countries, is one of the only two foreign bells in the

Diocese of Newcastle The Diocese of Newcastle is a Church of England diocese based in Newcastle upon Tyne, covering the historic county of Northumberland (and therefore including the part of Tyne and Wear north of the River Tyne), as well as the area of Alston Moo ...

; the other is at Lambley.

Notable people

* Henry Baker Tristram (1822–1906), English clergyman, Biblical scholar, traveller and

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

born at Eglingham vicarage * Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984), portrait painter, born at Eglingham

References

External links

Eglingham
on the ''Keys to the Past'' website
Eglingham Conservation Area Character Appraisal
circa 2005 from Alnwick District Council
Eglingham colliery
from the Durham Mining Museum
Eglingham SchoolEglingham Parish News
{{authority control Villages in Northumberland Civil parishes in Northumberland