Norham ( ) is a village and

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, It is located south-west of Berwick on the south side of the

River Tweed The River Tweed, or Tweed Water ( gd, Abhainn Thuaidh, sco, Watter o Tweid, cy, Tuedd), is a river long that flows east across the Border region in Scotland and northern England. Tweed cloth derives its name from its association with the ...

where it is the border with Scotland.

History

Its ancient name was Ubbanford. Ecgred of Lindisfarne (d.845) replaced a wooden church with one of stone, translated the relics of St. Ceolwulf here. Norham is mentioned as the resting-place of St Cuthbert in the early eleventh century text ''

On the Resting-Places of the Saints ''On the Resting-Places of the Saints'' is a heading given to two early medieval pieces of writing, also known as ''Þá hálgan'' and the ''Secgan'', which exist in various manuscript forms in both Old English and Latin, the earliest surviving m ...

'', and recent research has suggested the possibility that Norham (rather than

Chester-le-Street Chester-le-Street (), also known as Chester, is a market town and civil parish in County Durham, England, around north of Durham and also close to Sunderland and Newcastle upon Tyne. It is located on the River Wear, which runs out to sea at ...

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

) may have been the centre of the

diocese of Lindisfarne The Diocese of Durham is a Church of England diocese, based in Durham, England, Durham, and covering the Historic counties of England, historic county of Durham (and therefore including the part of Tyne and Wear south of the River Tyne, and exc ...

from the ninth century until some time between 1013 and 1031. It is the site of the 12th-century

Norham Castle Norham Castle (sometimes Nornam) is a castle in Northumberland, England, overlooking the River Tweed, on the border between England and Scotland. It is a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The castle saw much action during ...

, and was for many years the centre for the

Norhamshire Norhamshire was an exclave of County Durham in England. It was first mentioned in 995, when it formed part of the lands of the priory at Lindisfarne. When the lands north of the River Tees were partitioned into Northumberland and County Durham it ...

exclave of County Durham. It was transferred to Northumberland in 1844. It was on the Tweed here that

Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vas ...

met the Scots nobility in 1292 to decide on the future king of Scotland.

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...

gained fame as a poet, particularly with '' Marmion'' set around the

Battle of Flodden The Battle of Flodden, Flodden Field, or occasionally Branxton, (Brainston Moor) was a battle fought on 9 September 1513 during the War of the League of Cambrai between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland, resulting in an English ...

in 1513. It begins: ::::''Day set on Norham's castled steep,'' ::::''And Tweed's fair river, broad and deep, ::::''And Cheviot's mountains lone:'' ::::''The battled towers, the donjon keep, ::::''The loophole grates where captives weep,'' ::::''The flanking walls that round it sweep,'' ::::''In yellow lustre shone.'' The 19th-century

Ladykirk and Norham Bridge The Ladykirk and Norham Bridge connects Ladykirk in the Borders, Scotland, with Norham in Northumberland, England, across the River Tweed. It's one of three bridges that cross it along the Anglo-Scottish Border, the others being the Coldstream ...

is a late stone

road bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

that connects the village with Ladykirk in the Scottish Borders. J. M. W. Turner reportedly tipped his hat to Norham Castle in 1831, as it was the place which had brought him fame as an artist in 1798. It was a subject he revisited throughout his career. The painting of the castle which hangs in

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...

, ''

Norham Castle, Sunrise ''Norham Castle, Sunrise'' is an oil-on-canvas painting by English painter J. M. W. Turner, created around 1845. The painting depicts Norham Castle, overlooking the River Tweed, the border between England and Scotland. The painting was bequeath ...

'' (1845), luminously near-abstract, is one of the great treasures of the collection. Norham railway station, built 1851, closed in 1965 and was turned into a museum by its final station master, Peter Short. In 2013 it was up for sale at an asking price of £420,000.

Governance

An electoral ward in the name of Norham and Islandshires exists. This ward stretches south east to just short of

Bamburgh Bamburgh ( ) is a village and civil parish on the coast of Northumberland, England. It had a population of 454 in 2001, decreasing to 414 at the 2011 census. The village is notable for the nearby Bamburgh Castle, a castle which was the seat of ...

and has a total population taken at the 2011 Census of 4,438.

Popular culture

Norham appears, under the name of Ubbanford, in ''The Bernicia Chronicles'' series of historical novels by Matthew Harffy, where it is the residence and seat of power of the series' protagonist, Beobrand.

References

External links

GENUKI
(Accessed: 20 November 2008) {{authority control Villages in Northumberland Populated places on the River Tweed Civil parishes in Northumberland

History

Governance

Popular culture

See also

References

External links