Rothley is a small settlement 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 authority ...

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 about north east of

Cambo Cambo may refer to: *Cambo, Northumberland, a village in Northumberland, England * Cambo camera, Dutch camera manufacturer *Cambo Estate, historic house in Fife, Scotland *Cambo-les-Bains, town in Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France * Cambo oil field, ...

and about west of

Morpeth Morpeth may refer to: *Morpeth, New South Wales, Australia ** Electoral district of Morpeth, a former electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in New South Wales * Morpeth, Ontario, Canada * Morpeth, Northumberland, England, UK ** Morpeth (UK ...

Governance

Chathill was formerly a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

in Hartburn parish, in 1866 Rothley became a civil parish in its own right. It is now within the unitary authority of Northumberland. Both parish and unitary authority have responsibility for different aspects of local government. It 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

Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census recor ...

. On 1 April 1955 The parish absorbed Fairnley, Hartington and

Hartington Hall Hartington Hall is a much altered and extended 17th-century manor house at Hartington, Derbyshire, now a youth hostel. The Hall was built by the Bateman family. They were a well-established Norfolk family who settled at Hartington in the 16 ...

Landmarks

Rothley Castle is an 18th-century gothic folly built to resemble a medieval castle, situated at Rothley. It was designed in 1755 by architect Daniel Garrett for Sir Walter Blackett, owner of

Wallington Hall Wallington is a country house and gardens located about west of Morpeth, Northumberland, England, near the village of Cambo. It has been owned by the National Trust since 1942, after it was donated complete with the estate and farms by Sir Char ...

, from where it is visible on the hillside. Rothley Crags , a wild tract of country which was once Sir William Blackett's deer-park. With the mania our ancestors had for ruins, and surely there were enough in Northumberland already without building them, Sir William had some most realistic castellated ruins built on the top of the crags! Rothley Lake breaks the bareness of the scenery, prettily bordered with trees and overlooked by a wall of rugged crags topped by Codger Fort. Rothley Lakes (divided by a road) were created for the Wallington estate by

Capability Brown Lancelot Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783), more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English gardener and landscape architect, who remains the most famous figure in the history of the English la ...

. Codger Fort was erected by Sir Walter Blackett after the Jacobite rising of 1745, probably to demonstrate his loyalty. The fort contained six cannon and hence would have proved a serious obstacle to any invading forces. The fort was designed by Thomas Wright of Durham, and has also been interpreted as a

folly In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings. Eighteenth-cent ...

like Rothley Castle to the south. Huge beeches and pines line the ascending road from the lake. On the banks of a burn near the village are several rocks perforated by small holes. According to local legend, these holes were used by

fairies A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, o ...

for cooling porridge.

References

External links

Villages in Northumberland Civil parishes in Northumberland {{Northumberland-geo-stub