West Woodburn is a village in north-western

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. The 2001

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

recorded a population of 492 in the Parish Council area of

Corsenside Corsenside is one of the largest parishes in Northumberland, however the area is mainly a vast expanse of rolling hills and farmland, with three tiny villages: West Woodburn, East Woodburn and Ridsdale with about 600 inhabitants in total. The ar ...

of which West Woodburn is the main settlement. The village is situated south of the border with

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

and about north of Hexham. West Woodburn lies on the line of

Dere Street Dere Street or Deere Street is a modern designation of a Roman road which ran north from Eboracum (York), crossing the Stanegate at Corbridge (Hadrian's Wall was crossed at the Portgate, just to the north) and continuing beyond into what is n ...

, a Roman road which linked

Eboracum Eboracum () was a fort and later a city in the Roman province of Britannia. In its prime it was the largest town in northern Britain and a provincial capital. The site remained occupied after the decline of the Western Roman Empire and ultimat ...

(

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

) to the area around Din Eidyn (

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

), and thus later England to Scotland. To the west is the remains of a Roman fort known as ''

Habitancum Habitancum was an ancient Roman fort (castrum) located at Risingham, Northumberland, England. The fort was one of the defensive structures built along Dere Street, a Roman road running from York to Corbridge and onwards to Melrose in what is now ...

''. The route is now the

A68 road The A68 is a major road in the United Kingdom, running from Darlington in England to the Edinburgh City Bypass, A720 in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It crosses the Anglo-Scottish border at Carter Bar and is the only road to do so for som ...

. The

River Rede The Rede is a river in Northumberland, England. The river rises on Carter Fell on the Anglo-Scottish border feeding Catcleugh Reservoir and joins the River North Tyne below the village of Redesmouth. The Rede is one of only two rivers in the ...

, a major tributary of the

River North Tyne The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wat ...

, flows through the heart of the village. The river gives its name to the valley of

Redesdale Redesdale is a valley in western Northumberland, England. It is formed by the River Rede, which rises in the Cheviots and flows down to join the North Tyne at Redesmouth. Redesdale is traversed by the A68 trunk road, which enters Scotland vi ...

, as the local area is called. 2015 Telfer Hemp Memorial 02

West Woodburn's most famous resident of recent times was PC Joseph Carroll, husband of Caroline Carroll, a primary school teacher. On 13 April 2006 PC Carroll was killed in a road traffic incident. PC Carroll was killed by Stephen Graham, a communications instructor at the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infant ...

in an incident that was later found to be manslaughter. Mr Graham engaged the handbrake (at 70 mph) of the PC's patrol car whilst he was being taken to a cell for the night after being arrested. Since this incident regulations of the transport of people in police custody have been reviewed. It is believed that if PC Carroll had not been wearing his seat belt he would have survived the incident. Inspector Kerr Henry who was in the car with PC Carroll and Mr Graham was injured along with Graham. Another little known, but extremely influential resident of West Woodburn, was Adam Telfer and his sheepdog Old Hemp. Telfer was a shepherd who lived in the village circa 1893 and is best known for being the man who first bred the

Border Collie The Border Collie is a Scottish breed of herding dog of medium size. Widely considered to be the most intelligent dog breed, they are descended from landrace sheepdogs once found all over the British Isles, but became standardised in the Ang ...

sheepdog. A campaign was started to install a memorial to Telfer and Old Hemp, and permission was granted by the relevant authorities. The memorial was unveiled on 8 September 2015. https://www.facebook.com/RecognitionForTheBorderColliesHeritage

Governance

West Woodburn is in the

parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...

constituency of Hexham.

References

External links

Villages in Northumberland {{Northumberland-geo-stub