Whitfield is a village and former

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

, now in the parish of Plenmeller with Whitfield, in the county of

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

, England about southwest of

Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden nearby, and close to Hadrian's Wall. Hexham was the administra ...

. It has a farming community and is set against a beautiful scenic background; sometimes it has been called '' Little Switzerland''. In 1951 the parish had a population of 233. The village lies on the River West Allen which joins with the River East Allen less than a mile away to form the River Allen. The village is serviced with a village shop, pub, school and two churches.

Governance

On 1 April 1955 the parish was abolished to form "Plenmeller with Whitfield".

Landmarks

Whitfield Hall is the home of the Blackett-Ord family. The Manor of Whitfield was granted, in the 12th century, by

William the Lion William the Lion (), sometimes styled William I (; ) and also known by the nickname ; e.g. Annals of Ulster, s.a. 1214.6; Annals of Loch Cé, s.a. 1213.10. ( 1142 – 4 December 1214), reigned as King of Alba from 1165 to 1214. His almost 49 ...

, King of Scotland, to the

Whitfield family The Whitfield family was a landowning Norman family in present-day United Kingdom; the family was seated at Whitfield Hall in Northumberland. The area was granted by William, King of Scotland in the twelfth century. The family derives its name ...

, who retained it until 1750 when it was sold to William Ord of Fenham. When a later William Ord died in 1855, the estate fell to his son's widow and then to her heir, her niece, who married Rev John Blackett, a son of

Christopher Blackett Christopher Blackett (c. 1751 – 25 January 1829) owned the Northumberland colliery at Wylam that built ''Puffing Billy'', the first commercial adhesion steam locomotive. He was also the founding owner of ''The Globe'' newspaper in 1803. ...

Wylam Wylam is a village and civil parish in the county of Northumberland, England. It is located about west of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is famous for the being the birthplace of George Stephenson, one of the early railway pioneers. George Stephen ...

. As a condition of the marriage and inheritance, he changed his name to Blackett-Ord.

Religious sites

St John's Church is the site of an ancient church that was rebuilt by William Ord in 1785. Trinity Church (more usually known as Holy Trinity) was dedicated in 1860 and was the gift of the Rev'd and Mrs. J. A. Blackett-Ord in memory of William Ord Esq. from whom Mrs. Blackett-Ord had inherited the whole estate. It replaced St. John's church as the parish church. Many of the stones from St. John's were used in the building of Holy Trinity. The registers start in 1612 and the list of Rectors in 1180 with Robert de Quitfield, which confirms the existence of a church at that time.

References

External links

Some history and pictures
(Accessed: 12 November 2008) Villages in Northumberland Former civil parishes in Northumberland Whitfield family {{Northumberland-geo-stub