Place:Humbleton, Northumberland, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Humbleton from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"HUMBLETON, a township in Doddington parish, Northumberland; 1 mile NE of Wooler. Acres: 784. Pop.: 152. Houses: 36. The name was originally Humbledown; has sometimes been written Homildon; and, by Shakspeare, in his Henry IV., is written Holmedon. A hill here, called Humbleton Heugh, is cut into terraces, 30 feet broad, sometimes in three tiers, sometimes in five, probably formed, at an early period, for purposes of cultivation; and is crowned by an ancient, large, circular camp. A plain, below the hill, was the scene, in 1402, of a great defeat of the Earl of Douglas and the Duke of Albany by the Earl of Northumberland and his son Hotspur; bears the name of Redrigs; and has remains of a stone pillar, set up to commemorate the event. An urn and a stone coffin, inclosing a gigantic skeleton, were discovered here in 1811."

Humbleton was originally a township in the ancient parish of Doddington, Northumberland. It became a separate civil parish in 1866 and from 1894 until 1974 the parish was part of Glendale Rural District. In 1955 it was abolished and absorbed into the neighbouring parish of Akeld.

Research Tips

• Northumberland Archives previously known as Northumberland Collections Service and Northumberland County Record Office. Now based within Woodhorn Museum in Ashington and providing free access to numerous records for local and family historians alike.

Full postal address: Museum and Northumberland Archives, Queen Elizabeth II Country Park, Ashington, Northumberland, NE63 9YF; Phone: 01670 624455

There is a branch office in Berwick upon Tweed.

• Northumberland and Durham FHS covers both Northumberland and County Durham. The Family History Society have a research centre in Percy House in central Newcastle upon Tyne (full address on website), open Monday to Friday from 10 am to 4 pm. Browse the website to see what else the society can provide.
• Further information from GENUKI
• Ordnance Survey map of Northumberland 1832 provided by A Vision of Britain through Time. This map includes the boundaries of the various Wards (or "hundreds") in existence at that time.
• Ordnance Survey map of Northumberland 1900 provided by A Vision of Britain through Time
• Ordnance Survey map of Northumberland 1944 provided by A Vision of Britain through Time
• English Jurisdictions 1851, a parish finding aid provided by FamilySearch, particularly helpful in large towns and cities.
• Unfortunately, there is no Victoria County History for Northumberland.