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- source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
- source: Family History Library Catalog
- the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia
Wooler is a small town and civil parish in Northumberland, England. It lies on the edge of the Northumberland National Park, by the Cheviot Hills. The population of Wooler in the 2011 UK census was 1,983. This included the small community of Earle.
Fenton was a township within Wooler when Wooler was an ancient parish.
The main A697 runs by the town linking Morpeth to Coldstream on the Scottish Border.
A nineteenth century description
A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Wooler from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:
- "WOOLER, a small town, a parish, and a [registration] sub-district, in Glendale [registration] district, Northumberland. The town stands on a branch of the river Till, under the Cheviots, 9½ miles SW by W of Belford [railway] station; was anciently called Willover; was given, by Henry I., to R. de Muscamp; passed to the Scropes, the D'Arcys, the Percys, the Greys, and the Earl of Tankerville; was much injured by fire in 1722 and in 1863; is a seat of petty-sessions and county courts, and a polling place; presents an appearance partly poor, and partly much improved: and has a post-office‡ under Alnwick, a banking office, a good inn, a mechanics' institute, with library and reading-rooms, a church rebuilt in 1765 and enlarged in 1835, four dissenting chapels, a Roman Catholic chapel, a public school, a dispensary, the Glendale workhouse, a weekly market on Thursday, and fairs on 4 May and 17 Oct.
- "The parish includes Fenton township and several hamlets, and comprises 4,852 acres. Real property: £8,002. Population in 1851: 1,911; in 1861: 1,697. Houses: 322. Traces of an old castle of the Muscamps are on a round hill. Many ancient entrenchments are in the vicinity. Humbledon Heugh, connected with the battle of Humbledon, and about a mile NW of the town, is the most remarkable of the entrenchments; and a pillar, commemorative of Earl Percy's victory, is in the plain beneath. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Durham. Value: £478. Patron: the Bishop of Chester.
- "The [registration] sub-district contains 6 parishes and 2 parts. Acres: 82,531. Population: 6,378. Houses: 1,194.
Wooler was an ancient parish in the Glendale Ward which also became a civil parish in the 19th century. From 1894 it was part of Glendale Rural District. In 1974 rural districts were abolished and Wooler became part of the Berwick upon Tweed District until 2009 when Northumberland became a unitary authority. Fenton was a township within the civil parish, but it never became a separate civil parish.
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.
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