Place:Belsay, Northumberland, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Belsay is a village in Northumberland, England. It is situated about 5 miles from Ponteland on the A696 road which links the village with Newcastle upon Tyne and Jedburgh in Scotland. The population of the civil parish was 436 at the 2001 UK census, increasing to 518 at the 2011 UK census.

Scottish nobleman and doctor John de Strivelyn was granted the manor around 1340 by Edward III. On his death, the estate passed to his daughter, who was married to Sir John Middleton, and has remained with the Middleton family since.

Belsay is home to Belsay Castle, a fine medieval castle, and to Belsay Hall, home of the family of Sir Charles Monck (1779-1867).

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

"BELSAY, a township in Bolam parish, Northumberland; on the river Blyth, 9 ½ miles SW of Morpeth. It has a post office under Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Acres: 2,516. Population: 384. Houses: 74. Belsay Castle, the ancient seat of the Middletons, now the property of Sir M. L. Monck, Bart., is an old tower, with additions made by Sir Middleton in 1628. The pile measures 56½ feet from N to S, and 47 ¼. from E to W; has four projecting turrets, three of them round, the other square; terminates in a corbelled parapet; and contains, on the first floor, a solar 43 feet long, 21½ wide, and 17 high."

It is noted that the descriptions from Wikipedia and that from Wilson's Gazetteer differ.

Belsay was originally a township in the parish of Bolam and became a civil parish in 1866. It became part of Castle Ward Rural District in 1894, and of the Castle Morpeth District when it was initiated in 1974. In 1955 it absorbed the following parishes:

• Bitchfield, area: 739 acres; Tynedale Ward
• Black Heddon, area: 1668 acres; Tynedale Ward
• Bolam, area: 1120 acres; Castle Ward
• Bolam Vicarage, area: 139 acres; Castle Ward
• Bradford (near Morpeth), area: 1094 acres; Tynedale Ward
• Gallow Hill, area: 627 acres; Morpeth Ward
• Harnham, area: 702 acres; Tynedale Ward
• Ingoe, area: 114 acres; Tynedale Ward
• Newham (near Morpeth), area: 1347 acres; Castle Ward
• Shortflatt, area: 518 acres; Tynedale Ward
• Trewick, area: 763 acres; Castle Ward

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.