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- source: Family History Library Catalog
- the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia
Bothal is a village in Northumberland, in England. It is situated between Morpeth and Ashington. There is a castle, a church, a vicarage opposite the church gates, some stepping stones over the River Wansbeck, and a few houses.
Bothal was the headquarters of the extensive Welbeck Estates in Northumberland. Half a mile upstream of the castle are the remains of a watermill that still had a working waterwheel up to about the First World War. It had a turbine for electricity production for the mill house from 1947 to 1980. Until 1866 Bothal was a civil parish, In 1831 the parish had a population of 1319.
Bothal was also a drift mine ('Bothal Barns Drift') though this is something of a misnomer. Bothal Drift was merely another entrance to the Ashington colliery. Now, Bothal Barns Drift is the site of a private house with the old entrance to the drift mine being long disused. The Bothal Drift is situated on the top of the bank on the Ashington side.
Further west ( a few hundred yards) from the church and castle, it is possible to walk along the river Wansbeck for some 30–45 minutes west towards Morpeth. The name Morpeth apparently means 'murder path' and was once the main thoroughfare along the river. Further along the footpath is the remains of an old chapel.
The footpath starts near the site of the old mill. You can park your car near the gate (at the bridge) and then walk westwards past the weir.
Bothal church in the summer |
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The old weir, just past the outbuilding/ old watermill. Looking west |
The footpath leading west along the river Wansbeck |
A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Bothal from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:
- "BOTHAL, a township and a parish in Morpeth [registration] district, Northumberland. The township is called Bothal Demesne; and lies on the Wansbeck river, near the Northeastern railway, 3 miles E of Morpeth. Acres: 3,027. Real property: £6,895. Population: 642. Houses: 122.
- "The parish includes also the townships of Oldmoor, Pegsworth, Longhirst, and Ashington and Sheepwash; and its Post Town is Morpeth. Acres: 7,593. Real property: £5,510; of which £903 are in mines. Population: 1,233. Houses: 241. The property is divided among a few. The manor belonged, in the time of Henry II., to the Bertrams; passed by marriage first to the Ogles, then to the Cavendishes; and belongs now to the Duke of Portland. Remains of a castle of the Bertrams, and of an ancient chapel of the Virgin, still exist. Coal is worked. The living is a rectory, united with the rectory of Sheepwash, and the [perpetual] curacy of Hebburn, in the diocese of Durham. Value: £1,357. Patron: the Duke of Portland. The church contains tombs of the Ogles. A school is endowed with £25 a year."
Bothal was an ancient parish in the Morpeth Ward which also became a civil parish in the 19th century. In 1866 the civil parish was merged with the township of Bothal Demesne which was absorbed into the village and civil parish of Ashington in two stages in 1896 and 1935.
Townships in parish
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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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