Place:Carham, Northumberland, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

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

"CARHAM, a village and a parish in Glendale [registration] district, Northumberland. The village stands adjacent to the river Tweed, to the Tweedmouth and Kelso railway, and to the boundary with Scotland, 5½ miles WSW of Cornhill; and has a station on the railway. The parish includes West Mindrim, Moneylaws, Preston, Tythehill, Wark, and Wark-Common; and its Post Town is Coldstream. Acres: 10,382; of which 127 are water. Real property: £17,411. Population: 1,274. Houses: 236. The property is divided among a few. Carham Hall belongs to the heirs of A. Compton, Esq. Shidlaw hill and other offsets of the Cheviots are in the south, and command charming views. A house of black monks, a cell to Kirkham priory in Yorkshire, anciently stood here; and was burned by the Scots under Wallace, whose place of encampment is still called Campfield. Three sanguinary battles were fought in the parish; one at an early period, between the Saxons and the Danes; the other two, in 1018 and 1370, between the English and the Scots. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Durham. Value: £233. Patrons: the heirs of A. Compton, Esq. The church is good."

Carham was originally a township in the ancient parish of Kirknewton in the Glendale Ward of Northumberland. It became an ancient parish and a civil parish in the 19th century. It is located in the very northwest corner of Northumberland with the River Tweed separating it from Scotland on both its northern and western borders. From 1894 until 1974 the parish was part of Glendale Rural District. In 1974 rural districts were abolished and Carham became part of the Berwick upon Tweed District until 2009 when Northumberland became a unitary authority.

Carham contained the following townships, some of which did not become civil parishes. With the exception of Wark upon Tweed all are redirected here.

Townships in Parish

• West Mindrim. ("MINDRUM, a place in the N of Northumberland; 10 miles WNW of Wooler. An old chapel is here. Mindrum hill is a meet for Lord Echo's hounds." (Source: A Vision of Britain through Time)
• Moneylaws, no references
• Preston, or Pressen, no references
• Tythehill, no references
• Wark on Tweed, from Wikipedia
• Wark Common, no references

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.