Place:Haltwhistle, Northumberland, England

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source: Family History Library Catalog

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

Haltwhistle is a small town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, 10 miles (16 km) east of Brampton, near Hadrian's Wall. It had a population of 3,811 at the 2011 UK census.

Haltwhistle was an ancient parish in the Tynedale Ward which also became a civil parish in the 19th century. From 1894 it was part of Haltwhistle Rural District. In 1974 rural districts were abolished and Haltwhistle became part of the Tynedale District until 2009 when Northumberland became a unitary authority.

Haltwhistle was an ancient parish and included the following townships:

• Bellister
• Blenkinsopp
• Coanwood
• Featherstone
• Hartley Burn
• Henshaw
• Melkridge
• Plenmellor
• Ridley
• Thirlwall
• Thorngrafton
• Walltown

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Haltwhistle was probably in existence in Roman times, as it is one of the closest approaches of the River South Tyne in its upland reaches to Hadrian's Wall. The old Roman road or Stanegate passes just to the north of the town.

The town web site summarizes an important part of the history (late Middle Ages) of the community as: "for many centuries, the constant marauding of English and Scots caused turmoil in Haltwhistle and throughout the Borders". In 1598, "the infamous Armstrongs of Liddesdale fired and plundered Haltwhistle". Another important raid one Haltwhistle was made in 1601 by the Scots "who carried away prisoners and all their goods"; they were later reclaimed by a raid on Liddesdale. Scots, particularly the Armstrongs, later returned and burned many houses; that led to "years of feuds between the Armstrongs and the Ridley's of Haltwhistle".

"This Hartwhistle is a Little town, there was one Inn but they had noe hay nor would get none, and when my servants had got some Else where they were angry and would not Entertaine me, so I was forced to take up in a poor Cottage wch was open to ye Thatch and no partitions but hurdles plaistered. Indeed ye Loft as they Called it wch was over the other roomes was shelter'd but wth a hurdle; here I was fforced to take up my abode and ye Landlady brought me out her best sheetes wch serv'd to secure my own sheetes from her dirty blanckets, and Indeed I had her fine sheete to spread over ye top of the Clothes; but noe sleepe Could I get, they burning turff and their Chimneys are sort of fflews or open tunnills, yt ye smoake does annoy the roomes. This is but from another part of Scotland, the houses are but a Little better built, its true the inside of them are kept a Little better."

Dorothy, Lady Capell, endowed a school in Haltwhistle in her will of 1721.

The development of the town benefited from its location on the main Newcastle to Carlisle road and on the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway line.

The expansion of Haltwhistle in the 18th and 19th centuries was due to coal mining in the area and to a lesser extent the use of Haltwhistle as a loading point for metal ores coming from the mines on Alston Moor. In 1836 while some workmen were quarrying stone for the Directors of the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway, on the top of Barcombe, a high hill in the township of Thorngrafton and Parish of Haltwhistle, one of them found a copper vessel containing 63 coins, 3 of them gold and 60 copper. The gold coins were, one of Claudius Caesar, reverse Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus; one of Nero and one of Vespasian. The find is known as the Thorngrafton Hoard and the empty arm-purse can still be seen in the museum at Chesters Fort.

More recently, paint manufacture became a major commercial force in the town, but has now stopped major production. Current local employers include factories making plastic bottles and de-icing products.

Skirted by the Northumberland National Park and the North Pennines range, Haltwhistle is ideal for activity and family holidays, walking, cycling, fishing and climbing. Close to where the North & South Tynes meet, with many pretty villages dotted along both river valleys...

A nineteenth century description

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

"HALTWHISTLE, a town, a township, a parish, a [registration] subdistrict, and a [registration]district, in Northumberland. The town lies on the South Tyne river, at the influx of Haltwhistle burn, and on the Carlisle and Newcastle railway, at the junction of the Alston branch, 1½ mile S of the Roman wall, 5½ E of the boundary with Cumberland, and 16½ W of Hexham. It consists chiefly of good modern houses; but contains a number of old ones, which retain traces of fortification. The Castle hill at it is a mound of earth, partly artificial; appears to have, at some early period, been fortified; and is encompassed, on all sides, except the south, by a breast work four feet high. A fine old peel stands near the Castle hill; and is said to have been a manor house. Another peel, of much strength, formerly stood on the west side of the bridge, and defended the entrance to the town. An edifice, in the Italian style, with magistrates' rooms, and with a public hall for lectares and meetings, in connexion with a mechanics' institute, was built in 1862. The church is early English; has three elegant lancet windows in its east end; and contains trefoiled sedilia, a curious gravestone of one of the Blenkinsops, and a remarkable altar tomb of the brother-in-law of Bishop Ridley. There are chapels for Presbyterians, Wesleyans, and Primitive Methodists, an endowed school with £32, other charities with £5, and a workhouse. The town has a post office under Carlisle, a railway station with telegraph, and good inns; and is a seat of county courts, and a polling place. A weekly market is held on Thursday; and fairs on 12 May, 17 Sept., and 10 Nov. The manufacture of baize and woollens, and the making of drain pipes and large bricks, are carried on.

"The township comprises 2,759 acres. Population in 1851: 420; in 1861: 749. Houses: 336.

"The parish contains also the townships of Hartleyburn, Coanwood, Featherstone, Plainmellor, Bellister, Ridley, Melkridge, Henshaw, Therngrafton, Blenkinsopp, Thirlwall, and Walltown. Acres: 5,229. Real property: £36,639; of which £?,685 are in mines, £100 in quarries, and £90 in gas works. Population in 1851: 5,379; in 1861: [not given]. Houses: 1,014. The property is much subdivided. The manor came recently into the possession of the Adamsons. The land is good, and the scenery fine, along the South Tyne; but the surface elsewhere is upland, bleak, and barren, and abounds with peat mosses. Haltwhistle burn issues from Greenlee Loch; runs about 7 miles southward to the Tyne; and is sometimes swelled by great freshets. Coal and lime are worked. Portions of the Roman wall exist in the northern townships; the well preserved and very interesting Roman station of Housesteads or Borcovicus is in the north-east; and several castles and other remains of the feudal times are in other parts. The living is a vicarage, with Greenhead chapelry, in the dio. of Durham. Value: £593. Patron: the Bishop of Manchester. The [perpetual] curacies of Beltingham and Featherstone are separate."

(Descriptions of the registration district and the sub-registration district have been omitted. Scanning of the original text omitted some figures in the statistics.)

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.