Place:Hexhamshire, Northumberland, England

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

The Modern Parish

In modern use, Hexhamshire is a name of a civil parish south of Hexham. The parish covers a very large but sparsely populated area, including the villages of Dalton and Whitley Chapel, Broadwell House, and Hexhamshire Common. The current civil parish was formed in 1955 by the union of the Hexhamshire High Quarter, Hexhamshire Middle Quarter and Hexhamshire West Quarter parishes. Hexhamshire Low Quarter remains a separate civil parish, between Hexhamshire and Hexham.

From 1955 Hexhamshire was part of Hexham Rural District. In 1974 rural districts were abolished and Hexhamshire became part of the Tynedale District until 2009 when Northumberland became a unitary authority.

Earlier Usage

From before the Conqest of Britain by the Normans in 1066, Hexhamshire was a "county" in northern England. After several hundred years it was incorporated into the county of Northumberland in 1572.

Originally the county could be equated to one of the districts of the Kingdom of Northumbria, the town of Hexham then being the seat of a bishopric. It later lost its privileges as an independent county, and became considered part of County Durham. (The southern border of the present parish of Hexhamshire is the Northumberland border with Durham.)

In the early 1100s, Henry I of England decided to weaken the power of the prince bishops of Durham by removing parts of their realm. In doing so, he again elevated Hexhamshire to county status, with Hexham as its county town.

Hexhamshire remained a county until 1572, in the reign of Elizabeth I, when it was incorporated into Northumberland by Act of Parliament. At the same time, the district was transferred from the ecclesiastical see of Durham to the ecclesiastical see of York, where it remained until 1837.

end of Wikipedia contribution

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

"HEXHAMSHIRE, a division of Hexham parish, and a quondam county palatine, in Northumberland. The division of Hexham parish comprises the townships of High Quarter, Low Quarter, Middle Quarter, and West Quarter....

"The quondam county palatine comprised the parishes of Hexham, St. John-Lee, and Allendale; was governed, as a regality, by the bishops of Hexham; passed, as a barony, to the archbishops of York; and was annexed, in the time of Elizabeth, to Northumberland."

Statistics from Wilson's Gazetteer are from the UK census of 1861 and are provided here in tabular form.

Research Tips

• Hexhamshire local website
• 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.