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- source: Family History Library Catalog
- the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia
Howick is an ancient and a civil parish in Northumberland, between Boulmer and Craster. It is just inland from the North Sea, into which Howick burn flows, from Howick Hall.
The pronunciation of the name of the village varies among the inhabitants, depending on social class; the aristocrats in the Hall do indeed use 'Hoh-wick', which is probably the more correct, but the villagers invariably use 'how-ick'. Neither would ever use 'hoik', which is the Scottish town spelled Hawick.
A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Howick from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:
- "HOWICK, a parish, with a village, in Alnwick [registration] district, Northumberland; on the coast, 1 mile NE of Long Houghton [railway] station, and 5 NE by E of Alnwick. Post town, Bilton, Northumberland. Acres: 1,692; of which 72 are water. Real property: £2,738. Population: 265. Houses: 51. The property is divided between two. The manor belonged to the Muschamps; passed to the Vescies, afterwards to the Greys, who became Earls Grey; and gives to the latter the title of Viscount. Howick Hall, the seat of Earl Grey, occupies the site of an ancient tower, destroyed in 1780; is a fine Grecian edifice, built in 1782, and much enlarged and improved in 1812; and contains some valuable statues, paintings, and other works of art. A trout stream, called Howick burn, crossed by a stone bridge, winds through the park, and along a beautifully wooded dene, to the sea; and the shore, adjacent to its mouth, is broken into picturesque masses of jagged freestone rock. Traces exist of a camp variously regarded as British, Roman, and Danish; and ancient spears, swords, coins, and several gold rings, linked together in the form of a gorget, have been found. Coal was at one time worked, but proved unremunerative. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Durham. Value: £318. Patron: the Bishop of Durham. The church was rebuilt, in 1746, by Sir Henry Grey, Bart.; was remodelled, with insertion of Norman windows and floriated capitals, in 1849, by the third Earl Grey; and contains, under a rich Gothic canopy of Caen stone, the monument of the second Earl Grey, the distinguished prime minister. There are a national school, and charities £40."
Howick was an ancient parish in the Coquetdale Ward which also became a civil parish in the 19th century. From 1894 it was part of Alnwick Rural District. The civil parish was abolished in 1955 and the area was transferred to the parish of Longhoughton.
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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