Place:Shotley Low Quarter, Northumberland, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

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

"SHOTLEY, a village, two townships, and a parish, in Hexham district, Northumberland. The village stands 6 miles SSE of Riding-Mill [railway] station, and 9 SE of Hexham; and is in [Shotley Low Quarter] township. That township comprises 6,676 acres. Population: 637. Houses: 124.

"The other township is [Shotley High Quarter], or Blanchland; is noticed in the article Blanchland; and has a post-office, of the name of Blanchland, formerly under Carlisle, now under Riding-Mill, Northumberland.

"The parish contains also the township of Newbiggin, and comprises 12,460 acres. Real property: £2,516; of which £25 are in mines. Population: 1,180. Houses: 229. The manor belongs to H.Silvertop and T. Wilson, Esqs. Much of the land is moor and mountain. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Durham. Value: £139. Patrons: the Trustees of Bishop Lord Crewe. The church was built in 1834. The [perpetual] curacy of Blanchland is a separate benefice. There are a Baptist chapel, built in 1856, and an endowed school with £14 a year."

Shotley Low Quarter was originally a township in the ancient parish of Bywell St. Andrew. It became a separate civil parish in 1866. From 1894 until 1974 it was part of Hexham Rural District. In 1955 it absorbed the civil parishes of Newlands and Whittonstall. In 1974 rural districts were abolished and Shotley Low Quarter became part of the Tynedale District until 2009 when Northumberland became a unitary authority. Since 1974 it appears to have joined forces with Shotley High Quarter under the simpler name of Shotley which was also the name of the main village in the parish.

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.