Kirkhaugh Parish, 1848

KIRKHAUGH, a parish, in the union of Haltwhistle, W. division of Tindale ward, S. division of Northumberland, 2½ miles (N.W. by N.) from AlstonMoor; containing about 300 inhabitants. This parish, so called from its church being situated on a haugh, comprises 6,657 acres, of which 5,381 are common or waste; it is divided by the South Tyne into two nearly equal parts. The soil is light, and the surface hilly; the higher lands are mostly covered with heath, and abound with grouse, and the lower grounds are watered by the South Tyne. Cultivation is confined to the borders of the river, from which the mountains on each side rise with a rapid irregular ascent. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £4. 7. 8½., and in the patronage of R. R. Saunders, Esq.; net income, £70. The church is a neat rustic edifice, with a nave 41 feet and a chancel 9½ feet long, and contains a few monuments. William de Kirkhalgh granted the advowson to Nicholas de Vetriponte, as an appurtenance to the manor of Aldeston, in which state it descended to the Hiltons, and from them to the Ricardsons, &c. Castle Nook, in the parish, is the site of a Roman station, occupying an area of nearly nine acres, and defended on the west by ten breastworks and trenches. At the north-east corner a sudatory was discovered in 1813, from which flows a copious spring of clear water: near to the eastern wall is the Maiden-way; and in the vicinity, a Roman altar, with fragments of a colossal statue, was found some years since. Here, according to Camden, an inscription was set up, and a palace built, in honour of the Emperor Antoninus, about the year 213, by the third cohort of the Nervii. The Rev. John Wallis, author of a History of Northumberland, 1769, was born at Castle Nook in the year 1714.