Knaresdale Parish, 1855

KNARESDALE PARISH

KNARESDALE parish, comprising the villages of Eals, Burn Stones, Slaggyford, Town Green, and Williamston, occupies a wild mountainous tract, at the south-western extremity of Northumberland, and is bounded on the north by Lambley, on the west and south by Cumberland, and on the east by Kirkbaugh parish. It comprises an area of 7,144 acres, the property of the trustees of the late Hon. James Hope Wallace, and others, who also claim the manorial rights, and its rateable value is £2,712 5s. The number of its inhabitants in 1801, was 481; in 1811, 526; in 1821, 564; in 1831, 566; in 1841, 491 ; and in 1851, 917 souls. It, is supposed to derive its name from the Knare-burn which intersects the parish. The forest of Knaresdale was anciently very extensive, and well stocked with red deer; the breed, how- ever, is now nearly extinct. Snope Well is a medicinal spring, and was formerly held in great repute. Besides the Knare-burn, this district is watered by three other rivulets, viz. : the Thinhope, Thomhope, and Barrough-burns.

THE PARISH CHURCH is situated on the west side of the South Tyne, six. miles N.N.W. of Alston, in Cumberland, and seven and a half miles S.S.W. of Haltwhistle. It is an ancient edifice, without much pretension to architectural elegance, and the ground around it seems to have been covered with buildings. The living is a discharged rectory in the archdeaconry of Northumberland and deanery of Hexham, valued in the Liber Regis at £4 18s. 9d., gross income £135. The patronage is vested in the Crown, and the Rev. Henry Rewsher is rector. The parish register commences in 1695. The Wesleyan Methodists have a small chapel here. THE SCHOOL has an endowment of £6 10s. per annum, from the trustees of the late Hon. James Hope Wallace.

CHARITY. John Stephenson, in 1759, left a rent charge of £2 per annum, to eight poor widows of this parish.

KNARESDALE HALL, which stands near the Church, and is now occupied by a farmer, was anciently in the possession of the Pratts, from whom it was transferred, by Edward I., to Sir Robert de Swinburne. The manor of Williamston, held of the manor of Knaresdale, was also given to Sir William de Swinburne, and was confirmed to him by its previous owner, Bartholomew Pratt, Esq. In the reign of Elizabeth, we find the manor of Knaresdale, with the adjoining estates, possessed by \Vil1iam Wallace, Esq., of Copeland Castle; but one of his descendants, Ralph Wall ace, sold them to John Stephenson, an alderman of Newcastle, of whose son this manor was purchased by Mr. Wall ace, of Featherstone, from whom it has descended to the present proprietors.

BURN STONES is a hamlet in this township, a quarter of a mile north of the parish church. EALS is a small village situated on the east side of the south Tyne, six miles S.S.W. of Haltwhistle. SLAGGYFORD is another village, one mile south of the parish church. TOWN GREEN is also a village in this parish, situated a quarter of a mile south of the church. WILLIAMSTON gives name to an estate and hamlet on the east side of the South Tyne, one mile and a half south of the parish church.

POST OFFICE, TOWN GREEN.-Thomas Henderson, postmaster. Letters arrive, from Alston, at 2 p.m., and are despatched at 8 a.m.