Lambley Parish, 1855

LAMBLEY PARISH

This parish comprises the joint townships of Lambley and Asholme, whose united area is 2,698 acres, and rateable value £1,489. The population in 1801, was 209; in 1811, 254; in 1821, 261; in 1831, 252; in 1841, 249; and in 1851, 365 souls. The landowners are Robert R. Allgood, Esq., who is also lord of the manor, and Henry Whitfield Esq. This district is very beautiful, being interspersed with fine woods, and ornamented with thriving plantations, on each side of the South Tyne, which here rolls over rugged stones, and down the ledge of shelving rocks, forming a striking contrast with the extensive heaths of the neighbouring district, which is studded with lofty mountains. The only remains of antiquity in this parish, is the old fortress of Castle-hill, which is situated opposite to Harper Town, and defended on three sides by the natural slope of the river bank, and on the fourth, by a dry trench of some depth. The Alston and Haltwhistle branch line of railway crosses the river Tyne, at the east end of this parish. The viaduct is upwards of 110 feet in height, thirty-five feet in breadth at the base and eighteen feet at the top. It has nine main arches of sixty-six feet span each, and seven smaller ones of twenty feet span each. Lambley Colliery, in this parish, is worked by Mrs. Maria Thompson.

There was formerly an abbey of Benedictine nuns here, which was founded by King John, or Adam de Tindale. We are informed, by Dugdale, that "King John, in 1200, confirmed a grant of Adam de Tin dale and Heloise, his wife, to God, St. Mary, St. Patrick, and the nuns of Lambley, of right of pasturage on both sides of the Tyne, in their manor of Lambley, and the chapel of Sandiburnesele, with four acres of land in the same place, and the tithes and offerings ; as also the donations of Benering, and Sandiburnesele made by Helias, nephew of the said. Adam." The nuns subsequently became possessed of a fifth part of the village of Wyden, and certain possessions in Newcastle. The Scots, in 1296, destroyed this convent and ravaged the neighbourhood, but it was afterwards restored, and at the period of the suppression of the religious houses, the community numbered six members, whose annual revenues amounted to £5 15s. 8d. In the reign of Edward IV., it became the property of Dudley, Earl of Northumberland, but on his attainder it reverted to the Crown, and we find it forming a portion of the estate attached to Featherstonehaugh Castle, in 1567. It subsequently became the property of the Allgood family, with whom it still remains. Camden tells us that in his time the Tyne ran amongst the walls of the nunnery, but every vestige of the conventual buildings have long since disappeared. THE PARISH CHURCH, an ancient and plain structure capable of accommodating about 120 persons, is situated on an eminence about four miles S.S.W of Haltwhistle. Its register commences in 1742. The living is a donative or extra-parochial vicarage in the gift of Robert Allgood, Esq.; and incumbency of the Rev. Robert Greenwood, of Blyth.

ASHOLME, on the east bank of the Tyne, is a joint township with Lambley, with which place its population, acreage, &c. are returned. HARPER TOWN is a hamlet near the parish church, and was formerly a considerable village, but was destroyed by the frequent inroads of the Scots.