Longhoughton Parish, 1855

LONG HOUGHTON PARISH

LONG HOUGHTON parish comprises the townships of Boulmer with Seaton House, Little Houghton, and Long Houghton, whose united area is 4,113 acres. It is bounded on the north by Howick and Embleton parishes, on the west by Alnwick parish, on the south by Lesbury, and on the east by the German ocean. The parish is about two miles in length by three in breadth, and coal, lead, and limestone, are the principal minerals. Its population in 1801, was 554; in 1811, 595; in 1821, 650; in 1831, 690; in 1841, 772; and in 1851, it had attained to 861 souls. 

BOULMER AND SEATON HOUSE form a township in this parish, containing 391 acres, the property of the Duke of Northumberland, and the rateable value is £634 6s. It contained in 1801, 100; in 1811, 102; in 1821, 104; in 1831, 140; in 1841, 153; and in 1851, 149 inhabitants. From the estuary of the Aln to Howick Burn, there seems to have been at one time a vast forest of oaks, which has been submerged by the sea, the enormous roots of the trees are sometimes discovered, even now, by the removal of the sand. THE HAMLET of Boulmer is situated on the sea shore, about six miles east by north of Alnwick, and is chiefly inhabited by fishermen, and persons engaged in fish-curing. It contains a school, which is partly endowed by the Duke of Northumberland, an inn, and two grocers' shops. Boulmer Bay, where the fishing boats are moored, might, with great facility, be converted, into an excellent harbour, as the rocks form a natural basin eight hundred yards long, and four hundred yards broad, with a good entrance, which is twelve feet deep at low water. SEATON HOUSE, about half a mile south of Boulmer, is a small hamlet consisting of a farm house and a few cottages. 

Directory. Archibald Dickson, fish-curer ; George Hudson, fish-curer; Henry Richardson, schoolmaster and grocer; Bartholomew Stephenson, innkeeper; and George Turner, grocer.

LITTLE HOUGHTON is a township and hamlet in the above-named parish, the property of Earl Grey. The township comprises an area of 753 acres, and its rateable value is £2,267. Its population in 1801, was 73; in 1811, 75; in 1821, 77; in 1831, 80; in 1841, 136; and in 1851, 165 souls. A lead mine was opened in this township as early as 1763; and coal of a peculiar description has also been found. THE HAMLET of Little Houghton is pleasantly situated three and a half miles north-east by east of Alnwick. LITTLE MILL is another hamlet in this township. 

DIRECTORY. Henry P. Burrell, Esq.; John Elliott, farmer; and Archibald Hills, land agent.

LONG HOUGHTON is a township and village in the parish of the same name, the property of the Duke of Northumberland. The township contains 2,969 acres, and its rateable value is £5,013 13S. 6d. The number of the inhabitants in 1801, was 371; in 1811, 418; in 1821,· 469; in 1831, 470; in 1841, 483; and in 1851, 547 souls. 

THE VILLAGE of Long Houghton is situated about four and a half miles east by north of Alnwick. THE CHURCH, dedicated to St. Peter, is a plain structure, containing several marble monuments to the memory of various members of the Roddam and Clarke families. The living is a discharged vicarage in the archdeaconry of Lindisfarne, and deanery of Alnwick, valued in the Liber Regis at £9 9s. 4d., gross income, £173. Patron, the Duke of Northumberland; incumbent, the Rev. Henry Bell, B.A. The parish register commences in 1646. There is a Day and Sunday school in the village, and a station on the York, Newcastle, and Berwick Railway. 

RATCHEUGH CRAG is a romantic eminence, situated near the village, and is part of a range of basaltic eminences running inland from Cullernose. It commands an extensive prospect along the coast, up the vale of the Aln, and onward to the Cheviot Hills. With a slope to the east, it presents a bold cliff-like face to the west, formed of huge basaltic columns, capped with beds of carboniferous limestone, which, on the slope of the hill are covered with a metamorphic shale, containing the same fossils as those found in the "calp" at Howick.

CHARITIES. - Cuthbert Chessman, in 1729, bequeathed £3. per annum to the poor of Long Houghton town, to be paid at Christmas and Whitsuntide ; and Stanton Neale, in 1814, gave an annuity of £10. to the poor of Long Houghton township, on Christmas day. 

Directory

CONVEYANCE from the Railway Station, William Dennis, stationmaster 

CARRIER.-To ALNWICK, George Sheel, on Saturdays