Shotley Parish, 1855

SHOTLEY PARISH

SHOTLEY parish comprises the chapelry of Blanchland, and the townships of Newbiggin and Shotley. It is bounded by the parishes of Allendale, Bywell St. Peter, Slaley and Hexham, except on the south, where it is divided from the county of Durham by the river Derwent, which here runs circuitously through a wild and picturesque vale. It contains an area of 1,246 acres, and its population in 1801, was 800; in 1811, 1,035; in 1821, 1,090; in 1831, 1,104; in 1841, 1,245; and in 1851, 1,227 souls. The greater portion of this parish called High, or West Quarter, is a lofty region of bleak and barren moorlands, where lead ore is found in abundance. The Low, or East Quarter, which is merely another name for the township of Shotley, is tolerably fertile, and contains several good coal seams. Bolbeck Common, in this parish, was enclosed in pursuance of an act obtained in 1765.

BLANCHLAND, or HIGH QUARTER, is a chapelry township and village, the property of Lord Crewe's trustees. The township contains 3,728 acres of land, and its rateable value is £735 5s. The number of inhabitants in 1801, was 366; in 1811, 518; in 1821, 412; in 1831, 454; in 1841, 476; and in 1851, 491 souls. THE VILLAGE of Blanchland is situated in a narrow, deep, green vale, on the north side of the Derwent, nine miles south by east of Hexham. Waiter de Bolbeck, in 1175, founded an abbey here in honour of the Blessed Virgin, for twelve Premonstratensian canons, with liberty to add to their number. He gave to this abbey "the lordship, demesnes, and advowson of the church of Blanchland, the appropriations and advowsons of the churches of Harelaw and Bywell, of Styford, of Shotley, of Apperley, and of the church of Heddon-on-the-Wall, dedicated to St. Andrew the tithes of the village of Wulwardhope, and twelve fishes for their table out of his fishery at Styford, in lieu of tithe-fishes." The Nevilles were also among the benefactors of this house, and King John, in the 16th year of his reign, confirmed all the donations, &c., which had been made to it. That the abbey of Blanchland had attained some importance as early as the reign of Edward I., we may judge from the fact of its abbot being summoned to parliament during the reign of that monarch. At the Dissolution its annual revenues were then valued at £44 9s. 1d. according to Speed, or £40 0s. 9d. according to Dugdale. Henry VIII. granted the abbey lands, &c., to John Bellow and John Broxholm, but they afterwards passed to the Forsters, and reverted to the Crown on the attainder of Thomas Forster, who headed the rising in favour of the "Pretender" in 1715. They were subsequently purchased by Lord Crewe, Bishop of Durham, who left them for charitable purposes. THE CHURCH, or Chapel, dedicated to St. Mary, is a portion of the ruins of the ancient abbey church, which was repaired and made into a chapel of ease, in 1752 by Lord Crewe's trustees, who also fitted up a comfortable house for the curate. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the trustees of Lord Crewe's Charity ; gross income £198. Incumbent, the Rev. Charles Thorpe, M.A.  BLANCHLAND SCHOOL is a neat structure erected in 1851, by Lord Crewe's trustees, by whom it has been endowed. The scholars pay one penny per week, for which small sum they are supplied with stationery, &c., Thomas Iley, teacher.

ACTON is a hamlet in this township, seven and a half miles south by east of Hexham. BAY BRIDGE is also a hamlet in this township, situated nine and a half miles south by east of Hexham.

POST OFFICE, BLANCHLAND, W. Taylor, postmaster. Letters arrive from Newcastle and Gateshead, via Riding Mill, at 3 p.m., and are despatched thereto at 8 a.m.

CARRIERS.-Thomas and Joseph Oliver, to Hexham, on Tuesdays.

NEWBIGGIN is a township and hamlet, the property of Lord Crewe's trustees. The area of the township is 2,056 acres, and the rateable value £441 10s. Newbiggin is presumed to have been returned with Blanchland township in 1801 and 1811. Its population in 1821 was 69; in 1831, 60; in 1841, 56; and in 1851, 68 souls. THE HAMLET of Newbiggin is pleasantly situated on the north bank of the Derwent, nine miles south by west of Hexham.

DIRECTORY. William Cowing, farmer, Embley; Rev. Samuel Payne; and Jasper Stevenson, farmer.

SHOTLEY or LOW QUARTER, is a township and village in the parish of the same name, the property of H. Silvertop, Esq., of Minster Acres, Thomas Wilson, Esq., Nicholas Burnett, Esq., Sir Charles M.L. Monck, Bart., and others. The township contains 6,676 acres, and its rateable value is £3,836. The number of inhabitants in 1801, was 434; in 1811, 517; in 1821, 609; in 1831, 590; in 1841, 714; and in 1851, 668 souls. Shotley, or Low Quarter, contains the villages and hamlets of Shotley Field, Greenhead, Unthank, Birkenside, and Alien's Ford. THE PARISH CHURCH, dedicated to St. John, was erected in 1834, about two miles south of the site of the former church, which is now in ruins, the foundations having given way in con- sequence of the working of the coal beneath. It is a handsome little edifice, situated on the north side of the road leading from Stanhope to Shotley Bridge, about two miles from this latter place. The living, a perpetual curacy in the archdeaconry of Northumberland and deanery of Newcastle, is valued in the Liber Regis at £1 15s.; gross income £139. Patrons, Lord Crewe's trustees; incumbent, the Rev. Robert Thompson, B.A. In Shotley Field is a small Baptist Chapel, erected in 1836. SHOTLEY SCHOOL was erected by subscription, in 1834, at a cost of £103 7s. It stands close to the former school-house, _which was erected in 1803, by Nicholas Hopper, Esq., and is now the residence of the teacher, Mr. Matthew Robson. The school was founded by the will of A. Young, in 17\J6, and is free to the poor children ot' Shotley, East Division. The income is derived from the interest of £100 left by the founder, an annual payment of £10 from the trustees of Lord Crewe's Charity, and other bequests and donations. SHOTLEY HALL, the residence of Thomas Wilson, Esq., is situated at the confluence of the Shotley Burn and the Derwent, about three miles S.S.E. of the church.

ALLEN'S FORD is a small hamlet in this township, on the north side of the Derwent, thirteen miles south-east of Hexham. BIRKENSIDE is also a hamlet in this township, eleven miles S.S.E. of Hexham. GREENHEAD is a small village in this township, eleven miles S.S.E. of Hexham, on the road leading to Woolsingham. A little to the north of Greenhead is Black Hedley, the ancient seat of the Hopper family. Greenhead is remarkable as being the birth-place of the celebrated John Lough, whose works have rlaced him in the foremost rank of modern sculptors. KILN PIT HILL is a hamlet consisting of a few cottages situated at the northern extremity of Shotley Low Quarter, at the intersection of the road leading from Corbridge to Alien's Ford, with that leading from Whittonstall to Slaley, about a quarter of a mile west of Shot1ey old church. In the township of Whittonstall, contiguous to this hamlet, is a coal pit which is worked by Messrs. Bell and Robinson. BACK- WARD LETCH, a little north from Kiln Pit Hill, is a cottage and about five acres of land, in the occupation of John Milburn, he having obtained posses- sion of it by marriage with the daughter of Silas Ellernton, who enclosed it from the "common land,'' in 1770. SHOTLEY FIELD is another village in Shotley township, eleven miles south-east of Hexham. UNTHANK is a hamlet in this township, the property of H. Silvertop, Esq. ; it is intersected by the road from Alien's Ford, and has a gentle declivity sloping towards the Derwent.