Thockrington Parish, 1848

THOCKRINGTON, a parish, in the union of Bellingham, N.E. division of Tindale ward, S. division of Northumberland; containing, with the townships of Little Bavington, Cary-Coats, and Sweethope, 193 inhabitants, of whom 42 are in Thockrington township, 10½ miles (N. by E.) from Hexham. This parish, which is bounded on the west by the Roman Watling-street, comprises 6,814 acres, and in its more elevated parts commands extensive views over a well cultivated country. Here are some quarries, the produce of which is used for building, and for making lime; a very excellent coalmine is in operation, and in the parish is also a rich lead-mine, but not at present worked. The small hamlet which is the head of the parish is said to have been once a good village containing numerous farmers. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Rev. Sir Robert Affleck (the impropriator), with a net income of £48: the glebe is situated near East Woodburn, upon the banks of the Rede, and consists of 155 acres. The church is a very ancient edifice, standing on a lofty eminence. There is a place of worship for Primitive Methodists. A stone about 5½ feet long, and neatly chiselled at one end, supposed to have been used by the Romans, was found on the Watling-street here, two feet below the surface, by some workmen, in 1839. About 100 yards to the south of the spot, Mr. Forster, M. P., met about twenty gentlemen on the 6th of October, 1715, and after leading them to some rising ground adjacent, and being joined by the Earl of Derwentwater with his servants and attendants all mounted and well armed, harangued them on the advantages of raising Prince James Stuart to the throne. W. G. Shafto, Esq., the proprietor of the Cary-Coats estate, has caused the stone discovered on the Watling-street to be set up in the place where Mr. Forster addressed his followers.