Widdrington, 1855

WIDDRINGTON PAROCHIAL CHAPELRY

WIDDRINGTON is a parochial chapelry situated between the parishes of Woodhorn and Warkworth, having the sea for its eastern and Ulgham chapelry for its western boundary. It comprises the three small villages of Widdrington, Dunridge, and Linton, whose united area is 4,530 acres, and rateable value £4,156 17s. The population in 1801, was 446; in 1811, 370; in 1821, 388; in 1831, 395; in 1841, 447; and in 1851, 429 souls. It possesses a rich, strong, clayey soil, suitable both for pasturage and tillage, and Lord Vernon is the proprietor of the whole chapelry, with the exception of the Constablewick of Linton, which is the property of Mrs. Askew. Widdrington was formerly included in the parish of Woodhorn, but, in 1768, it was admitted to the enjoyment of separate and distinct parochial privileges. This manor was formerly the property of a family which bore the local name, Gerard de Widdrington possessing it in the reign of Edward III.; and we find various members of this family stand conspicuous in the list of sheriffs of the county. Sir William Widdrington, a most zealous royalist, was created Lord Widdrington by Charles I. in 1643, and was subsequently slain at Wigan, in 1651. William, the third Lord Widdrington, having taken part with the Earl of Derwentwater, suffered attainder in 1715, when his real and personal estate, amounting to £100,000, was sold for public use, the purchaser being Sir George Revel, from whom it descended by heiresses to Viscount Bulkeley, and subsequently to the present proprietors.

THE VILLAGE of Widdrington is pleasantly situated on an eminence eight and a half miles N. N. E. of Morpeth. THE CHURCH is an ancient structure, consisting at present of a nave and chancel, though it appears to have been much larger at one period. The living, a perpetual curacy in the archdeaconry of Lindisfarne and deanery of Morpeth, is returned at £56, gross income £71. Patron, Lord Vernon; incumbent, the Rev. R. Errington. The register commences in 1698. Here is a Presbyterian Chapel in communion with the Church of Scotland. There is also a school with a house and garden for the master. The old castle of Widdrington was destroyed by fire about eighty years ago; and upon its site another edifice called the Castle, has been erected. Here is a station on the Newcastle and Berwick Railway.

HIGH AND LOW CHIBBURN are two farmsteads in this chapelry, distant about half a mile from each other, and three quarters of a mile north-east of Widdrington. DUNRIDGE is a small village on the sea coast one mile east of Widdrington. LINTON is a constablewick and hamlet, on the river Line, two and a half miles south of Widdrington.

CHARITY. - Sir George Warren left a rent charge of £2 per annum to be appropriated to the repairs of the chapel.

POST OFFICE, WIDDRINGTON, Matthew Bell, Postmaster. Letters arrive from Morpeth, at 1.30 p.m., and are despatched thereto at 2 p.m.