Woodhorn Parish, 1848

WOODHORN (St. Mary), a parish, in the union, and E. division of the ward, of Morpeth, N. division of Northumberland, 8 miles (E.N.E.) from Morpeth; containing, with the chapelry of Newbiggin, and the townships of Cresswell, Ellington, Hirst, Linemouth, North Seaton, and Woodhorn-Demesne, 1,618 inhabitants, of whom 168 are in the township of Woodhorn. This place formed part of the barony of Hugh de Balliol, and subsequently belonged to the families of Valence, Denton, Widdrington, and others. The parish is nearly five miles in length from north to south, and about two miles and a half in breadth, and is bounded on the east partly by the sea; the soil is generally fertile, and the grounds about Woodhorn and Woodhorn-Demesne are esteemed the finest grazing land in the county. In the township are 1294 acres. The village, situated on a fertile plain within a mile of the sea, consists of some well-built houses and numerous cottages; the road to Morpeth branches off from it in one direction by Bothal and Pegsworth, and in another by Longhirst, forming two lines of streets, of which the latter is much the longer. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £21. 15. 7½.; net income, £650; patron, the Bishop of Durham. The rectory was granted to the priory of Tynemouth, and is now the property of the Mercers' Company, London, and the incumbent of Hampstead. The church is a very ancient structure in the Norman style, consisting of a nave, aisles, and chancel, and a tower, on the outside wall of which are the armorial-bearings of the Widdringtons and Ogles, with a male figure in the attitude of prayer. There is a chapel of ease at Newbiggin, and at Cresswell is a separate incumbency. Viscountess Bulkeley in 1826 bequeathed £500, afterwards invested in the purchase of £642 three per cent, consols., of which the dividends are distributed among the poor at Christmas.