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Warkworth in Northumberland County England History and GeographyWARKWORTH, a parish comprising the townships of Birling, Brotherick, High Buston, Low Buston, Sturton-Grange, and Walkmill, in the eastern division of COQUETDALE ward, and the townships of Amble, Acklington, Acklington - Park, Bullock's - Hall, East Chivington, and West Chivington, Glosterhill, Hauxley, Hadston, Morrick, Togston, and Warkworth, in the eastern division of MORPETH ward, county of NORTHUMBERLAND, and containing 2265 inhabitants, of which number, 594 are in the township of Warkworth, 7 miles (S.E.) from Alnwick. The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Northumberland, and diocese of Durham, rated in the king's books at £18. 5. 7½., and in the patronage of the Bishop of Carlisle. The church, dedicated to St. Lawrence, is a handsome structure, said to have been originally founded by Ceolwulph, King of Northumbria, in 736, and rebuilt at a later period; it has a spire nearly one hundred feet high: in its south-western extremity is a monument to the memory of Sir Hugh de Morwick, a Knight Templar, who gave the common to the inhabitants. There are places of worship for Scottish Seceders and Wesleyan Methodists. The parish abounds with excellent coal, freestone, limestone, and whinstone. The village is situated a short distance westward from the sea, and is almost surrounded by the river Coquet, which is here crossed by an ancient bridge of two arches, having at the south end a tower gateway, formerly defended by an iron gate, through which the road passes: some valuable gems and pebbles are frequently found in its bed. This place consists of one main street leading from the castle to the bridge, and a short opening to the church, of good modern-built houses, and contains two very commodious inns. At the ancient cross, a market, granted by King John, was formerly held for provisions, but it has been long disused. Fairs for cattle are proclaimed on the first Thursday in May, and on the Thursdays before August 18th and November 23rd, one being held also on the last-mentioned day. Warkworth was anciently a borough, having been probably so constituted by King Ceolwulph, in the time of the Saxons. The Duke of Northumberland holds a court leet on the first Wednesday in October, at which a boroughreeve, two moorgrieves, three constables, and other officers, are annually chosen. A building, now sometimes called the 'Town Hall,' was erected, in 1736, by Mr. G. Lawson, for a school-house, and is used as such; but a more commodious one was erected by subscription in 1824, the children in which are educated on the Madras system: there are also a girls' National school, and an infants' school for both sexes. Nearly adjoining the churchyard are some remains of a small Benedictine priory, founded by Nicholas de Farnham, Bishop of Durham, who died in 1257. The venerable and magnificent ruins of Warkworth castle occupy a fine elevation, rising from the margin of the river, south of the village, the moat by which it is surrounded enclosing more than five acres: the area is of an oblong form, on the north side of which stands the keep, on a lofty mound, encompassed by a wall thirty-five feet high, both in good preservation; but of the grand entrance to this once stately fortress only a few apartments remain. It is not recorded by whom the castle was erected; the arms of the Percy family, however, appear to have been inserted in different parts of the building, at a much later period than that of its foundation. About a mile westward is an ancient hermitage, with a neat small chapel, curiously adorned, in the early style of English architecture, containing an altar and various other devotional emblems, with the representation of a recumbent female on a table monument placed in a niche near the altar, and that of a hermit standing over it, in a mournful attitude. This interesting retreat is celebrated in the beautiful poem entitled 'The Hermit of Warkworth,' published by Dr. Percy, Bishop of Dromore, in 1771. Warkworth gives the inferior title of baron to the Duke of Northumberland. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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