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Wooler in Northumberland County England History and GeographyWOOLER, a market town and parish in the eastern division of GLENDALE ward, county of NORTHUMBERLAND, 46 miles (N.N.W.) from Newcastle upon Tyne, and 318 (N.N.W.) from London, containing 1830 inhabitants. This place occupies the eastern declivity of the Cheviot hills, and near it is the village of Humbledon, celebrated for the memorable victory gained by Percy, Earl of Northumberland, in the reign of Henry IV., over a Scottish army of ten thousand men, under the command of Earl Douglas: the engagement took place on a plain within a mile north-west of the town, where a stone pillar has been crected, commemorative of the event. A great part of the town was destroyed by fire in 1722, since which period it has not made any considerable advances towards improvement. It consists of several streets diverging from the market-place, which is in the centre, and is indifferently paved, and supplied with water from a fountain erected at the public expense: a good trout stream flows through the lower part of it, and falls into the river Till: the houses are mostly old, and the general appearance of the place is unfavourable. The situation, though mountainous, is extremely salubrious, the town having formerly been much resorted to by invalids, who have ceased to frequent it, probably, from a want of accommodation. A public subscription library is well supported; and a mechanics institute was established in 1827. The market is on Thursday; and fairs are held on the 4th of May and the 27th of October, for horses, cattle, and sheep; and on the Tuesday in Whitsun-week a general fair is held on a hill at a short distance from the town, which, from that circumstance, is called Whitsun Bank fair. The lord of the manor holds a court leet and baron annually, within three weeks after Easter, at which constables and other officers for the ensuing year are appointed. The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Northumberland, and diocese of Durham, rated in the king's books at £5. 8. 1½., and in the patronage of the Bishop of Durham. The church, rebuilt in 1765, on the site of the ancient structure, which was destroyed by fire, is dedicated to St. Mary; it is a neat and appropriate edifice, and occupies an eminence commanding an extensive and richly-varied prospect. There are places of worship for Baptists, Burghers, and Presbyterians, also a Scotch Relief Church and a Roman Catholic chapel. The free grammar school, founded and endowed by the Earl of Tankerville, for six boys of the town, has received an additional endowment, for three more, from the Bishop of Durham, in compensation for a lapsed gift of £100, bequeathed for that purpose by Mrs. Chisholme. There are also Sunday schools in connexion with the established church and the several dissenting congregations. A dispensary has been established here, but it is not well supported, and is consequently on the decline. On a circular mount, near the town, are the remains of an ancient tower, apparently of Norman origin. There are many intrenchments in the vicinity, of which the most remarkable is 'Humbledon Hugh,' about a mile north-west of the town; it is circular in form, with a large cairn on the summit; the sides of the hill are formed into terraces, about twenty feet broad, of which there are three successive tiers, which, being filled with soldiers, presented a formidable resistance to any assailing force: in the plain beneath is the pillar commemorating the victory of Earl Percy. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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