Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for HALTWHISTLE

HALTWHISTLE, a town, a township, a parish, a subdistrict, and a district, in Northumberland. The town lies on the South Tyne river, at the influx of Haltwhistle burn, and on the Carlisle and Newcastle railway, at the junction of the Alston branch, 1½ mile S of the Roman wall, 5½ E of the boundary with Cumberland, and 16½ W of Hexham. It consists chiefly of good modern houses; but contains a number of old ones, which retain traces of fortification. The Castle hill at it is a mound of earth, partly artificial; appears to have, at some early period, been fortified; and is encompassed, on all sides, except the south, by a breast work four feet high. A fine old peel stands near the Castle hill; and is said to have been a manor house. Another peel, of much strength, formerly stood on the west side of the bridge, and defended the entrance to the town. An edifice, in the Italian style, with magistrates' rooms, and with a public hall for lectares and meetings, in connexion with a mechanics' institute, was built in 1862. The church is early English; has three elegant lancet windows in its east end; and contains trefoiled sedilia, a curious gravestone of one of the Blenkinsops, and a remarkable altar tomb of the brother-in-law of Bishop Ridley. There are chapels for Presbyterians, Wesleyans, and Primitive Methodists, an endowed school with £32, other charities with £5, and a workhouse. The town has a post office‡ under Carlisle, a railway station with telegraph, and good inns; and is a seat of county courts, and a polling place. A weekly market is held on Thursday; and fairs on 12 May, 17 Sept., and 10 Nov. The manufacture of baize and woollens, and the making of drain pipes and large bricks, are carried on. The township comprises 2, 759 acres. Pop. in 1851, 420; in 186, , 749. Houses, 336. The parish contains also the townships of Hartleyburn, Coanwood, Featherstone, Plainmellor, Bellister, Ridley, Melkridge, Henshaw, Therngrafton, Blenkinsopp, Thirlwall, and Walltown. Acres, 5, 229. Real property, £36, 639; of which £, 685 are in mines, £100 in quarries, and £90 in gas works. Pop. in 1851, , 379; in 1861, , 200. Houses, 1, 014. The property is much subdivided. The manor came recently into the possession of the Adamsons. The land is good, and the scenery fine, along the South Tyne; but the surface elsewhere is upland, bleak, and barren, and abounds with peat mosses. Haltwhistle burn issues from Greenlee Loch; runs about 7 miles southward to the Tyne; and is sometimes swelled by great freshets. Coal and lime are worked. Portions of the Roman wall exist in the northern townships; the well preserved and very interesting Roman station of Housesteads or Borcovicus is in the north-east; and several castles and other remains of the feudal times are in other parts. The living is a vicarage, with Greenhead chapelry, in the dio. of Durham. Value, £593.* Patron, the Bishop of Manchester. The p. curacies of Beltingham and Featherstone are separate.—The sub-district and the district are coextensive, and contain the parishes of Haltwhistle, Whitfield, Kirkhaugh, Knaresdale, and Lambley. Acres, 8, 861. Poor rates in 1863, £, 378. Pop. in 1851, 286; in 186, 6, 693. Houses, 1, 294. Marriages in 186, 51; births, 218, -of which 27 were illegitimate; deaths, 136, -of which 41 were at ages under 5 years, and 2 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 243; births, 2, 266; deaths, 1, 174. The places of worship, in 1851, were 8 of the Church of England, with 1, 532 sittings; 2 of the Presbyterian church in England, with 104 s.; 1 of Quakers, with 100 s.; 10 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 861 s.; 5 of Primitive Methodists, with 401 s.; and 1 of mixed character, with 160 s. The schools were 14 public dayschools, with 546 scholars; 10 private day schools, with 239 s., and 10 Sunday schools with 655 s.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a township, a parish, a subdistrict, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Haltwhistle AP/CP       Haltwhistle SubD       Haltwhistle RegD/PLU       Northumberland AncC
Place: Haltwhistle

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