Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for DILSTON, or Devilstone

DILSTON, or Devilstone, a township in Corbridge parish, Northumberland; on Devil's water, at its confluence with the Tyne, adjacent to the Newcastle and Carlisle railway, 2½ miles E by S of Hexham. Acres, 2, 904. Pop., 241. Houses, 43. The manor belonged to the Devilstones; passed to the Tyndales, of whom was William Tyndale, the translator of the Bible; passed again to the Claxtons; went, by marriage, in the time of Henry VIII., to Sir Edward Ratcliffe, the ancestor of the Earls of Derwentwater; continued in the possession of these earls till the attainder of the last of them for his participation in the rebellion; and gave them the title of baron. The ancient manorial tower still exists; while a comparatively modern mansion of the Ratcliffes has gone to ruin, excepting a chapel attached to it, which is kept in repair and contains the Ratcliffe burial vault. The unfortunate last Earl of Derwentwater was buried here; and he is represented as saying, -

Though in London I must die,
Oh carry me to Northumberland,
In my father's grave to lie;
There chant my-solemn requiem,
In Hexham's holy towers,
And let six maids of fair Tynedale
Strew o'er my grave with flowers.


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

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a township"   (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 4th order divisions")
Administrative units: Corbridge AP/CP       Dilston CP/Tn       Northumberland AncC
Place names: DEVILSTONE     |     DILSTON     |     DILSTON OR DEVILSTONE
Place: Dilston

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