Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for WARKWORTH

WARKWORTH, a village, a township, and a sub-district, in Alnwick district, and a parish partly also in Morpeth district, Northumberland. The village stands on the river Coquet, 1¼ mile from the river's month, 1¼ mile E of the Northeastern railway, and 7 SE by S of Alnwick; is a borough by prescription, governed by a portreeve; gives the title of Baron to the Duke of Northumberland; comprises three streets; and has a post-office under Acklington, a r. station, an inn, an old three-arched bridge, an old market-cross, an ancient castle, a church, a U. Presbyterian chapel, a bar-harbour, with a fixed pier light, a small weekly market on Saturday, and a fair on the Thursday after 23 Nov. The castle was built in the 12th century, by a Fitz-Richard, but then left unfinished; underwent, in course of time, many changes of form and proprietorship; was greatly enlarged in 1400-7 and in 1435-40, by the Percys; sustained a siege, in 1405, by Henry IV.; figures in Shakespear's drama of Henry IV.; belongs now to the Duke of Northumberland; was partly restored in 1846, and promised for a time to compete with Alnwick castle for complete restoration as the ducal residence; occupies a triangular area of 5 acres; and presents an imposing appearance of lofty walls, towers, turrets, and great keep, but is mainly ruinous. The church is partly Norman, was recently restored, and has a tower and spire. A Benedictine priory, a cell to Durham, stood near the church, and was founded in 1256 by Bishop Barnham. An ancient hermitage, "deep hewn within a craggy cliff," is on the river's banks about a mile above the castle; appears to be of the time of Edward II.; measures 18 feet by 7, exclusive of a sacristy 13 feet by 5; and is celebrated in Bishop Percy's well-known ballad of the "Hermit of Warkworth."-The township comprises 1,078 acres of land, and 2,560 of water. Pop. in 1851, 834; in 1861, 730. Houses, 114.—The sub-district contains 14 townships of W. parish, and 13 of other parishes. Acres, 31,864. Pop. in 1851, 7,413; in 1861, 7,631. Houses, 1,493.-The parish, besides its 14 townships of W. sub-district, contains 4 townships in Morpeth district; and comprises 19,365 acres. Real property, £21,539; of which £18 are in quarries, £2,610 in mines, £240 in fisheries, and £10 in gasworks. Pop. in 1851, 4,439; in 1861, 5,087. Houses, 960. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Durham. Value, £528.* Patron, the Bishop of Carlisle. The p. curacies of Acklington and Chevington are separate benefices. Independent and Roman Catholic chapels are in Amble; and a Methodist chapel is at Radcliffe colliery.


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

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village, a township, and a sub-district"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Warkworth AP/CP       Morpeth RegD/PLU       Northumberland AncC
Place: Warkworth

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