Widdrington, Northumberland
Historical Description
Widdrington, a village, a township, and an ecclesiastical parish in Northumberland, and a station on the N.E.R., 7½ miles NE by N of Morpeth. The township contains Druridge and Linton hamlets, has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Acklington, and a railway station, and gave the title of Baron in the time of Charles I. to the Widdringtons. Acreage, 3899 of land and 245 of foreshore; population, 947; of the ecclesiastical parish, 1006. There is a parish council consisting of eight members. The manor belonged from the time of Henry II. till 1715 to the Widdringtons, passed through the Warrens to Lord Vernon, and is now the property of the Taylor family. After Lord Widdrington's attainder in 1715 the castle fell into decay, and was destroyed in the latter part of the 18th century by Sir G. Warren. The castle built by him on its site was burnt down in 1780. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Newcastle-on-Tyne; net value, £176. The church was built in the llth or 12th century, and restored and enlarged in 1874. There are United Presbyterian and Primitive Methodist chapels, and a colliery at West Moor.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Northumberland | |
Poor Law union | Morpeth | |
Ward | Morpeth |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Widdrington from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Widdrington)
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Northumberland is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Widdrington are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following newspapers related to Northumberland online: