Dilston or Devilstone, Northumberland

Historical Description

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. Post town and money order and telegraph office, Corbridge. Acreage, 3260; population, 231. The manor belonged to the Devilstones; passed to the Tyn-dales, 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 of 1715, and gave them the title of Baron. It was then confiscated and granted to Greenwich Hospital, but in 1870 was purchased by W. B. Beaumont, Esq. 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 TynedaleStrew o'er my grave with flowers."

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Dilston or Devilstone from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Dilston)

Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Northumberland is available to browse.

Maps

Online maps of Dilston or Devilstone 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:

• Morpeth Herald
• Berwickshire News and General Advertiser
• The Berwick Advertiser
• Alnwick Mercury
• Illustrated Berwick Journal