Ford, Northumberland

Historical Description

Ford, a village, a township, and a parish in Northumberland. The village stands on the river Till, 6½ miles ESE of Cornhill railway station, and 7¼ NNW of Wooler; was once a market-town, consists of neat modern cottages in one irregular street, and commands a fine view along the valley of the Till. It has a post office under Cornhill (R.S.O.); money order and telegraph office, Crookham. The parish comprises Berryhill, Crookham, Etal, Kimmerston and New Etal. Acreage, 11,727, including 106 of water; population, 1435. The manor belonged anciently to the Fords, passed to the Herons, the Blakes, and the Delavals, and belongs now to the Marquis of Waterford. Ford Castle stands on the west side of the village, was built in 1287 by Sir William Heron, rebuilt in 1764 by Lord Delaval, and restored in 1861-63 by the late Marchioness of Waterford. It retains two towers of the original edifice, was a place of strength and a scene of conflict in the Border warfare, and was taken by James IV. of Scotland before the battle of Flodden. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Newcastle; net yearly value, £93,') with residence. Patron, the Marquis of Waterford. The church is ancient, was restored in 1852, and the tower thoroughly repaired in 1884, and has several memorial windows and a fine reredos erected to the memory of the late Lady Waterford, who died in 1891, and was buried in Ford churchyard. There is a reading-room and a lending library.

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 Ford from the following:

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

Land and Property

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

Maps

Online maps of Ford 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