Wooler, Northumberland

Historical Description

Wooler, a small town, a township, and a parish in Northumberland. The town stands on a branch of the river Till, under the Cheviots, with a station on a branch of the N.E.R., 18 miles from Alnwick, and 330 from London. It was anciently called Willover, was given by Henry I. to R. de Muscamp, passed to the Scropes, the D'Arcys, the Percys, the Greys, and the Earl of Tankerville; was much injured by fire in 1722 and again in 1863. It is a seat of petty sessions and county courts, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office (R.S.O.), two banks, two good hotels, a mechanics' institute with library and reading-rooms, built in 1889, a church, three English Presbyterian churches, a Primitive Methodist chapel, a Roman Catholic church, and the Glendale Union Workhouse. Acreage of township, 3176; population, 1301; of ecclesiastical parish, 1517. There is a parish council consisting of nine members. The parish includes Earle and Humbleton townships, and several hamlets. The Earl of Tankerville is lord of the manor. Traces of an old castle of the Muscamps are on a round hill. Many ancient entrenchments are in the vicinity. Humbledon Heugh, connected with the battle of Humbledon or Homildon, and about a mile NW of the town, is the most remarkable of the entrenchments, and a pillar, commemorative of Earl Percy's victory, is in the plain beneath. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Newcastle-on-Tyne; net value, £418 with residence. Patron, the Bishop. The church was rebuilt in 1765 and enlarged in 1835, and consists of nave and western tower. The Roman Catholic church is a fine building in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, and tower.

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 Wooler from the following:

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

Land and Property

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

Maps

Online maps of Wooler 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