Historic Bellingham
Find out more about the history of Bellingham by clicking the buttons below.
Locations of interest are shown on the map below the list.
There is a walk around the village that takes in all of the historic sites. Details can be found on our Walks page.
Chinese Gingall
Boer War Memorial
Bellingham Town Hall
St Cuthbert's Church
The Lang Pack
Cuddy's Well
Bellingham Railway Station
Bellingham Foundry
Workhouse & Old Mortuary
St Oswald's Church and The Irishman's Graveyard
Bellingham Bridge
Bellingham Castle
Joe's Corner
Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for BELLINGHAM (1870-72)
BELLINGHAM, a town, a township, a parish, a subdistrict, and a district in Northumberland. The town stands on the left bank of the North Tyne, at the mouth of Hareshaw burn, adjacent to the Border Counties railway, 16 miles NNW of Hexham. It has a station on the railway, a post office under Hexham, a town hall, a church, a U. Presbyterian chapel, a R. Catholic chapel, and three public schools; is of small extent, but of local importance; a seat of county courts, and a polling-place; and has had much recent change in connexion with iron-works and the railway. Markets are held on Saturdays; and fairs on the Wednesday before Good Friday, and on certain Saturdays of May, July, Aug., Sept., Oct., and Nov. The church is of the 13th century; was recently restored; and has a finely groined stone roof. A fall of 30 feet, on the Hareshaw burn, is in the neighbourhood.-Pop. of the township, 860. Houses, 172.—The parish includes also the townships of Charlton-East Quarter, Charlton-West Quarter, Tarretburn, Nook, and Leemailing. Acres, 20,211. Real property, £5,952. Pop., 1,662. Houses, 335. The property is subdivided. The manor belonged, in the time of Richard II. and Henry IV., to the De Bellinghams; passed to the Earls of Derwentwater; went to Greenwich Hospital; and was sold to the Duke of Northumberland. The royalties were leased, in 1864, to Sir W. Armstrong, for working ore. Hesleyside, the seat of the Charlton family since the time of Edward VI., stands on a rising ground, on the right bank of the Tyne, 1¾ mile above the town. The present mansion was built about the middle of last century; and occupies the site of a previous one of elaborate character, destroyed by fire. Much of the parish is moor and sheep-walk; and many parts of it have cairns, tumuli, and Druidical stones. Game is plentiful; and coal, ironstone, and limestone are worked. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Durham. Value, £200. Patron, Greenwich Hospital.
The subdistrict comprises the parishes of Greystead, Falstone, and Thorneyburn, the townships of Bellingham, Charlton-E. Q., Charlton-W. Q., and Tarretburn in Bellingham parish, the townships of Rochester, Otterburn, and Troughend in Elsdon parish, and the extra parochial tract of Ramshope. Pop., 4,247. Houses, 716. The district includes also the subdistrict of Kirkwhelpington, containing the parishes of Corsenside, Wark, Thockrington, and Kirkharle, the parochial chapelry of Birtley, and parts of the parishes of Kirkwhelpington and Bellingham. Acres, 235,861. Poor-rates in 1866, £4,326. Pop. in 1861, 7,080. Houses, 1,308. Marriages in 1866, 42; births, 239,-of which 29 were illegitimate; deaths, 126,-of which 37 were at ages under 5 years, and 8 at ages above 85 years. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60,263; births, 1,737; deaths, 969. The places of worship in 1851 were 12 of the Church of England, with 2,248 sittings; 2 of the United Presbyterian church, with 680 s.; 5 of the Presbyterian church in England, with 1,444 s.; 1 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 123 s.; 1 of Primitive Methodists, with 200 s.; and 1 of Roman Catholics, with 54 attendants. The schools were 15 public day schools, with 672 scholars; 8 private day schools, with 195 s.; and 15 Sunday schools, with 554 s. The workhouse is in Bellingham township.
(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))
You can learn more about the history of the North Tyne & Redesdale area by visiting the Bellingham Heritage Centre in Station Yard.
