Hexham (pronounced /ˈhɛksəm/ HEKS-əm) is a market town Market town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city. A town may be correctly described as a "market town" or as having "market rights", even if it no longer holds a market, provided the legal in Northumberland As the kingdom of Northumbria under King Edwin, the region's historical boundaries stretched from the Humber in the south to the Forth in the north. The historic boundaries of the county cover a different area, including Newcastle upon Tyne, the traditional county town, as well as Tynemouth and other settlements in North Tyneside, areas, England The area now called England has been settled by people of various cultures for about 35,000 years, but it takes its name from the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in AD 927, and since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century, has had a significant, located south of the River Tyne The River Tyne is a river in northeast England in central Great Britain. It is formed by the confluence of two rivers: the North Tyne and the South Tyne. These two rivers converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Waters', and was the administrative centre for the Tynedale district in Northumberland from 1974–2009. The three major towns in Tynedale were Hexham along with Prudhoe Prudhoe is a small town just south of the River Tyne, in the southern part of the county of Northumberland, England. Prudhoe has a population of over 11,500. The town is sited on a steep, north-facing hill in the Tyne valley and nearby settlements include Ovingham, Ovington, Wylam, Stocksfield, Crawcrook (in Tyne and Wear), Hedley on the Hill, and and Haltwhistle Haltwhistle is a small town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, situated 10 miles east of Brampton, near Hadrian's Wall, and the villages of Plenmeller, Rowfoot and Melkridge. The name of Haltwhistle has nothing to do with a railway stop, but is literally Hal-twysel, meaning "a meeting of the streams by the hill". Twizell is a, although in terms of population, Prudhoe was the largest. In 2001 Hexham had a population A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define the population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals from other areas. Normally breeding is substantially more of 11,139.

There are many smaller towns and villages that surround Hexham, such as Corbridge, Riding Mill, Stocksfield, Wylam to the east, Acomb and Bellingham to the north, Allendale to the south and Haydon Bridge Haydon Bridge is a village in Northumberland, England, with a population of about 2000. Its most distinctive features are the two bridges crossing the River South Tyne; the picturesque original bridge for which the village was named and a modern bridge which used to carry the A69 road. A bypass was completed in 2009 and the A69 now bypasses the, Bardon Mill and Haltwhistle Haltwhistle is a small town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, situated 10 miles east of Brampton, near Hadrian's Wall, and the villages of Plenmeller, Rowfoot and Melkridge. The name of Haltwhistle has nothing to do with a railway stop, but is literally Hal-twysel, meaning "a meeting of the streams by the hill". Twizell is a to the west. The closest major city to Hexham is Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne (locally pronounced /njuːˈkæsəl/ ) (often shortened to Newcastle) is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Situated on the north bank of the River Tyne, the city developed in the area that was the location of the Roman settlement called Pons Aelius, though it owes its name to the castle which is about 25 miles (40 km) to the east.

Contents

History

Hexham Abbey originated as a monastery Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer (e.g. an oratory) as well as the domestic quarters and workplace(s) of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone (hermits) founded by Saint Wilfrid Wilfrid (c. 633 – c. 709) was an English bishop and saint. Born a Northumbrian noble, he entered the religious life as a teenager and studied at Lindisfarne, at Canterbury, in Gaul, and at Rome; he returned to Northumbria in about 660, and became the abbot of a newly founded monastery at Ripon. In 664 Wilfrid acted as spokesman for the Roman & in 674. The crypt In architecture, a crypt is a stone chamber or vault beneath the floor of a church usually used as a chapel or burial vault possibly containing sarcophagi, coffins or relics of the original monastery survives, and incorporates many stones taken from nearby Roman ruins Ruins are the remains of human-made architecture: structures that were once complete, as time went by, have fallen into a state of partial or complete disrepair, due to lack of maintenance or deliberate acts of destruction. Natural disaster, war and depopulation are the most common root causes, with many structures becoming progressively derelict, probably Coria or Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall is a stone and timber fortification built by the Roman Empire across the width of what is now northern England. Begun in AD 122, during the rule of emperor Hadrian, it was the first of two fortifications built across Great Britain, the second being the Antonine Wall in what is now Scotland. Hadrian's Wall is the better known of the. The current Hexham Abbey Hexham Abbey is a place of Christian worship dedicated to St Andrew and located in the town of Hexham, Northumberland, in northeast England. Since the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1537, the Abbey has been the parish church of Hexham dates largely from the 11th century onward, but was significantly rebuilt in the 19th century. Other notable buildings in the town include the Moot Hall In Anglo-Saxon England, a low ring-shaped earthwork served as a Moot hill or moot mound, where the elders of the hundred would meet to decide on issues. Some of these acquired permanent buildings, known as moot halls. However, most moot halls are on new sites within later settlements, the covered market, and the Old Gaol.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The annals were initially created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great. Multiple manuscript copies were made and distributed to monasteries across England and were independently updated. In (Manuscript D: Cotton Tiberius B IV) records the murder of King Ælfwald by Sicga at Scythlecester (which may be modern Chesters Cilurnum or Cilurvum was a fort on Hadrian's Wall mentioned in the Notitia Dignitatum. It is now identified with the fort found at Chesters near the village of Walwick, Northumberland, England. It was built in 123 AD, just after the wall's completion) on 23 September 788:

This year Alfwald, king of the Northumbrians, was slain by Siga, on the ninth[1] day before the calends of October; and a heavenly light was often seen on the spot where he was slain. He was buried at Hexham in the church.[2] Her wæs Alfwald Norðhymbra cyning ofslægen fram Sigan on .viiii. Kalendas Octobris, 7 heofonlic leoht wæs lome gesewen þær þær he ofslægen wæs, 7 he wæs bebyrged on Hagustaldesee innan þære cyrican.

The name of Hexham derives from the Old English Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and south-eastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century. What survives through writing represents primarily the literary register of Anglo-Saxon Hagustaldes ea and later Hagustaldes ham whence the modern form (with the "-ham" element) derives. Hagustald is related to the Old High German The term Old High German refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. Coherent written texts do not appear until the second half of the 8th century, and some treat the period before 750 as 'prehistoric' and date the start of Old High German proper to 750 for this reason. There hagustalt, denoting a younger son who takes land outside the settlement; the element ea means "stream" or "river" and ham is the Old English form of the Modern English "home" (and the Scots and Northern English "hame").[3][4]

Like many towns in the North of England, Hexham suffered from the border wars with the Scots, including attacks from William Wallace Sir William Wallace was a Scottish knight and landowner who is known for leading a resistance during the Wars of Scottish Independence and is today remembered in Scotland as a patriot and national hero who burnt the town in 1297. In 1312, Robert the Bruce Robert I usually known in modern English as Robert the Bruce (Medieval Gaelic: Roibert a Briuis; modern Scottish Gaelic: Raibeart Bruis; Norman French: Robert de Brus or Robert de Bruys) was King of the Scots from 1306 until his death in 1329, King of Scotland, demanded and received £2000 from the town and monastery in order for them to be spared a similar fate.

In 1464 during the Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic civil wars for the throne of England, fought between supporters of two rival branches of the Royal House of Plantagenet: the houses of Lancaster and York . They are generally accepted to have been fought in several spasmodic episodes between 1455 and 1485, although there was related fighting both, the Battle of Hexham was fought somewhere to the south of the town; the actual site is disputed. The defeated Lancastrian commander Duke of Somerset The Duke of Somerset is a title in the peerage of England that has been created several times. Derived from Somerset, it is particularly associated with two families; the Beauforts who held the title from the creation of 1448 and the Seymours, from the creation of 1547 and in whose name the title is still held was executed in Hexham market place. There is a legend that Queen Margaret of Anjou took refuge after the battle in what is known as The Queen's Cave where she was accosted by a robber; the legend formed the basis for an 18th century play by George Colman the Younger George Colman , known as "the Younger", English dramatist and miscellaneous writer, was the son of George Colman "the Elder"; but it has been established that Queen Margaret had fled to France by the time the battle took place.

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Hexham. Photo credit: Peter Brooks

Until 1572, Hexham was the administrative centre of the former Liberty or Peculiar of Hexhamshire.

In 1715 James Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Derwentwater, raised the standard for James Francis Edward Stuart Prince James, Prince of Wales was the son of the deposed James II of England (James VII of Scotland). As such, he claimed the English, Scottish and Irish thrones (as James III of England and Ireland and James VIII of Scotland) from the death of his father in 1701, when he was proclaimed king of England, Scotland and Ireland by his cousin Louis XIV in Hexham Market place. The rising, however, was unsuccessful, and Derwentwater was captured and beheaded after the Battle of Preston.

In 1761, the Hexham Riot[5] took place in the Market Place when a crowd protesting about changes in the criteria for serving in the militia was fired upon by troops from North Yorkshire Militia. Fifty-one protesters were killed, earning the Militia the soubriquet of The Hexham Butchers.

Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Hexham was a centre of the leather trade, particularly renowned for making gloves known as Hexham Tans - now the name of a vegetarian restaurant in the town.

Notable buildings

Hexham is dominated by Hexham Abbey Hexham Abbey is a place of Christian worship dedicated to St Andrew and located in the town of Hexham, Northumberland, in northeast England. Since the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1537, the Abbey has been the parish church of Hexham. The current church largely dates from c.1170–1250, in the Early English Gothic style of architecture A wider definition may comprise all design activity, from the macro-level to the micro-level (construction details and furniture). Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and constructing form, space and ambience that reflect functional, technical, social, and aesthetic considerations. It requires the creative. The choir, north and south transepts and the cloisters, where canons studied and meditated, date from this period. The east end was rebuilt in 1860.

The Abbey stands at the west end of the market place, which is home to the Shambles a Grade II* covered market built in 1766 by Sir Walter Blackett.

East end of Hexham Abbey

At the east end of the market place stands the Moot Hall, a c15 gatehouse that was part of the defences of the town. The Moot Hall is a Grade I listed building, and was used as a courthouse until 1838. The Moot Hall now houses the Council offices of the Museums Department, though not open to the public any relevant enquiries can be made on the first floor. The ground floor is an art gallery open to hire.

The Old Gaol, behind the Moot Hall on Hallgates, was one of the first purpose built jails in England. It was built between 1330-3 and is a Grade I listed Scheduled Monument. It was ordered to be built by the Archbishop of York. The building is now home to the Old Gaol museum which informs the visitor about the how the prisoners were kept at this time and how they were punished. There is also information concerning the local families of time, such as the Charlton and Fenwick families who still have descendants living in the area. There are many different displays in the museum of interest to the whole family. The museum also contains the Border History Library, where people are free to visit to research their family history.

Governance

Hexham is in the parliamentary The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members, who are known as "Members of Parliament" (MPs). Members are elected constituency of Hexham.

Local media

Beaumont Street in Hexham with the Courant Offices

The Hexham Courant is the local newspaper, serving Hexham and Tynedale since 1864. It was first launched by J. Catherall & Co., and at that time espoused the Liberal cause. It later absorbed the Conservative-supporting Hexham Herald. In 1977, CN Group The company formerly owned the Touch Radio Network stations in the Midlands outright until selling them to Quidem in June 2009. The exception to this was the Banbury arm of Touch, which was sold separately to a private consortium and rebranded as Banbury Sound in 2009. They also had a shareholding in Carlisle-based CFM Radio, holding a further had taken over the business and has since continued to grow.

From within the Hexham Courant office a webcam over-looking Hexham Abbey can be viewed on the following website: Hexham Courant Hexham also has a town webportal called HexhamNet HexhamNet. It was first launched in October 2003 and continues to attract web visitors from all over the world. It is managed by the Hexham Courant on behalf of the Hexham Community Partnership. The website is part of the North East Regional Webportal project whereby most of the market towns in the North East of England were to have a virtual gateway for attracting both local and external visitors to the website.

Transport

Road

Hexham is bypassed A bypass is a road or highway that avoids or "bypasses" a built-up area, town, or village, to let through traffic flow without interference from local traffic, to reduce congestion in the built-up area, and to improve road safety to the north by the A69 road, linking it to Newcastle Newcastle upon Tyne (locally pronounced /njuːˈkæsəl/ ) (often shortened to Newcastle) is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Situated on the north bank of the River Tyne, the city developed in the area that was the location of the Roman settlement called Pons Aelius, though it owes its name to the castle and Carlisle. It is also linked to Newcastle Newcastle upon Tyne (locally pronounced /njuːˈkæsəl/ ) (often shortened to Newcastle) is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Situated on the north bank of the River Tyne, the city developed in the area that was the location of the Roman settlement called Pons Aelius, though it owes its name to the castle and the A1 The A1 is the longest numbered road in the UK at 409 miles . It connects London, the capital of England and the United Kingdom, with Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It passes through and near Hatfield, Stevenage, Letchworth, Peterborough, Leeds, York, Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne and Berwick-upon-Tweed by the A695. There are frequent bus services to Newcastle; regular services to Carlisle; and infrequent services to other places e.g. Alston and Bellingham.

Rail

Hexham railway station

The town is served by Hexham railway station on the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway, also known as the Tyne Valley Line. The line was opened in 1838, and links the city of Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne (locally pronounced /njuːˈkæsəl/ ) (often shortened to Newcastle) is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Situated on the north bank of the River Tyne, the city developed in the area that was the location of the Roman settlement called Pons Aelius, though it owes its name to the castle in Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear is a metropolitan county in North East England around the mouths of the Rivers Tyne and Wear. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. It consists of the five metropolitan boroughs of South Tyneside, North Tyneside, City of Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead and the City with Carlisle in Cumbria Cumbria, the third largest ceremonial county in England, by area, is bounded to the west by the Irish Sea, to the south by Lancashire, to the southeast by North Yorkshire, and to the east by County Durham and Northumberland. Scotland lies directly to the north. The line follows the course of the River Tyne The River Tyne is a river in northeast England in central Great Britain. It is formed by the confluence of two rivers: the North Tyne and the South Tyne. These two rivers converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Waters' through Northumberland As the kingdom of Northumbria under King Edwin, the region's historical boundaries stretched from the Humber in the south to the Forth in the north. The historic boundaries of the county cover a different area, including Newcastle upon Tyne, the traditional county town, as well as Tynemouth and other settlements in North Tyneside, areas.

Passenger services on the Tyne Valley Line are operated by Northern Rail and First ScotRail ScotRail Railways Ltd is the FirstGroup train operating company running domestic passenger trains within Scotland and the cross-border Caledonian Sleeper service to London using the brand Scotrail which is the property of the Scottish Government . The service was initially operated as First ScotRail but was rebranded ScotRail: Scotland's Railway. The line is also heavily used for freight Cargo is goods or produce transported, generally for commercial gain, by ship, aircraft, train, van or truck. In modern times, containers are used in most intermodal long-haul cargo transport.

The station forms part of Hexham Transport Interchange.

Air

Newcastle Airport is about 12 miles (19 km) away, and provides 19 daily flights to London (Heathrow London Heathrow Airport or Heathrow , located in the London Borough of Hillingdon, is the largest airport in the United Kingdom. It is the fifth busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic and it handles more international passengers than any other airport in the world. It is also the busiest airport in the European Union in, Gatwick London Gatwick Airport is located 5 km (3.1 mi) north of the centre of Crawley, West Sussex, and 45.7 km (28.4 mi) south of Central London. It is London's second largest international airport and second busiest by total passenger traffic in the United Kingdom after Heathrow, Stansted London Stansted Airport is a passenger airport located at Stansted Mountfitchet in the local government district of Uttlesford in Essex, 48 km (30 mi) north-east of central London. It is 2.5 NM (4.6 km; 2.9 mi) north northeast of Bishop's Stortford and about 6 mi (9.7 km) outside Harlow and London City London City Airport is a single-runway STOLport, an airport for use by STOL (Short Take Off and Landing) airliners, and principally serving the financial district of London. It is located on a former Docklands site, 6 NM (11 km; 6.9 mi) east of the City of London, opposite the London Regatta Centre, in the London Borough of Newham in East London,), with regular flights to other UK centres. The airport also operates regular flights to many European destinations, along with destinations in Africa and North America.

Local services

A special tourist bus operates from Hexham tourist office up to the main sites on Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall is a stone and timber fortification built by the Roman Empire across the width of what is now northern England. Begun in AD 122, during the rule of emperor Hadrian, it was the first of two fortifications built across Great Britain, the second being the Antonine Wall in what is now Scotland. Hadrian's Wall is the better known of the - the route number is AD122 - the date of the building of the wall.

Hexham is also serviced by several taxi firms operating from two taxi ranks in the town: one in the town centre on Priestpopple, and one at Hexham railway station.

Awards

Hexham won the Town award in the 2005 Britain in Bloom awards. In the same year Hexham was also named * 'England's Favourite Market Town' by the magazine Country Life Country Life is a British weekly magazine, based in London at 110 Southwark Street, and owned by media company IPC Media, a Time Warner subsidiary.

Economy

Hexham had been long famous for its manufacture of leather. Wright (1823) gives some statistics — 77 men & boys employed as Leather dressers and Glove-cutters, 40 boys employed as Dusters and 1,111 women employed as Sewers. Skins dressed annually were 80,000, and 18,000 skins of dressed leather were imported. From these were made and exported annually 23,504 dozens of pairs of gloves. Dutch Oker was used in the processing, but local fell clay could be used if necessary. Tanning was a necessary allied industry and there were four tanneries, employing a score of men. In a year they dealt with 5,000 hides Hides are skins obtained from animals for human use. Examples of animal hide sources are deer and cattle typically used for producing leather, alligator skins, snake skins for shoes and fashion accessories and wild cats, minks and bears, whose skins are primarily sought for their fur. In India leather is produced from cattle hides at home/ small and 12,000 calf skins Calfskin is a leather or membrane produced from the hide of a calf. Calfskin is particularly valuable because of its softness, and fine grain. It is commonly used for high-quality shoes, wallets and similar products, as well as traditional leather bookbindings. They supplied local saddlers, bootmakers and cobblers. Hexham also had 16 master hatters, and the trade employed 40 persons. There were two woollen manufactories, worked by steam power and two rope manufactories. There were corn water mills below the bridge. A windmill on the Seal was ruinous, but there was one still working on Tyne Green. It was, and still is a flourishing market, including a mart for cattle and other farm animals.[6]

In Hexham the Subskimmer was designed and made by Submarine Products. The town is also the site of a chipboard factory owned by the Austrian firm Egger Retail Products GmbH.

Sport

Hexham has a notably picturesque racecourse at Yarridge Heights in the hills above the town, with National Hunt (steeplechase) races throughout the year

Twin towns

Notable people

Lived in Hexham
Born in Hexham

See also

References

  1. ^ By modern counting, the 8th day before. By Roman counting the xth day was (y-x+1) days before the yth day: see Roman calendar#Months.
  2. ^ Kirby, pp. 153–154; Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Ms. D, s.a. 789.
  3. ^ Northumberland Place-Names, by Stan Beckensall, Butler Publishing 2004, ISBN 094692841X
  4. ^ http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521861076&ss=ind
  5. ^ "Hexham Riot". http://www.ndfhs.org.uk/Articles/HexhamRiot.html. Retrieved 2008-11-10.
  6. ^ Rowland, T. H. (1994 (Reprint)). Waters of Tyne. Warkworth, Northumberland, England: Sandhill Press Ltd. ISBN 0-946098-36-0.
  7. ^ James Raine, ed., The Priory of Hexham: Its Chroniclers, Endowments, and Annals, Surtees Society 44, Durham: Andrews and Co., 1864.

External links

Ceremonial county of Northumberland
North East England Portal
Unitary authorities Northumberland
Major settlements Allendale · Alnwick · Amble · Ashington · Bedlington · Berwick-upon-Tweed · Blyth · Corbridge · Cramlington · Haltwhistle · Hexham · Morpeth · Newbiggin-by-the-Sea · Ponteland · Prudhoe · Rothbury · Wooler See also: List of civil parishes in Northumberland
Topics Parliamentary constituencies · Places · SSSIs

Categories: Market towns in Northumberland | Towns in Northumberland

 

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Leicester and Hexham fall victim to Arctic conditions - BBC Sport
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Leicester and Hexham fall victim to Arctic conditions

BBC Sport

Leicester and Hexham have become the latest meetings to be abandoned as Arctic conditions continue to wreak havoc on the racing calendar. ...

Hexham and Southwell abandoned The Press Association

Turf white-out for the week is on the cards Mirror.co.uk

Thursday's Thurles meeting cancelled Irish Times

This is London  - Daily Star  - Racing Post

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Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which runs . Hexham. , North Tyneside and Wansbeck general hospitals, achieved top marks for patient safety having scored 50 out of 50 in a Risk Management assessment by the NHS Litigation ...

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