Beltingham
| Beltingham | |
| Northumberland | |
|---|---|
 Victorian postbox at Beltingham | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | NY785635 |
| Location: | 54°57’58"N, 2°20’13"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Hexham |
| Postcode: | NE47 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Northumberland |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Hexham |
Beltingham is a small and very pretty village on the River South Tyne in Northumberland. It is a mile southeast of Bardon Mill and ten miles west of Hexham.
Beltingham is a most attractive village with stone houses about a little green with pretty flowering gardens. There is a fine Georgian house near the church, and another nearby looks as if it had been a bastle.[1]
Parish church
The parish church is dedicated to St Cuthbert and stands in a churchyard containing three massive yew trees, which are more than 700 years old: some have claimed even 2,000 years.[2]
The yew tree indicates an old church, but the present church was built about 1500 in Perpendicular style. There is no division between nave and chancel, and the roof carries a little bell tower. There is an old cross shaft at the west end.
In 1883-4 the church was very much restored, and some of the old memorials were destroyed, including one, recorded by John Hodgson, which requested prayers for the soul of Nicholas Ridley, who died in the fifteenth century (1490). There is a memorial now in the church to the Revd Anthony Hedley of Chesterholm, friend of Hodgson, who died 17 January 1835, having caught a fatal chill when out to supervise an excavation at Vindolanda fort. He was born near Otterburn and related to Lancelot "Capability" Brown. Both had served the Marquess of Bath at Longleat. Hedley was inspired to improve vicarage gardens as well as to search for antiquities.[1]
Standing halfway between Ridley Bridge and Willimoteswick, the little church stands above a burn, making it look like an island, and clustered round the green and the lych-gate are the few houses and the village school. This church, another dedicated to St. Cuthbert, was founded in Saxon days but little of the Saxon building remains.
The church we know today was restored at the end of Queen Victoria's reign by Francis Bowes-Lyon, who was an uncle of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. The almost perfect leper's squint is still there, to remind us that in the Dark Ages lepers were kept out of the house of God, for fear of infection, but permitted to watch the mass through a hole provided for them.[3]
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Beltingham) |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Rowland, T. H. (1994). Waters of Tyne (Reprint ed.). Warkworth, Northumberland: Sandhill Press Ltd. ISBN 0-946098-36-0.
- ↑ 'Ancient yews offered a sanctuary for the region's wildlife, one of which [in St Cuthbert's churchyard] is believed to be up to 2,000 years old.': Spotlight on churchyard's ancient sacred yew trees, Hexham Courant 24 April 2009, page 8
- ↑ Ridley, Nancy (1966). Portrait of Northumberland (reprint ed.). London: Robert Hale. pp. 66–67. OCLC 503957631?referer=br&ht=edition.