Felton, Northumberland
| Felton | |
| Northumberland | |
|---|---|
 Felton Old Bridge | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | NU185005 |
| Location: | 55°17’53"N, 1°42’25"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 932 (2011) |
| Post town: | Morpeth |
| Postcode: | NE65 |
| Dialling code: | 01670 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Northumberland |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Berwick-upon-Tweed |
Felton is a small village in Coquetdale in northern Northumberland: it is to be found about ten miles south of the county town, Alnwick, and nine miles north of Morpeth. The county's great city, Newcastle upon Tyne, is twenty-four miles to the south. At the 2011 Census, Felton had a population of 932.
There are two bridges here crossing the River Coquet. The oldest dates to around the 15th Century,[1] while the other was built in 1926. The older bridge is closed to traffic, and is often used for village events including carol singing at Christmas.
Parish church
The parish church is the Church of St Michael and All Angels. It is a Grade I listed building.
Big Society
Felton has a close community, centred on events in the village, spread across the calendar. Every summer Felton has a fair and a fun run around the village, whilst a pantomime was performed in the village hall for the ninth time this year.
Felton has two shops; a newsagent, artisan bakery and restaurant, and the other a post office and village store. It also has a hairdresser and doctor's surgery.
The Village magazine, The Bridge, was first published a few years ago, and is delivered to the villagers bimonthly.
Sport
A speedway training track operated from Bockenfield Aerodrome near Felton in the late 1970s. Trainees participated in junior league type events against fellow tracks in neighbouring counties. The venue is no longer used for speedway however.[2]
History and people
The village stands where the Great North Road crosses the River Coquet, and forms the village's main street, and this made Fenton a much frequented location in days past. Today the main road, the A1, sweeps past on a bypass built in the 1980s.
A coaching inn long stood in the village named "The Old Angel": the building is believed to date from around 1631. In 1650 Oliver Cromwell was reputed to have stayed at The Old Angel on his way to the Battle of Dunbar.[3] Today a plaque on Main Street commemorates his stay.
E.M. Forster
The novelist E.M. Forster frequently came to Felton to stay with his Uncle Willie, who lived at Acton House nearby. Forster spent part of the summer with him for several years around 1900 and he wrote a letter from there on 27 July 1899:
Yesterday I went to Bamborough (sic) saw the castle and tombs of my ancestors - I've no reason to suppose they are, though the name is the same and the arms similar, but Bamborough is such a nice cradle for one's race that I shall always call them mine. Then I paddled on the deserted beach...
Forster, by his own account, used Acton House as a model for Cadover in his own favourite novel The Longest Journey (1907). This was Forster's most autobiographical work, in which, again by his own account, the character of Mrs Failing owes something to Uncle Willie.[4]
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Felton, Northumberland) |
References
- ↑ Images of England — details from listed building database (236788) Old Felton Bridge
- ↑ Skinner, John. "Felton Training Track". http://www.defunctspeedway.co.uk/Felton.htm. Retrieved 4 July 2010.
- ↑ Sayer, Rook Matthews. "The Old Angel house listing". http://www.mouseprice.com/property-for-sale/ref-4311323/for-sale. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
- ↑ "Edwin Morgan Forster". Archived from Forster in Felton the original on 14 September 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20070914203841/http://www.seaham.i12.com/myers/m-forster1.html. Retrieved 9 January 2009.