Bellingham, Northumberland

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Bellingham
Northumberland

Bellingham Bridge
Location
Grid reference: NY835835
Location: 55°8’42"N, 2°15’14"W
Data
Population: 1,334  (2011)
Post town: Hexham
Postcode: NE48
Dialling code: 01434
Local Government
Council: Northumberland
Parliamentary
constituency:
Hexham

Bellingham is a village in southern Northumberland, to the north-west of Newcastle upon Tyne on the Hareshaw burn at its confluence with the River North Tyne. Hareshaw Linn[1] is a waterfall on the Hareshaw Burn near Bellingham.

Famous as a stopping point on the Pennine Way trail it is popular with walkers and cyclists.

There is also an 18 hole golf course which was established in 1893.[2]

Parish church

St Cuthbert's Church, the parish church, is of the 13th-century, substantially reconstructed in the early 17th century. It is Grade I listed. It is described as 'almost unique'[3] owing to its stone barrel vault, which runs the length of the Nave and extends into the South Transept.

Within the churchyard is "The Long Pack", purportedly the grave of a burglar who attempted to infiltrate a local house by hiding in a beggar's pack, but was discovered after he suffered an ill-timed coughing fit, and was promptly run through with the sword of the house's proprietor.

From 1735 the parish rectors at Bellingham were under the patronage of the Governors of Greenwich Hospital. The Governors stipulated that the rectors were to be graduates of Oxford or Cambridge and naval chaplains. Bellingham Rectory was one of six such rectories in the Simonburn area.[4]

About the village

Hole Farm and Bastle

Two miles north-east at Hole Farm is the sixteenth century Hole Bastle, a well-preserved example of a bastle house.

Bellingham railway station in 1962

The Heritage Centre is the local museum.[5] Its exhibitions include the Border Counties Railway, the Border Reivers, mining, farming, the photography of W P Collier, and the Stannersburn Smithy. It has a database of local family names and one of old photographs. It also holds special exhibitions of historical or artistic interest, and readings and performances by poets, storytellers, musicians and dancers.

Media

The village's local newspaper is the Hexham Courant.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Bellingham, Northumberland)

References

  1. Hareshaw Linn
  2. Bellingham Golf Club
  3. Tomlinson, W W, 1888. Comprehensive Guide to Northumberland
  4. The others being Falstone, Greystead, Thorneyburn, Wark and Simonburn. Information in Bellingham Parish Church visited 2013.
  5. Bellingham Heritage Centre