Carham

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Carham
Northumberland

St Cuthbert's Church, Carham
Location
Grid reference: NT795385
Location: 55°38’24"N, 2°19’37"W
Data
Population: 347  (2001)
Post town: Cornhill-on-Tweed
Postcode: TD12
Dialling code: 01890
Local Government
Council: Northumberland
Parliamentary
constituency:
Berwick-upon-Tweed

Carham is a village and parish in Northumberland adjacent to the borders with Roxburghshire and Berwickshire. The village lies on the south side of the River Tweed about three miles west of Coldstream in the latter county.

History

Near to Carham are the extensive remains of Early British camps and a bronze sword, now in the British Museum, discovered in the nearby Tweed.[1]

Carham on the Tweed, where a stream divides Northumberland from Berwickshire, was the scene of two battles in Anglo-Saxon times.[2]

In 833 the Danes fought the English, and the English were routed. Leland tells us that:

in the 33rd year of Ecbright the Danes arrived at Lindisfarne and fought with the English at Carham where Eleven Bishops and two English Countes were slayne, and a great numbre of people.

A field between the glebe and Dunstan Wood, where bones have been from time to time disinterred, is probably the site of the battle.[1][3]

In 1016 or 1018 the Battle of Carham was fought between Malcolm II of Scotland and the Northumbrians, resulting in a Scottish victory. It has been said that this battle allowed the annexation of Lothian, the lands north of the Tweed, by Scotland, though other sources say this took place much earlier.

Parish church

The church is dedicated to St Cuthbert.[4]

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Carham)

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Ridley, Nancy (1966). Portrait of Northumberland (reprint ed.). London: Robert Hale. OCLC 503957631?referer=br&ht=edition. 
  2. {{brithist|50857 British History Online]
  3. Hugill, Robert (1931). Road Guide to Northumberland and The Border. Newcastle upon Tyne: Andrew Reid & Company, Limited. 
  4. Purves, Geoffrey (2006). Churches of Newcastle and Northumberland. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Tempus Publishing Limited. pp. 173. ISBN 0 7524 4071 3. http://www.tempus-publishing.com.