Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for HEDDON-ON-THE-WALL

HEDDON-ON-THE-WALL, a village, a township, and a parish in Castle Ward district, Northumberland. The village stands on the Roman wall, 2 miles N of Wylam r. station, and 7 W by N of Newcastle-on-Tyne; and has a post office under Wylam-on-Tyne, Northumberland. The fosse of the vallum cuts boldly through it, and is partly used as a pond; a fragment of the wall itself is in the near neighbourhood; and a castellum probably stood on or near the site of the village. The township extends to the Tyne, and comprises 1, 154 acres of land and 36 of water. Pop., 385. Houses, 77. The parish contains also the townships of East Heddon, West Heddon, Eachwick, Whitchester, and Houghton and Closehouse. Acres, 4, 663. Real property, £7, 274; of which £60 are in mines, £66 in quarries, and £20 in fisheries. Pop., 744. Houses, 157. The property is divided among a few. The manor was given, by the Bolbecs, to Blanchland abbey; and passed to the lords of Greystock and to the Earls of Carlisle. A large cairn, called Turpins hill, is at Whitchester; and several tumuli are in the neighbourhood. Bricks are made. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Durham. Value, £252.* Patron, the Lord Chancellor. The church has a Norman E end; was found, in 1752, to incorporate Roman relics; and was restored and enlarged in 1851. The churchyard contains the grave of Ralph Spearman, the Monkbarns of Sir Walter Scott's " Antiquary." There is a national school.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village, a township, and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Heddon on the Wall Tn/AP/CP       Castle Ward RegD/PLU       Northumberland AncC
Place: Heddon on the Wall

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