NORTHUMBERLAND

NORTHUMBERLAND, an extensive county in England, situated on its northern extremity, upon the borders of Scotland, from which it is separated partly by the river Tweed, which, during the latter part of its course, flows between this county and Berwickshire, and partly by a line supposed to be drawn over the mountainous region on the west and north-west, where it meets with Roxburghshire. The other boundaries are the German Ocean on the east, Durham on the south, Cumberland on the west, and on the north two small districts called Northumberland and Islandshire, which, though belonging by their situation to Northumberland, form a part of the county of Durham, along with another tract called Bedlingtonshire, on the south-east. But in a general description it is unnecessary to attend to these distinctions. The Tweed may, therefore, be considered as the northern boundary of the county, and in this case it will include the towns of Berwick and Norham. Lindisfarne or Holy Island, on the north-east coast, which in like manner belongs to Durham, is situated about two miles from the mainland, opposite to the mouth of the brook Lindis, and accessible to all kinds of conveyance at low water. Although about nine miles in circuit, it contains little more than 1000 acres, the half of which is sand-banks. These several portions may extend to something more than 100 square miles, or about one twentieth part of the whole. In this view, Northumberland is situated between 54. 51. and 55. 48. north latitude, and between 1. and 2. 27. west longitude from London. Its greatest extent from north to south is sixty-four miles, and from east to west it varies from about forty-six miles, which is its usual breadth between the river Tyne on the south and the Coquet on the north, till it terminates at the town of Berwick on the north, in a breadth of only five or six miles. According to Mr Rickman's Report of 1831, the area of the county is 1871 square miles, or 1,197,000 acres; but the actual returns from the parishes give only 1,165,430 acres, a difference which is supposed to arise from the inaccurate measurement of the mountainous and uncultivated part of the western division of the county. Nearly one third of the county is scarcely capable of beneficial cultivation.

It is divided into six wards, namely, Tindale, Coquetdale, Glendale, Bamborough, Morpeth, and Castle, the first three comprising the western and mountainous district, and the second three the coast lands on the east. These last, though extending over only one fourth of the county, are by far the most wealthy and populous, owing chiefly to the great coal-works in Castle ward, near the town of Newcastle, and along the banks of the Tyne. It contains five deaneries and seventy-three parishes, all of which are in the archdeaconry of Northumberland and diocese of Durham.

All the western side of this county is mountainous, from the common boundary with Durham on the south, almost to the valley of the Tweed on the north; but this extensive tract, comprising more than a third of the whole area, is not all of the same character; the northern, or Cheviot Hills, extending to about 90,000 acres, being mostly all green nearly to their summits, comprehending many narrow but fertile glens, and affording excellent pastures for the breed of sheep to which they have given their name; whilst those to the west and south are, in general, open solitary wastes, covered with heath, and of very little value. On the coast, from the mouth of the Tyne to that of the Tweed, and also on the north, throughout its whole breadth

Northumberland. from Belford to Mindrum, the country is, with few exceptions, level and rich, with a soil which in some places is a strong clay, and in others a dry loam, but almost everywhere very productive, under the enlightened system of cultivation which prevails so generally throughout Northumberland.

The principal rivers of the county are the Tyne, Blyth, Wansbeck, Coquet, Aln, and the Tweed, all of which fall into the sea, carrying with them the tribute of many smaller streams. The Till, which empties itself into the Tweed, is also a considerable rivulet. The Tyne and Tweed are by far the most important, the tide flowing up the former sixteen miles, and up the latter eight or ten miles; whilst the navigation of the other rivers is confined to a small distance from their mouths. Both of these have long been celebrated for their salmon fisheries, which yield great rents, and afford a valuable article of trade with London, to which the fish are sent packed in pounded ice, by which means they are presented in the market in nearly as fresh a state as if they had been newly taken from the water.

Northumberland has been long distinguished for its subterranean treasures, which are the main source of its wealth and population. Of these, coal, which abounds in most parts of it, is by far the most important. It is of the best quality in the south-eastern quarter, on the banks of the Tyne, whence those vast quantities are exported which supply the great consumption of the metropolis, as well as the coasting and foreign trade. In some years the exportation from the port of Newcastle has amounted to upwards of 600,000 chaldrons of fifty-three cwt. each, and probably, as much more has been sent from Sunderland and consumed in Northumberland and Durham, the same coal-field extending across the Tyne to the latter county. This coal is all of the kind called "caking coal," which melts and runs together in the fire, and, when of the best quality, leaves very few ashes. Calculations have been made as to the extent of this tract, the quantity of coal which it may contain, and the period when it must be exhausted; but upon this last point there is a great difference of opinion, some estimating that the supplies must cease in three hundred years, some not in less than eight hundred, whilst by others it is held to be almost inexhaustible. Of the coal found in Bamborough, Islandshire, and Glendale ward, the seams are in general thin, and the quality inferior, not caking nor burning to a cinder, but yielding a great quantity of ashes. This is used only for home consumption and for burning limestone, a purpose for which it is well adapted; and through all this district coal and lime are generally found together. The south-eastern quarter, which is so rich in coal, is destitute of limestone. Lead ore abounds in the mountains on the south-west, particularly towards the head of that branch of South Tyne called Allendale, where it has long been wrought to a considerable extent. Iron ore is found in many parts; stone marl near Tweedside, shell marl in Glendale ward, and various sorts of sandstone or freestone are obtained in almost every quarter, some of it affording tolerable slates for roofing, and flags for floors. Excellent grindstones are raised in the sandstone quarries, of which a great many are exported from Camus and Warkworth.

The agriculture of Northumberland is an object which is only second in interest and importance to its coal works. Almost all those branches of rural economy for one or more of which other districts are celebrated, may here be found combined into one system, and conducted upon the same farms. One finds here the Leicester sheep and the short-horned cattle of Durham and Yorkshire, both in great perfection; the turnips of Norfolk cultivated upon the drill system of Scotland; the well-dressed fallows of East Lothian and Berwickshire; and that regular alternation of

tillage and grazing which is, of all other courses of cropping, the one best adapted to sustain and even to improve the productiveness of the soil. These remarks apply in an especial manner to the northern part of the county, where the farms are in general large, and the occupiers men of education and liberal acquirements. This quarter has been long distinguished as a school of agriculture, to which pupils are sent, some of them gentlemen of fortune, from various parts; a character for which it is eminently indebted, as well as for other distinctions, to the late Messrs Culley, who were amongst the most extensive and successful farmers in the kingdom. The common period of leases, at least in the northern district, is twenty-one years, although many are shorter, and upon a few estates no leases are granted. By the account taken for the purpose of levying the property-tax in the year 1815, it was found that the annual value of the real property amounted to £1,240,594. It may be worthy of remark here, that at the seat of the Earl of Tankerville, called Chillingham Castle, there still exists in the forest the remains of the herds of wild cattle which are supposed to have formerly abounded in this island, and to have been the origin of our races of cows.

Northumberland is not eminently a manufacturing county. Some wool-combing is carried on at Hexham, and some thread is spun in the villages; but the chief branches of manufacturing industry are those depending upon the cheapness of iron and coal, and are chiefly carried on within and around the town of Newcastle, to which head in this work the reader is referred.

The population of the county at the four decennial enumerations has been as follows:—In 1801 it amounted to 157,101, in 1811 to 172,161, in 1821 to 198,965, and in 1831 to 223,000. The burials, including both the registered and unregistered, in the ten years from 1821 to 1831, appear to have been one in fifty-two of the whole number of inhabitants then living. The illegitimate births were one in fifteen of the whole number born.

The occupations of the people, according to the returns arranged by Mr Rickman, were in 1831 as follows:

The title of duke of this county belongs to the family of Percy, though now in the female line. The Earl of Carlisle derives his second title from the town of Morpeth. For the purposes of election two divisions are formed, each returning two members. The elections for the northern division are held at Alnwick; and the polling places are, besides that town, Berwick, Elsdon, Morpeth, and Wooler; for the southern they are held at Hexham, and the other polling places are Bellingham, Haltwhistle, Hexham, Newcastle, and Stamfordham. There are two boroughs within the county; Newcastle, which returns two members to the House of Commons; and Morpeth, which also returned two before the reform bill, but at present only one. Berwick, which, though for some purposes a county of itself,

may be considered as in Northumberland, returns two members.

The towns containing more than 1500 inhabitants, with their population in 1831, were the following, viz.

The most remarkable of the noblemen and gentlemen's seats are, Alnwick Castle, the Duke of Northumberland; Chillingham Castle, the Earl of Tankerville; Haggerstone Castle, Sir Carneby Haggerstone; Howick House, Earl Grey; Falloden House, General Grey; Bamborough Castle, Lord Crewe; and Barmour Castle, F. Sitwell, Esq.