Author: Rev. Peter Barham

Not having planned our afternoon out we drove north, onto the B6342, and I saw the sign to Thockrington. Being a devoted reader of the Diocesan website I knew the Archbishop of York had just visited – http://www.newcastle.anglican.org/news-and-events/news-article.aspx?id=567, so we went too. Well, Julie stayed in the car when we got there – bit too far for her to walk. NY957789. Somehow they got 60 people in when the Archbishop came – he was there to celebrate the life and work of Lord Beveridge. William Henry Beveridge, born 5 March 1879. Educated at Balliol, joined the Board of Trade in...

Julie and I had a day out on Monday 3 June – it is now Sunday 15 September. Sorry. I’ve got lots of churches to blog about. I’ve been back to Chollerton again with a DAC trip – the DAC is the Diocesan Advisory Committee, the church planning body – so I’ll combine the pictures from the two visits. The church is on the A6079, just past a wonderful viaduct on the Hexham-Riccarton Junction line – photo at http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/c/chollerton/index1.shtml. The station was next door to the church. NY931719. Good church website at http://www.chollerton-churches.org.uk, and they advertise “Coffee and Home-made biscuits...

Then north over the hills and across Flodden Field. The Battle took place in 1513. There is lots of information at http://www.flodden.net – and I have even found a “Battlefield Access Statement” (it’s a funny old world). It does look as if a lot of money has been spent on websites – you can also read http://www.flodden1513.com. I really ought to try and get north for some of the commemorations this year. I used an older website – http://www.battlefieldstrust.com/resource-centre/medieval/battleview.asp?BattleFieldId=15 – to write this brief history of the battle: Briefly, Henry VIII became King in 1509 and was keen to secure England’s position...

There’s a B road south of the River Tweed – NT797384. The old railway from Cornhill to Kelso/Roxburgh is slightly to the south of the road – apparently the viaducts at West Learmouth are quite impressive (Grade II listed). There isn’t a lot in Carham. The village noticeboard tells you to phone a Ponteland phone number if you want the non-emergency police. Let’s have a nice local bobby – how many miles from Carham to police HQ? Pevsner describes the church as “by an amateur, R. Hodson Huntley (who was lord of the manor)”. He built the church in...

We continued down the main road to Cornhill and parked at the back of St Helen’s church – NT858394. Another by our old friend Ignatius Bonomi, dated 1840, and Pevsner says it incorporates masonry from the preceding church of 1751 – makes you wonder why the previous church only last 89 years. the chancel was added in 1866. Not a particularly stunning church (sorry Cornhillians).

Our Coffee Club had their annual outing, and this year I was able to go. We had an excellent lunch at the Battlesteads Hotel in Wark – http://www.battlesteads.com – and then drove up the valley. I went through the village, which is a collection of late C18 early C19 cottages around the green – their daffodils are still flowering, mine died off a week ago. There is a tea shop which looks worth a visit. I went past the church and found a parking space – if I had gone further I would have reached the Castle, probably built by...

It was a grey December day when I last went to Stamfordham. On Tuesday 7 May 2013 I went again to an evening by John Grundy and Peter Ryder. Both were Historic Buildings Inspectors in the days long before English Heritage and we have them to thank for a lot of work on the Northumberland Pevsner. John now has a good time on TV, and Peter is an archaeologist. He has spent some time looking closely at St Mary’s, and presented his findings to a full church. They believe that the church has good Saxon roots, very early Saxon.  There...