The Northern Vicar Blog

Having been to Embleton I drove on to Newton – so why has it taken me so long to blog about it? My apologies to all my readers. St Mary the Virgin (NU239248) is a tin chapel on the road that leads down to the beach – for some reason, I didn’t walk down and have a paddle … I’ve never been very good at having a paddle. St Mary’s Haven looks rather lovely – I must go and explore. The church has a website – http://www.stmaryschurch.info/ – they did well to get that domain name. I know the tin...

I won’t ask what happened to March – perhaps I’ve been working too hard. As April dawned, dad came up to stay, and on Thursday 7 April we had a drive up to Cragside and then on to Edlingham. Last time I came here, Harry’s pushchair collapsed on the track down to the church – Harry is now 19 and one of the authors of the redplog blog (if we can’t be extremely left wing when we’re a student, when can we be …???). The entrance to the village is off the lovely road from Cragside to Alnwick, and...

Continuing south down the A68 we come to West Woodburn, past the Post Office, cross the River Rede, and follow the minor road towards East Woodburn. Almost mid-way between the two is the other Corsenside church, All Saints (NY901867). A beautiful river runs the other side of the road. Susan told me she has baptised two young lads in the river – their idea – and that, for the wedding of a forester’s daughter recently, her dad built a bridge across the river for his daughter to arrive at church. How wonderful! The foundation stone was laid on 24...

I love roads which are gated. I remember, as a child, playing at being the level crossing gate keeper at Eggardon Hill in Dorset. Today I leapt out of Susan’s car, presumably no self-respecting bull would argue with the Vicar! St Cuthbert’s church (NY890892) lies next to Dere Street, the old Roman road, up above the River Rede. Traditionally it one of the resting places of Cuthbert in 875. I have just found a blog about him – www.saintcuthbert.net – and remembered that Cuthbert’s body was taken from Lindisfarne by the monks when the Vikings arrived. They carried him round...

I’ve now found the website for the North Tyne and Redesdale churches –  http://sites.google.com/site/ntyneredesdalechurches/home – it is not linked from the Newcastle Diocesan Website. Susan has a four-wheel drive car and we headed out of Bellingham along the North Tyne (and the line of the Border Counties’ Railway) to the village of Greenhaugh, which has a school but no church. Another mile or so, across Tarset Burn, to St Aidan’s church at Thorneyburn NY786876. Susan told me that in the snow she and her four-wheeler got through the snow to find two visitors had come to church – another...

This year is the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible – see my talk all about it at www.pontelandstmary.org.uk/King_James_Bible.htm – and I’m part of a group organising the Authorised Version celebrations. One bright idea is to read the AV across the Diocese, and I’d emailed Susan at Bellingham to see if we could get it read in her deanery. “Come and see me for your blog” she said. I joined them at St Cuthbert’s church (NY835833) for BCP Communion. The church dates from about 1100. I wondered why there were quite so many buttresses holding the walls up – when...

Howick Hall and its grounds are beautiful – the tearoom is rather splendid as well. It (the Hall not the tearoom) has been home to the Grey family since the fourteenth century. The tea was specially blended by a Chinese mandarin for Charles, 2nd Earl Grey, to suit the water at Howick, using – according to the guidebook – bergamot in particular to offset the taste of the lime in it. Bergamot is a type of orange. Lady Grey got Twinings to market it, but the family never registered the trade mark, so haven’t earned a penny. Apparently Charles...