Norham
| Norham | |
|---|---|
 Norham Village Green | |
  Norham Location withinNorthumberland | |
| Population | 579 (2011 census)[1] |
| OS grid reference | NT900471 |
| Civil parish |
|
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | BERWICK-UPON-TWEED |
| Postcode district | TD15 |
| Dialling code | 01289 |
| Police | Northumbria |
| Fire | Northumberland |
| Ambulance | North East |
| UK Parliament | |
Norham(/ˈnɒrəm/NORR-əm) is a village andcivil parishinNorthumberland,England. It is 7 miles (11 km) south-west ofBerwickon the south side of theRiver Tweedwhere it is the border with Scotland.[2]
History
[edit]Its ancient name was Ubbanford.Ecgred of Lindisfarne(d.845) replaced a wooden church with one of stone and translated the relics of St Ceolwulf to it.[3]Norham is mentioned as the resting place ofSt Cuthbertin the early eleventh century textOn the Resting-Places of the Saints,and recent research has suggested the possibility that Norham (rather thanChester-le-StreetorDurham) may have been the centre of thediocese of Lindisfarnefrom the ninth century until some time between 1013 and 1031.[4][5]
It is the site of the 12th-centuryNorham Castleand was for many years the centre of theNorhamshireexclaveofCounty Durham.It was transferred to Northumberland in 1844.
The 12th century also saw the construction of the parish church of St Cuthbert, an ambitious work with an aisled nave and long chancel, heavily rebuilt in 1846-52. As may be expected from a possession of the bishops of Durham, the details echo contemporary work inDurham Cathedral.[6]
It was on the Tweed here thatEdward I of Englandmet the Scots nobility in 1292 to decide on the future king of Scotland.
Sir Walter Scottgained fame as a poet, particularly withMarmionset around theBattle of Floddenin 1513. It begins:
- Day set on Norham's castled steep,
- And Tweed's fair river, broad and deep,
- And Cheviot's mountains lone:
- The battled towers, the donjon keep,
- The loophole grates where captives weep,
- The flanking walls that round it sweep,
- In yellow lustre shone.
The 19th-centuryLadykirk and Norham Bridgeis a late stoneroad bridgethat connects the village withLadykirkin theScottish Borders.
J. M. W. Turnerreportedly tipped his hat to Norham Castle in 1831, as it was the place that had brought him fame as an artist in 1798.[7]It was a subject he revisited throughout his career. The painting of the castle that hangs inTate Britain,Norham Castle, Sunrise(1845), luminously near-abstract, is one of the great treasures of the collection.
Norham railway station, built 1851, closed in 1965 and was turned into a museum by its final station master, Peter Short. In 2013 it was up for sale at an asking price of £420,000.[8]
Governance
[edit]Anelectoral wardin the name of Norham and Islandshires exists. This ward stretches south east to just short ofBamburghand has a total population taken at the 2011 Census of 4,438.[9]
Popular culture
[edit]Norham appears, under the name of Ubbanford, inThe Bernicia Chroniclesseries of historical novels by Matthew Harffy, where it is the residence and seat of power of the series' protagonist, Beobrand.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^"Parish population 2011".Retrieved30 June2015.
- ^AA Book of British Villages.Drive Publications Limited. 1980. p. 296.ISBN9780340254875.
- ^Hodges, Charles Clement. "The Pre-Conquest Churches of Northumbria",The Reliquary,April 1893, p. 84
- ^Woolf, Alex(2018), "The Diocese of Lindisfarne: Organization and Pastoral Care", in McGuigan, Neil; Woolf, Alex (eds.),The Battle of Carham: A Thousand Years On,Edinburgh: John Donald, pp. 231–39,ISBN978-1910900246,at pp. 232-33
- ^McGuigan, Neil (2022), "Cuthbert's Body and the Origins of the Diocese of Durham",Anglo-Saxon England,48:121–162,doi:10.1017/S0263675121000053,ISSN0263-6751
- ^Pevsner, Nikolaus (1957).Northumberland(1st ed.). Harmondsworth: Penguin. p. 266.
- ^"The castle that liberated Turner",Preview for London sale: Old Master & British Drawings & Watercolours, 5 July 2017,Christie's,retrieved2 March2021
- ^The Daily Telegraph1 November 2013[full citation needed]
- ^"Norham and the Islandshires ward population 2011".Retrieved30 June2015.
External links
[edit]
- GENUKI(Accessed: 20 November 2008)