Redesdale is a valley in western

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

, England. It is formed by the

River Rede The Rede is a river in Northumberland, England. The river rises on Carter Fell on the Anglo-Scottish border feeding Catcleugh Reservoir and joins the River North Tyne below the village of Redesmouth. The Rede is one of only two rivers in the ...

, which rises in the

Cheviots The Cheviot Hills (), or sometimes The Cheviots, are a range of uplands straddling the Anglo-Scottish border between Northumberland and the Scottish Borders. The English section is within the Northumberland National Park. The range includes ...

and flows down to join the North Tyne at

Redesmouth Redesmouth is a village in Northumberland, England, just over to the south-east of Bellingham. Governance Redesmouth is in the parliamentary constituency of Hexham. Transport Redesmouth (old spelling: Reedsmouth) was served by R ...

. Redesdale is traversed by the A68 trunk road, which enters Scotland via Carter Bar at the head of the valley. Redesdale contains the settlements of Elsdon, Otterburn,

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

, and

Byrness Byrness is a village within Rochester civil parish in Northumberland, England. It is approximately north-west of Newcastle upon Tyne on the A68, and is the last village in England before the A68 climbs the Cheviot Hills to cross Carter Bar i ...

. Otterburn is the site of a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

installation, Otterburn Training Area. A portion of Redesdale to the west and north of Otterburn forms part of

Northumberland National Park Northumberland National Park is the northernmost national park in England. It covers an area of more than between the Scottish border in the north to just south of Hadrian's Wall, and it is one of least visited of the National Parks. The park ...

and includes the Redesdale Forest, the northernmost part of

Kielder Forest Kielder Forest is a large forestry plantation in Northumberland, England, surrounding Kielder village and the Kielder Water reservoir. It is the largest man-made woodland in England with three-quarters of its covered by forest. The majority o ...

History

This valley has historically served as an important route into Scotland, and has seen conflict since the time of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

. After the Norman Conquest of 1066, the Norman noble family

Umfraville The Umfraville family were Anglo-Norman landowners, administrators and soldiers who were prominent from about 1120 to 1437 on the northern border of England, where they held the strategic lordships of Prudhoe and Redesdale in Northumberland. T ...

gained lands in the area and were the first ''Lords of Redesdale''. In 1388, Otterburn was the site of a historic

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and for ...

between armies from the kingdoms of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, largely fought by moonlight. The

Raid of the Redeswire The Raid of the Redeswire, also known as the Redeswire Fray, was a border skirmish between England and Scotland on 7 July 1575 which took place at Carter Bar, the Cheviot pass which enters Redesdale. The skirmish was between (on the English si ...

, the last major battle between England and Scotland, took place at the head of the valley in 1575. During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, Elsdon was the economic centre of the area: it served as the

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

and as the gathering place for the local graynes (extended

Border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders ca ...

families). In modern times, the village of Otterburn now holds that distinction. The British crown created the title Baron Redesdale in the 19th century.

References

External links

* Valleys of Northumberland {{Northumberland-geo-stub

History

See also

References

External links