Swarland is a small modern village and former

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

, now in the parish of Newton-on-the-Moor and Swarland, in the county of

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, situated about south of the market town of

Alnwick Alnwick ( ) is a market town in Northumberland, England, of which it is the traditional county town. The population at the 2011 Census was 8,116. The town is on the south bank of the River Aln, south of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the Scottish bor ...

and north of the city of

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

. In 1951 the parish had a population of 368.

History

The manor of Swarland was owned from ancient times by the de Haslerigg family of Swarland Old Hall until the 18th century. In 1741 the estate was purchased by Richard Grieve of Swansford. In 1765 his son Davison Richard Grieve commissioned architect John Carr to build a new park and mansion, Swarland Hall. The new house was later the home of

Alexander Davison Alexander Davison (1750–1829) was an English businessman and government contractor. He was a contemporary and close friend of Admiral Lord Nelson. Life Davison was born on 2 April 1750 at a farm in Lanton, Northumberland. His business care ...

, a friend of

Horatio Nelson Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte (29 September 1758 – 21 October 1805) was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy. His inspirational leadership, grasp of strategy, and unconventional tactics brought a ...

, who in 1807 erected the Nelson Memorial on the park. Many of the modern local street names are linked with Nelson, including Nelson Drive, Admiral Close and Lady Hamilton Drive. The new Hall was demolished in the early 1930s and in 1936 a new village of 77 cottages was built on the estate by the Fountains Abbey Settlers Trust.

Present day

The village has a sporting culture; with various amenities at hand such as: 3 tennis courts, a 5-a-side court, football field, equestrian centre and an

astroturf AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Since the early 2000s, AstroTurf has ...

bowling Green and now has a basketball court. It also hosts Percy Wood Country Retreat and Golf Course that is part of the old Percy Wood area and a tourist attraction.

Governance

Swarland is in the

parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...

constituency of

Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census re ...

. Swarland was formerly a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, ...

in Felton parish, from 1866 Swarland was a civil parish in its own right until it was abolished on 1 April 1955 and merged with Newton on the Moor.

Landmarks

Swarland Old Hall is a small 17th-century country house and is a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...

. The house which has a four-bay south front and two storeys with attics was built in the late 17th century and incorporates fabric of earlier properties. The east front is notable for its

castellated A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...

full height screen wall with three blind

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

arches.

A railed monument nearby (Grade II listed) records the death of William Haslerigg in 1681. His brother and heir was High Sheriff of Northumberland in 1698. A little over a mile to the west of the village, by the Swarland Burn, are the ruins of Overgrass Tower, a medieval tower house dating from the fourteenth or fifteenth century.

Transport

The A1 junction

The junction with the A1 has had numerous crashes, some fatal, so people now often travel through Newton on the Moor when travelling north. All local 'bus services to and from Swarland were cancelled in 2014. The nearest 'bus stop is at the bottom of Lemingtom Lane, a good mile walk from the bottom of Park Road. However, the crossing/junction has been improved in recent times so that anyone exiting from the village area and wishing to travel south onto the A1 will now find a 'refuge area' so you can cross the fast dual carriageway in two distinct stages.

Education

Swarland First School is a small school in the village, with approximately 60 students between the ages of 3 and 9. The children usually go on to either an Alnwick or

Rothbury Rothbury is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the River Coquet. It is northwest of Morpeth and of Newcastle upon Tyne. At the 2001 Census, it had a population of 2,107. Rothbury emerged as an important town be ...

middle school. Quite a number of pupils from the first settlers have left the village to become the parents of Doctors, nurses and police officers of senior rank. One boy was employed at Buckingham Palace as a footman and married the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret's travelling maid. A gift of daffodils was given to the school by this man's brother and planted around the school and on the verges in 2009. In memory of all those first pupils when the school first opened.

Sports and Recreation

The first recorded

leek The leek is a vegetable, a cultivar of '' Allium ampeloprasum'', the broadleaf wild leek ( syn. ''Allium porrum''). The edible part of the plant is a bundle of leaf sheaths that is sometimes erroneously called a stem or stalk. The genus '' Al ...

show in

North East England North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary author ...

was held in Swarland in 1846. An annual

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speakin ...

is performed by the local drama group. Traditionally performed during December, over the last few years, it has been performed during February. Some of the recent performances have included takes on

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

Sleeping Beauty ''Sleeping Beauty'' (french: La belle au bois dormant, or ''The Beauty in the Sleeping Forest''; german: Dornröschen, or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess cu ...

and Western(genre). There is a

Working Men's Club Working men's clubs are British private social clubs first created in the 19th century in industrial areas, particularly the North of England, Midlands, Scotland and South Wales Valleys, to provide recreation and education for working class ...

in the village. Every year, the working men's club holds a Quoits competition, which is affectionately claimed by locals to be the 'Quoits World Championships'.

References

External links

Swarland Hall entry from The DiCamillo Companion to British & Irish Country Houses

The Swarland Chronicles: Independent Online Magazine
{{authority control Villages in Northumberland Former civil parishes in Northumberland