Bardon Mill is a small village in
Northumberland
Northumberland () is a ceremonial counties of England, 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 Ab ...
, within the vicinity of the ancient
Hadrian's Wall. It is located around from
Hexham
Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden nearby, and close to Hadrian's Wall. Hexham was the administ ...
, from
Carlisle
Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril. It is the administrative centre of the City ...
, and from
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 a ...
.
Nearby landmarks include
Allen Banks & Staward Gorge
Allen Banks & Staward Gorge is National Trust property in the English county of Northumberland.
It is a Victorian garden in a gorge of the River Allen cutting through woodland. The ruins of Staward Peel, a medieval peel tower, stand on a p ...
,
Sycamore Gap
The Sycamore Gap Tree or Robin Hood Tree is a sycamore tree standing next to Hadrian's Wall near Crag Lough in Northumberland, England. It is located in a dramatic dip in the landscape and is a popular photographic subject, described as one of ...
, The Sill: National Landscape Discovery Centre and
Vindolanda Roman Fort.
Amenities
The local pub in Bardon Mill i
The Bowes Hotel Church services alternate weekly between St. Cuthbert's Church at
Beltingham and the Church of All Hallows at
Henshaw, both of which are very close to the village. There is a very active
Women's Institute
The Women's Institute (WI) is a community-based organisation for women in the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. The movement was founded in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada, by Erland and Janet Lee with Adelaide Hoodless being t ...
.
A
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 ''All ...
club show is held every year, the produce from which is auctioned along with donations the day after the show. Funds are then donated to local charities.
Every October, there is the Bardon Mill and Roman Empire
conkers championships, which is held on the village green. Local community projects are asked to run a stall at the event to raise funds for their own or community projects.
Demography
The data below shows that 49.3% of the population in Bardon Mill (Parish) are male, and 50.7% are female, which is similar to the national average and the average within the county of
Northumberland
Northumberland () is a ceremonial counties of England, 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 Ab ...
.
A total of 1.8% of the population were from a
black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) group in Bardon Mill (Parish). This figure is lower than that of the average in Northumberland , as well as being significantly lower than the national average .
Data from the
Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament.
Overview
The ONS is responsible for ...
found that the average life expectancy in the Haydon and Hadrian
electoral ward is 81.9 years for men, and 85.4 years for women. These statistics compare very favourably, when compared to the average life expectancy in the
North East of England, of 77.4 and 81.4 years, for men and women respectively.
Car ownership is very high in Bardon Mill (Parish), with a total of 95.3% households having access to at least one car. This is significantly higher than the average within Northumberland , as well as the national average .
Economy

The only commercial pottery in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
currently licensed to produce
salt glaze pottery
Salt-glaze or salt glaze pottery is pottery, usually stoneware, with a glaze of glossy, translucent and slightly orange-peel-like texture which was formed by throwing common salt into the kiln during the higher temperature part of the firing p ...
i
Errington Reay & Co. which was established in the village in 1878.
Education
Henshaw Church of England First Schoolis located in the neighbouring village of
Henshaw, providing education for students aged between 4 and 11 years old. The nearb
Haltwhistle Academyprovides education for students aged between 3 and 11 years old.
In terms of secondary education
Haydon Bridge High Schoolprovides secondary education for students aged between 11 and 16 years old, as well as post-16 study.
Folklore
A nearby farm is reputed to be haunted by the ghost of a robber, who was murdered there in the 14th century. The last alleged sighting was in 1933.
Governance
Haydon and Hadrian is a local council ward in the county of
Northumberland
Northumberland () is a ceremonial counties of England, 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 Ab ...
. This ward covers an area of around , and has a population of 4,454.
, the Haydon and Hadrian ward is served by
Liberal Democrats councillor, Alan Sharp.
The village is located within the
parliamentary constituency
An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...
of
Hexham
Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden nearby, and close to Hadrian's Wall. Hexham was the administ ...
, and is served by
Conservative Party Member of Parliament (MP)
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members oft ...
,
Guy Opperman.
The village is also in two civil parishes, divided by the Chainley Burn. The west of the village is in
Henshaw parish, while the eastern portion is in Bardon Mill parish, which also extends a long way south of the
River South Tyne
The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wate ...
, as well as north of the village.
Landmarks

A little over a mile to the south-west of the village is Willimoteswick Manor, a 16th-century fortified manor house, largely rebuilt in 1900. Just over a mile east of Bardon Mill is
Ridley Hall
Ridley Hall is a theological college located on the corner of Sidgwick Avenue and Ridley Hall Road in Cambridge (United Kingdom), which trains men and women intending to take Holy Orders as deacon or priest of the Church of England, and member ...
and
Allen Banks
Allen Banks & Staward Gorge is National Trust property in the English county of Northumberland.
It is a Victorian garden in a gorge of the River Allen cutting through woodland. The ruins of Staward Peel, a medieval peel tower, stand on a p ...
.
Ridley Hall was the ancestral home of a branch of the Bowes-Lyons, the late
Queen Mother's family. Weddings and other functions are often held there including a
Burns Night Ceilidh which is organised by the local church. The churches for the area are in
Beltingham and
Henshaw.
Allen Banks, which was formerly the estate belonging to the hall, were donated to the
National Trust
The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
and includes 500 acres of riverbank and woodland walks, affording some of the best views in the area.
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 ...
is located within a couple of miles of Bardon Mill. The northern end of the
North Pennines
The North Pennines is the northernmost section of the Pennine range of hills which runs north–south through northern England. It lies between Carlisle to the west and Darlington to the east. It is bounded to the north by the Tyne Valley an ...
is just a mile or so from here.
Vindolanda
Vindolanda was a Roman auxiliary fort (''castrum'') just south of Hadrian's Wall in northern England, which it originally pre-dated.British windo- 'fair, white, blessed', landa 'enclosure/meadow/prairie/grassy plain' (the modern Welsh word w ...
Roman settlement is in the parish just over north of the
A69. It is a world-renowned site and the location of the finding of the
Vindolanda tablets
The Vindolanda tablets were, at the time of their discovery, the oldest surviving handwritten documents in Britain (they have since been antedated by the Bloomberg tablets). They are a rich source of information about life on the northern fr ...
– the oldest 'postcards' in the world. Some of these are to be found in the museum at Vindolanda along with a great many Roman finds from the days of the emperor
Hadrian
Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman '' municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispan ...
.
Hadrian's Wall is located north of Bardon Mill and is a
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...
. Many people come from all over the world to see the Wall and the forts along it, the best preserved being
Housesteads
Housesteads Roman Fort is the remains of an auxiliary fort on Hadrian's Wall, at Housesteads, Northumberland, England, south of Broomlee Lough. The fort was built in stone around AD 124, soon after the construction of the wall began in AD 1 ...
, which is located from the village. The
Hadrian's Wall Path
Hadrian's Wall Path is a long-distance footpath in the north of England, which became the 15th National Trail in 2003. It runs for , from Wallsend on the east coast of England to Bowness-on-Solway on the west coast. For most of its length ...
, covering a distance of , as well as the
Hadrian's Cycleway, both pass through the village.
Notable residents
Lilian Bowes-Lyon (1895–1949), was born and grew up at Ridley Hall, near Bardon Mill. She wrote many poems about Northumberland, including ''Allendale Dog'' and ''Northumbrian Farm''. She was a cousin of
Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was the l ...
.
Transport
Air
The nearest airports are
Carlisle Lake District Airport and
Newcastle International Airport
Newcastle International Airport is an international airport in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, UK. Located approximately from Newcastle City Centre, it is the primary and busiest airport in North East England, and the second busiest in Northe ...
, which are located around from the village by road respectively.
Bus
The village is served by
Arriva North East
Arriva North East operates both local and regional bus services in County Durham, Cumbria, Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Tyne and Wear, England. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus, which operates bus and coach services across the United ...
and
Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire's 685 bus service, which provides one bus per hour linking Carlisle,
Brampton
Brampton ( or ) is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Brampton is a city in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a lower-tier municipality within Peel Region. The city has a population of 656,480 as of the 2021 Census, making it the ...
and Haltwhistle with Hexham,
Corbridge
Corbridge is a village in Northumberland, England, west of Newcastle and east of Hexham. Villages nearby include Halton, Acomb, Aydon and Sandhoe.
Etymology
Corbridge was known to the Romans as something like ''Corstopitum'' or ''Coriosopit ...
and Newcastle.
Rail
The village is served by
Bardon Mill station, which serves the
Tyne Valley Line.
Northern Trains
Northern Trains, branded as Northern, (legally Northern Trains Limited) is a publicly owned train operating company in England. It is owned by DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT), after the previous operator Arriva Rail ...
provide 11 trains per day to
Carlisle
Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril. It is the administrative centre of the City ...
, and 13 trains per day to
Hexham
Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden nearby, and close to Hadrian's Wall. Hexham was the administ ...
and
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
. From nearby
Haltwhistle
Haltwhistle is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, east of Brampton. It had a population of 3,811 at the 2011 Census.
Stone-built houses are a feature of Haltwhistle. It is one of two settlements in Great Britain which ...
, which is located around from the village, there is a more regular service provided, with two trains per hour to Carlisle, Hexham and Newcastle.
Road
The village is located near to the
A69 road
The A69 is a major northern trunk road in England, running east–west across the Pennines, through the counties of Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and Cumbria. Originally, the road started in the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne then later near Birt ...
, which runs for from Carlisle to the
A1 at
Denton Burn.
See also
*
Haltwhistle
Haltwhistle is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, east of Brampton. It had a population of 3,811 at the 2011 Census.
Stone-built houses are a feature of Haltwhistle. It is one of two settlements in Great Britain which ...
*
Henshaw
*
Melkridge
Melkridge is a village and civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the river South Tyne. The village of Melkridge is in the south of the parish, and is about two miles (3 km) east of Haltwhistle along the A69 road. At the 2001 the civil ...
References
External links
*
{{authority control
Villages in Northumberland
Civil parishes in Northumberland