Cornhill-on-Tweed is a small village and

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

, England about to the east of

Coldstream Coldstream () is a town and civil parishes in Scotland, civil parish in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. A former burgh, Coldstream was where the Coldstream Guards, a regiment in the British Army, originated. Description Coldstream li ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. The

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

of West Learmouth and East Learmouth are located to the south and west of the village respectively. In 2011 the parish had a population of 347.

History

Cornhill on Tweed was part of the Norham and Islandshires district, an exclave of the County of Durham until united with Northumberland in 1884. It had been part of the Bishopric of Durham since it was gifted to Lindisfarne Abbey by King Oswald of Northumbria in 634.

Early and medieval history

The earliest documented references to the village are in The History and Antiquities of the County of Durham where a William de Cornale is mentioned in 1239. A Henricus de Cornale is mentioned in the Durham Tithe Rolls in 1306. By 1328 the village ownership was split between the Heron and Grey families. Sir Robert Grey of Cornhill, the son of Sir Thomas Grey of Castle Heaton, died in 1334 leaving a manor, half of a corn mill, half of a fishery, a brewery and a maltings to his son, also Robert. This Robert died in 1338. His heir was his 2-year-old daughter Maria. Because of her minority the land reverted to the Bishopric until her son, Robert Swinhoe reached his majority in 1382. In 1385 as part of the Hundred Years War, a Franco-Scottish force under the command of Jean de Vienne along with his allies the Earls of Douglas, March and Fife destroyed Wark and Cornhill Castles. Cornhill Castle was situated a mile north-west of the village and was probably a

motte and bailey A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy ...

in the Norman pattern. Subsequent references to a Cornhill Tower i
1415
1496 and 1541 are attributed by Historic England to the Castle site. However Dodds in Bastions and Belligerents and Tomlinson in a Comprehensive Guide to Northumberland contend that the Castle was never rebuilt and the references to Cornhill Tower relate to the site of Cornhill House. It is known that Cornhill Tower was built by William Swinhoe between 1385 and 1415 and that Cornhill House was the home of the Swinhoes up till the 17th century. It seems unlikely that the Tower would have been built remotely from the family home. The Swinhoe family were paid by the Crown to maintain a garrison force for the defence of the border consisting of 20 horsemen.

16th century

Cornhill was in the path of

James IV James IV (17 March 1473 – 9 September 1513) was King of Scotland from 11 June 1488 until his death at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. He inherited the throne at the age of fifteen on the death of his father, James III, at the Battle of Sauch ...

's invading army on its way to the

Battle of Flodden The Battle of Flodden, Flodden Field, or occasionally Branxton or Brainston Moor was fought on 9 September 1513 during the War of the League of Cambrai between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland and resulted in an English victory ...

in 1513, and Cornhill Tower was damaged. The Swinhoe family were probably Catholic, and supported the

Pilgrimage of Grace The Pilgrimage of Grace was an English Catholic popular revolt beginning in Yorkshire in October 1536 before spreading to other parts of Northern England, including Cumberland, Northumberland, Durham and north Lancashire. The protests occurre ...

in 1536 against

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

but escaped retribution. From 1543 the Cornhill garrison played an active part in the

Rough Wooing The Rough Wooing (; December 1543 – March 1551), also known as the Eight Years' War, was part of the Anglo-Scottish Wars of the 16th century. Following the English Reformation, the break with the Catholic Church, England attacked Scotland ...

cross border raids into Scotland. In 1548, following the

Battle of Pinkie Cleugh The Battle of Pinkie, also known as the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh (), took place on 10 September 1547 on the banks of the River Esk, Lothian, River Esk near Musselburgh, Scotland. The last pitched battle between Scotland and England before the U ...

near

Musselburgh Musselburgh (; ; ) is the largest settlement in East Lothian, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth, east of Edinburgh city centre. It had a population of as of . History The name Musselburgh is Old English language, Old English in ...

the previous year, Cornhill Tower was attacked and looted by a Franco-Scottish Force under the command of Andre de Montalembert, Seigneur de Esse relieving the house of its store of salted salmon. In 1557 the Tower, now surrounded by a defensive barmkin wall, was again attacked by a Franco-Scottish army, this time opposing the rule of Mary I. During the attack William Swinhoe was killed and the garrison taken prisoner. In 1569 the Swinhoes were once more in rebellion against the Crown supporting the Northern Earls Rebellion against

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...

. Again they were able to escape royal retribution. Cornhill House, a Grade 2* listed building, is at the western end of the village, overlooking the River Tweed. The present house dates from the 16h century and was remodelled in the 18th century. It replaced an earlier building damaged by the Scottish invasions in 1385 and 1549.

17th century

Gilbert Swinhoe of Cornhill was the High Sheriff of Northumberland in 1642 at the outbreak of the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

and raised the ''posse comitatus'' in support of the King. Gilbert and his son James took an active part in the fighting with Gilbert perishing in the Tower of London following arrest. After the war James was fined for his part in the conflict and it is likely that the Cornhill estate was sold to the Foster family in 1651 to pay the penalty. The Foster family were another of the

landed gentry The landed gentry, or the gentry (sometimes collectively known as the squirearchy), is a largely historical Irish and British social class of landowners who could live entirely from rental income, or at least had a country estate. It is t ...

families of North Northumberland and owned the Cornhill estate till 1763 at which point it passed to the Collingwoods. The Collingwood family remained in possession of the Cornhill Estate through to 1975 at which point the last Collingwood, John HF Collingwood, died and the estate was split up. During their tenure the Collingwood Arms was built and the war memorial at the entrance to Cornhill House was erected. Cornhill Castle Mound - geograph

Religion

In the centre of the town lies St Helen's Church, part of the parish of Cornhill-on-Tweed. Its sister churches are in Carham and Branxton. There has been a church on the site since Saxon times. The present church was built in 1840 by Ignatius Bonomi, incorporating masonry from the previous church building, which dated from 1751. The coat of arms of the Collingwood family is carved into the church parapet. Local legend has it that in 1840, when the Church was enlarged, an 8 ft man was found buried under the nave.

Transport

Cornhill-on-Tweed lies at a junction of the A697 and A698 roads - the latter linking to

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 recor ...

, the nearest significant town, some away.

Education

The Cornhill School was built in 1837 and closed in 2012. Pupils from the village now attended schools nearby.

References

External links

The official Cornhill-on-Tweed Parish WebsiteCornhill Social History including Buildings, Agriculture, Railways, Families, Businesses, School, Parish Registers and gravestone inscriptions
(Accessed: 21 November 2008) {{authority control Villages in Northumberland Civil parishes in Northumberland