Norham ( ) is a 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, south-west of Berwick on the south side of the

River Tweed The River Tweed, or Tweed Water, is a river long that flows east across the Border region in Scotland and northern England. Tweed cloth derives its name from its association with the River Tweed. The Tweed is one of the great salmon rivers ...

where it is the border with Scotland.

History

Its ancient name was Ubbanford.

Ecgred of Lindisfarne Ecgred of Lindisfarne (or Egfrid) was Bishop of Lindisfarne from 830 until his death in 845.Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 219 Citations References * External links History of Norham St Cuthbert Church
...

(d.845) replaced a wooden church with one of stone and translated the relics of St Ceolwulf to it. Norham is mentioned as the resting place of

St Cuthbert Cuthbert of Lindisfarne () ( – 20 March 687) was a saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Hiberno-Scottish mission, Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monastery, monasteries of Melrose Abbey#Histo ...

in the early eleventh century text ''

On the Resting-Places of the Saints ''On the Resting-Places of the Saints'' is a heading given to two early medieval pieces of writing, also known as ''Þá hálgan'' and the ''Secgan'', which exist in various manuscript forms in both Old English and Latin, the earliest surviving m ...

'', and recent research has suggested the possibility that Norham (rather than

Chester-le-Street Chester-le-Street () is a market town in County Durham, England. It is located around north of Durham and is close to Newcastle. The town holds markets on Saturdays. In 2021, the town had a population of 23,555. The town's history is ancient; ...

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

) may have been the centre of the

diocese of Lindisfarne The diocese of Durham is a diocese of the Church of England in North East England. The boundaries of the diocese are the historic boundaries of County Durham, meaning it includes the part of Tyne and Wear south of the River Tyne and contemporary ...

from the ninth century until some time between 1013 and 1031. It is the site of the 12th-century

Norham Castle Norham Castle (sometimes Nornam) is a castle in Norham, Northumberland, England, overlooking the River Tweed, on the border between England and Scotland. It is a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The castle saw much actio ...

and was for many years the centre of the

Norhamshire Norhamshire was an exclave of County Durham in England. It was first mentioned in 995, when it formed part of the lands of the priory at Lindisfarne. When the lands north of the River Tees were partitioned into Northumberland and County Durham it ...

exclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is s ...

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

. 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 in

Durham Cathedral Durham Cathedral, formally the , is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Durham, England. The cathedral is the seat of the bishop of Durham and is the Mother Church#Cathedral, mother church of the diocese of Durham. It also contains the ...

. It was on the Tweed here that

Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 1254 ...

met the Scots nobility in 1292 to decide on the future king of Scotland.

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...

gained fame as a poet, particularly with '' Marmion'' set around 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. 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-century

Ladykirk and Norham Bridge The Ladykirk and Norham Bridge connects Ladykirk, Scottish Borders, Ladykirk in the Scottish Borders, Borders, Scotland, with Norham in Northumberland, England, across the River Tweed. It's one of three bridges that cross it along the Anglo-Scot ...

is a late stone

road bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

that connects the village with Ladykirk in the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by West Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian, and East Lothian to the north, the North Sea to the east, Dumfries and Galloway to the south-west, South Lanarkshire to the we ...

J. M. W. Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbu ...

reportedly tipped his hat to Norham Castle in 1831, as it was the place that had brought him fame as an artist in 1798. It was a subject he revisited throughout his career. The painting of the castle that hangs in

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in En ...

, ''

Norham Castle, Sunrise ''Norham Castle, Sunrise'' is an oil-on-canvas painting by English painter J. M. W. Turner, created around 1845. The painting depicts Norham Castle, overlooking the River Tweed, the border between England and Scotland. The painting was bequeathe ...

'' (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.

Governance

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

in the name of Norham and Islandshires exists. This ward stretches south east to just short of

Bamburgh Bamburgh ( ) is a village and civil parish on the coast of Northumberland, England. It had a population of 454 in 2001, decreasing to 414 at the 2011 census. Bamburgh was the centre of an independent north Northumbrian territory between 867 a ...

and has a total population taken at the 2011 Census of 4,438.

Popular culture

Norham appears, under the name of Ubbanford, in ''The Bernicia Chronicles'' series of historical novels by Matthew Harffy, where it is the residence and seat of power of the series' protagonist, Beobrand.

References

External links

GENUKI
(Accessed: 20 November 2008) {{authority control Villages in Northumberland Populated places on the River Tweed Civil parishes in Northumberland Exclaves of County Durham

History

Governance

Popular culture

See also

References

External links