Tarset is a

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, created in 1955 from parts of Bellingham,

Tarset West Tarset is a civil parish in Northumberland, England, created in 1955 from parts of Bellingham, Northumberland, Bellingham, Tarset West and Thorneyburn parishes. It is west-north-west of Bellingham, Northumberland, Bellingham. Today it shares ...

and

Thorneyburn Thorneyburn is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Tarset, in Northumberland, England, to the northwest of Bellingham. In 1951 the parish had a population of 74. Governance Thorneyburn is in the parliamentary constitu ...

parishes. It is west-north-west of Bellingham. Today it shares a parish council with the adjacent parish of

Greystead Greystead is a village and civil parish in Northumberland, England west of Bellingham. The population as of the 2011 census was less than 100. It shares a parish council with the adjacent civil parish of Tarset. Governance Greystead is i ...

. It is partly located within the Northumberland National Park, and also mostly within the international dark skies park.

History

The Comyns, Scottish knights, were established in Tynedale in the 12th century and the manor of Tarset was granted to William Comyn in around 1222.

Licence to crenellate In medieval England, Wales and the Channel Islands a licence to crenellate (or licence to fortify) granted the holder permission to fortify his property. Such licences were granted by the king, and by the rulers of the counties palatine within the ...

was granted to John Comyn in 1267, and Tarset Castle was built half a mile south-west of the present village, of which only grassed-over remains can now be seen. Two miles to the south-west on Birks Moor are the remains of the fortified house known as

Dally Castle Dally Castle is a ruined 13th-century stone motte-and-bailey fortress in Northumberland, and one of the first hall houses in Northumberland. It lies west of Bellingham Castle, and west of Bellingham, Northumberland, Bellingham on the Chirdon Bu ...

, believed to have been erected by David Linsey in his manor of Chirdon.

Governance

Tarset is in the

parliamentary In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

constituency 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 administra ...

Demography

Tarset has a population of 196. In 1831, its population was 169. In 1968, its population was 149.

Transport

Tarset was served by Tarset railway station on the

Border Counties Railway The Border Counties Railway was a railway line connecting in Northumberland, with on the Waverley Route in Roxburghshire. Its promoter had hopes of exploiting mineral resources in the area, and it was taken up by the North British Railway, wh ...

which linked the

Newcastle and Carlisle Railway The Newcastle and Carlisle Railway (N&CR) (formally, the ''Newcastle upon Tyne and Carlisle Railway'') was an English railway company formed in 1825 that built a line from Newcastle upon Tyne on Britain's east coast, to Carlisle, on the west co ...

, near

, with the

Border Union Railway The Border Union Railway was a railway line which connected places in the south of Scotland and Cumberland in England. It was authorised on 21 July 1859 by the ( 22 & 23 Vict. c. xxiv) and advertised as the Waverley Route by the promoters—th ...

at Riccarton Junction. The first section of the route was opened between

and

Chollerford Chollerford is a village in Northumberland, England, approximately four miles (seven km) north of Hexham (via the A6079 road) on the B6318, the Military Road, not far from Hadrian's Wall. There is a roundabout in the village where the B6318 a ...

in 1858, the remainder opening in 1862. The line was closed to passengers by

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commis ...

in 1956. Part of the line is now beneath the surface of

Kielder Water Kielder Water is a large man-made reservoir in Northumberland in North East England. It is the largest artificial lake in the United Kingdom by capacity of water and it is surrounded by Kielder Forest, one of the biggest man-made woodlands in ...

Notable people

John Candlish John Candlish ( bapt. 28 April 1816 – 17 March 1874) was a British glass bottle manufacturer and Liberal Party politician. Early life Candlish was born in Tarset, Northumberland, the eldest son of farmer John Candlish and Mary, née Robson. A ...

– politician, Liberal mayor of Sunderland, shipbuilder and glass-bottle manufacturer, owner of Sunderland Beacon and founder of Sunderland News.

Matthew Festing Fra' Robert Matthew Festing GCStJ OBE TD DL (30 November 1949 – 12 November 2021) was an English Roman Catholic official who was the Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta from 2008 until his resignation on 28 ...

– Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta from 2008 until his resignation in 2017

References

External links

Tarset Community WebsiteA detailed history of Tarset CastleLocation and History of Greenhaugh and Tarset (Northumberland National Park Authority)Tarset on Google MapsBlack Middens Bastle House (English Heritage)Tarset Weather (Gatehouse Weather Station)Sidwood (Forestry England)
{{authority control Civil parishes in Northumberland