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National Gazetteer (1868) - Branxton

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The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

"BRANXTON, a parish in the western division of Glendale ward, in the county of Northumberland, 8 miles to the N.W. of Wooler. Coldstream is its post town. The village, which is now but small, was once a market town. It is situated on the borders of Scotland, at the foot of Flodden Hill. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Durham, of the value of £270, in the patronage of the dean and chapter. The church, dedicated to St. Paul, is a handsome stone edifice, rebuilt in 1849, the beautiful Norman arch in the chancel being the only portion of the old church preserved. The font is of Norman design, supported on four columns, but of modern workmanship. This village was the birthplace (1736) of Percival Stockdale, poet and miscellaneous writer, whose father at that time held the rectory of Branxton. On the western summit of Flodden Hill, where the Scots encamped on the 9th of September, 1513, is a rock still called the King's Chair. The fatal battle, however, took place in and about the village of Branxton, principally to the south-west of the church. The Scotch, under James IV., took up their position on the ridge of Branxton Hill, and the Earl of Surrey drew up his men almost in a line opposite the different Scottish divisions. The rising ground, a few hundred yards west of the church, considered to be Piper's Hill, marks the spot where the king fell, with the greater part of the nobility of Scotland, and about the foot of this eminence the most deadly fight took place. The pillar of unhewn basalt in the vicinity of the village, generally assumed by historians to have been erected as a memorial stone of the battle of Flodden, is now considered to be nothing more than a "gathering stone," about which the different invading armies met when about to commit raids in either country."

"EAST FLODDEN, (and West Flodden) a hamlet in the parish of Branxton, ward of West Glendale, county Northumberland, 7 miles N.W. of Wooler, situated under Flodden Hill. At Westfield is a pillar commemorating the battle of Flodden, where, in 1513, the Earl of Surrey defeated and slew James IV. of Scotland, with the flower of the Scottish nation.

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]