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National Gazetteer (1868) - Wark

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The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

"WARK, a parish in the N.W. division of Tynedale ward, county Northumberland, 11 miles N.W. of Hexham, its post town. It is a station on the Border Counties branch of the North British railway, and is 7 miles N.W. of the Four Stones station on the Newcastle and Carlisle railway. It is situated on the Wark Burn, which falls into the river North Tyne at the Ferry. The parish includes the townships of High Shitlington, Wark, and Warksburn. Wark belonged to the crown up to James I.'s time, and was forfeited in 1715 by the Ratcliffes. It formed part of Simonburn parish till 1814. The village, which is old, has been much improved by the erection of a row of houses built with the stone taken from some extensive ruins. The living is a rectory* in the diocese of Durham, value £240, in the patronage of the Governors of Greenwich Hospital. The church was erected in 1815-18. The parochial charities consist of a share with Simonburn. There is a grammar school for both sexes. The Presbyterians and Wesleyans have each a chapel. There are ruins of a church near Kirkful. The Duke of Northumberland is lord of the manor."

"HIGH and LOW QUARTERS SHITLINGTON, townships in the parish of Wark, N.W. division of Tynedale ward, county Northumberland, 3 miles W. of Wark, and 2 S.W. of Bellingham. The village, which is small and irregularly built, is situated on a branch of the river Reed.

"WARKSBURN, a township in the parish of Wark, in the N. division of Tynedale ward, county Northumberland, 2½ miles N.W. of Wark. It consists of numerous scattered farms on either side of the Wark rivulet."

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