Acomb | |
---|---|
Acomb rooftops | |
Location within Northumberland | |
Population | 1,184 (2001 census) [1] |
OS grid reference | NY931664 |
Unitary authority | |
Ceremonial county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | HEXHAM |
Postcode district | NE46 |
Dialling code | 01434 |
Police | Northumbria |
Fire | Northumberland |
Ambulance | North East |
UK Parliament | |
Acomb is a village in the south of Northumberland, England. [2] The population at the 2001 Census was 1,184 increasing to 1,268 at the 2011 Census. [3] It is situated to the north of Hexham, [4] not far from the junction of the A69 road and A6079 road. The name is Anglo-Saxon Old English acum, 'at the oak trees'. The traditional pronunciation of the name is "Yeckam". [5]
Some Bronze Age cists have been discovered in this vicinity. [6] Hadrian's Wall runs about 1 mile (1.5 km) to the NE of Acomb, where the site of Chesters Roman Fort is located.
Acomb is in the parliamentary constituency of Hexham.
In this area there was much mining and quarrying. The coal mine at Acomb in 1886 employed 200 workers and 51,000 tons of coal per annum were raised. It was good coking coal and 41 coke ovens were in use. At Fallowfield then still working was another lead mine, where the Romans had mined and quarried. In 1886 the mine employed 120 men, mining lead and barites. [7]
The pleasing church of St John Lee on the hillside amid the trees is dedicated to St John of Beverley, a local hermit and supposedly worker of miracles. There was a medieval church, but it was rebuilt in 1818 by Dobson and in 1885 enlarged by Hicks, so that it has a tower with spire — a landmark that can be seen from Warden, Hexham and all around. In 1765 at St John Lee Church a most remarkable marriage was celebrated. The bridegroom was Robert Scott, a well-known Northumbrian piper. He was 90 years old and for 26 years he had moved about on crutches. His bride, Jean Middlemas, was only 25 years old and might be regarded as destined to be a nurse to an antique husband. But on his wedding day, he threw his crutches away and walked from the village of Wall, where he lived, to the church. He walked back again among a group of fellow pipers. At the conclusion of the marriage, they were regaled with cakes and ale. Was this a miracle by St John of Beverley? [7]
Northumberland is a ceremonial county in North East England, bordering Scotland. It is bordered by the Scottish Borders to the north, the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, and Cumbria to the west. The town of Blyth is the largest settlement. Northumberland is the northernmost county in England.
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 administrative centre for the Tynedale district from 1974 to 2009. In 2011, it had a population of 13,097.
Haltwhistle is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, 23 miles east of Carlisle and 37 miles west of Newcastle upon Tyne. It had a population of 3,811 at the 2011 Census.
Blaydon is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England, and historically in County Durham. Blaydon, and neighbouring Winlaton, which Blaydon is now contiguous with, form the town of Blaydon-on-Tyne. The Blaydon/Winlaton ward had a population in 2011 of 13,896.
Bellingham is a village and civil parish in Northumberland, to the north-west of Newcastle upon Tyne and is situated on the Hareshaw Burn at its confluence with the River North Tyne. In 2011 the parish had a population of 1334.
Ryton is a village in Tyne and Wear, England. It is in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, historically part of County Durham. In 2011, the population of the Ryton, Crookhill and Stella ward was 8,146. It is 6 miles (9.7 km) west of Newcastle upon Tyne.
Ingleton is a village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. The village is 17 miles (27 km) from Kendal and 17 miles (27 km) from Lancaster on the western side of the Pennines. It is 9 miles (14 km) from Settle. The River Doe and the River Twiss meet to form the source of the River Greta, a tributary of the River Lune. The village is on the A65 road and at the head of the A687. The B6255 takes the south bank of the River Doe to Ribblehead and Hawes. All that remains of the railway in the village is the landmark Ingleton Viaduct. Arthur Conan Doyle was a regular visitor to the area and was married locally, as his mother lived at Masongill from 1882 to 1917. It has been claimed that there is evidence that the inspiration for the name Sherlock Holmes came from here.
The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company (CF&I) was a large steel conglomerate founded by the merger of previous business interests in 1892. By 1903 it was mainly owned and controlled by John D. Rockefeller and Jay Gould's financial heirs. While it came to control many plants throughout the country, its main plant was a steel mill on the south side of Pueblo, Colorado, and was the city's main industry for most of its history. From 1901 to 1912, Colorado Fuel and Iron was one of the Dow Jones Industrials. The steel-market crash of 1982 led to the decline of the company. After going through several bankruptcies, the company was acquired by Oregon Steel Mills in 1993, and changed its name to Rocky Mountain Steel Mills. In January 2007, Rocky Mountain Steel Mills, along with the rest of Oregon Steel's holdings, were acquired by EVRAZ Group, a Russian steel corporation, for $2.3 billion.
Seaton Sluice is a village in Northumberland. It lies on the coast at the mouth of the Seaton Burn, midway between Whitley Bay and Blyth. In the 2021 census the village had a population of 2,956.
Heddon-on-the-Wall is a village and civil parish in Northumberland, England, located on Hadrian's Wall. Heddon-on-the-Wall is roughly 9 miles (14 km) west of the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne, and just outside Throckley. In 2011 the parish had a population of 1563. The place-name 'Heddon' means 'hill where heather grew'.
Whitsett is an unincorporated community in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States, approximately 30 miles (50 km) south of Pittsburgh. The population is estimated at 200. It was founded in 1845 by Ralph C. Whitsett Sr. He and his family built a large red brick house in 1873, which still stands today. The community is made up of mostly “company” houses that were built for workers who worked in a large coal mine located nearby; the mine was Banning #21. Most of the houses were semi-detached "twins" built to accommodate two families. The mine has been closed since 1954 and most of the houses have been renovated and turned into single-family dwellings.
The Haltwhistle Burn is a river which lies to the east of the Northumbrian town of Haltwhistle. Rising in the peaty uplands below the ridge of the Whin Sill, the burn passes through the Roman Military Zone south of Hadrian's Wall and through a dramatic sandstone gorge before descending between wooded banks to the South Tyne Valley. The Haltwhistle Burn drains an area of approximately 42 km2. Today the Burn is a haven for wildlife and a popular walk for residents and tourists but from Roman times until the 1930s the combination of valuable minerals and water power attracted a succession of industries which provided goods and employment to the town.
Sandhoe is a hamlet and civil parish in Northumberland, England. It lies about 3 kilometres (2 mi) northwest of Corbridge and 3 kilometres south of Hadrian's Wall. The parish touches Acomb, Corbridge, Hexham and Wall.
Warden is a village in Northumberland, England about 2 miles (3 km) west of Hexham.
Lambley, formerly known as Harper Town, is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Coanwood, in Northumberland, England about four miles southwest of Haltwhistle. The village lies adjacent to the River South Tyne. In 1951 the parish had a population of 298. The place name Lambley refers to the "pasture of lambs". Lambley used to be the site of a small convent of Benedictine Nuns, founded by Adam de Tindale and Heloise, his wife, in the 12th century. The Scots led by William Wallace devastated it in 1296 [Rowland gives 1297]. However it was restored and one William Tynedale was ordained priest to the nunnery in about 1508 – most likely not William Tyndale, the reformer, as once believed but another man of the same name. At the time of the suppression of religious houses by Henry VIII, the nunnery contained six inmates. Nothing now remains but the bell from the nunnery, which hangs in the church, and a few carved stones. The village lies in the Midgeholme Coalfield and there are reserves of good-quality coal remaining.
Edric Claud Hamilton-Russell was a British rower and mining engineer who was director of pre-nationalisation collieries.
Coal mining in the United Kingdom dates back to Roman times and occurred in many different parts of the country. Britain's coalfields are associated with Northumberland and Durham, North and South Wales, Yorkshire, the Scottish Central Belt, Lancashire, Cumbria, the East and West Midlands and Kent. After 1972, coal mining quickly collapsed and had practically disappeared by the 21st century. The consumption of coal—mostly for electricity—fell from 157 million tonnes in 1970 to just 587,000 tonnes in 2023. Employment in coal mines fell from a peak of 1,191,000 in 1920 to 695,000 in 1956, 247,000 in 1976, 44,000 in 1993, 2,000 in 2015, and to 360 in 2022.
Marley Hill is a former colliery village about six miles to the south west of Gateshead, near the border between Tyne and Wear and County Durham. It has been part of the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead since 1974. Prior to this it was part of Whickham Urban District. It lies within the Whickham South & Sunniside electoral ward of the Blaydon parliamentary constituency.
John Hodgson (1779–1845) was an English clergyman and antiquary, known as the county historian of Northumberland.
This is a partial glossary of coal mining terminology commonly used in the coalfields of the United Kingdom. Some words were in use throughout the coalfields, some are historic and some are local to the different British coalfields.