An Introduction to Northumberland

Northumberland is a stunning region with many unique and special features. It is the least densely populated County in England (and has a border with Scotland); and has its own National Park, (the most remote and unspoilt of all the English National Parks). It has its own flag, its own tartan and its own dialect. It has more castles open to the public than any other county. In Hadrian's Wall, it has the largest world heritage site in the country; and at Kielder, it has the largest man-made lake in Western Europe set in the country's largest man-made forest. It has its own food and drink and even its own distinct birds and wildlife. And it is the only British county with its own musical instrument: The Northumbrian pipes. It even has its own anthem!

There is evidence of human activity within Northumberland which goes back at least 8,000 years.  At that time the people were nomadic. It was not until people started to farm and to herd animals that they constructed their permanent homes and elaborate religious and funeral monuments. In Northumberland, the earliest monuments are about 5,000 years old.

The Romans occupied Britain from the middle of the 1st century to the beginning of the 5th century and for much of this time Northumberland was the very edge of their empire. It was in AD 122 that the Emperor Hadrian ordered the building of a wall across the country from the Tyne to the Solway to separate the land of the Britons from the land of the Picts.

Now officially recognised as a World Heritage Site, the remains of the central section of the Wall still snake their way across the whinstone cliff on which it was built. There are also many forts, museums, temples and other remains.

(A curiosity about the Wall is that it is often used as an alternative term for the Scottish border - "The other side of Hadrian's Wall" being used (especially by people from the south of England) to mean Scotland. In fact, 90% of the English county of Northumberland is north of the Wall and at no point over its entire length does the Wall separate the two countries. The tribe of people known as "Scots" did not come to Britain (from Ireland) until hundreds of years after the Romans had left the country. In Roman times, the area now called Scotland was populated by "Picts".)

There were many border wars between England and Scotland through the 14th to the 16th centuries, the family clans of the border hills lived in their own state of semi-lawlessness. Sheep stealing and burning each others homes became part of their everyday life.

For the visitor though, the legacy of the Border wars of the 14th-16th centuries have resulted in Northumberland having more castles to explore than any other English county.
One particular example is on the tiny Holy Island, population: 180. Originally known as Lindisfarne and often described as "The Jewel of the Northumberland Coast", Holy Island is only accessible across a causeway at low tide. In the 7th century it was one of the great seats of Christian learning in Western Europe and was where the beautiful Lindisfarne Gospels were written. Adjacent to the ruins of the Benedictine Priory, destroyed by Henry VIII, is a Visitor Centre commemorating the life of the monks.

The stones from the Priory were used to build the unforgettable Lindisfarne Castle. Built on the orders of Henry VIII in 1550 to protect Holy Island from attack by the Scots, the castle was converted into a private home by architect Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1903. The rooms are filled with a fine collection of antique furniture, mostly oak, of the early 17th century. Ornaments and pictures are in harmony creating a unique and picturesque home. The castle's small walled garden was designed by Gertrude Jekyll and has been newly replanted according to her original design. The experience is mystical and memorable.