Hexham

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Hexham
Hexham shown within Northumberland
Population	11,139
OS grid reference	NY937638
District	Tynedale
Shire county	Northumberland
Region	North East
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	HEXHAM
Postcode district	NE46
Dialling code	01434
Police	Northumbria
Fire	Northumberland
Ambulance	North East
European Parliament	North East England
UK Parliament	Hexham
List of places: UK • England • Northumberland

Coordinates: 54°58′17″N 2°06′05″W / 54.9715, -2.1015

Hexham is a market town in Northumberland, England, located south of the River Tyne. Hexham is the administrative centre for the Tynedale district, although in terms of population, Prudhoe is now Tynedale's largest town. In 2001 Hexham had a population of 11,139.

There are many smaller towns and villages that surround Hexham, such as Corbridge, Riding Mill, Stocksfield, Wylam to the east, Acomb and Bellingham to the north, Allendale to the south and Haydon Bridge, Bardon Mill and Haltwhistle to the west. The closest major city to Hexham is Newcastle upon Tyne and is approximately 25 miles (40 km) to the east.

Hexham is one of the three major towns in Tynedale along with Prudhoe and Haltwhistle.

It has around 164 shops and services.

1 History
2 Notable buildings
3 Governance
4 Local media
5 Transportation
6 Awards
7 Industry
8 Sport
9 Twin towns
10 List of people from Hexham
11 See also
12 References
13 External links

[edit] History

Hexham originated as a monastery founded by Saint Wilfrid in 674. The crypt of the original monastery survives, and incorporates many stones taken from nearby Roman ruins, probably Coria or Hadrian's Wall. The current Hexham Abbey dates largely from the 11th century onward, but was significantly rebuilt in the 19th century. Other notable buildings in the town include the Moot Hall, the covered market, and the Old Gaol.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the murder of King Ælfwald by Sicga at Scythlecester (which may be modern Chesters) on 23 September 788:

This year Elwald, king of the Northumbrians, was slain by Siga, on the eleventh day before the calends of October; and a heavenly light was often seen on the spot where he was slain. He was buried in the church of Hexham^[1]

The name of Hexham, as Donald A. Bullough shows in his article "The place name Hexham and its interpretation," "Notes and Queries," London, December 1999, (46:4), is one of the earliest Latin place names in Britain. Its meaning, according to Bullough, is "young warrior" or "Royal retainer." As such it is probably directly linked to the young Wilfrid before he entered the Church.

St. Mary's Church, Hexham. Photo credit: Peter Brooks

Like many towns in the North of England, Hexham suffered from the border wars with the Scots, including attacks from William Wallace who burnt the town in 1297. In 1312, Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland, demanded and received £2000 from the town and monastery in order for them to be spared a similar fate.

In 1464, Battle of Hexham was fought somewhere to the south of the town in The Wars of the Roses. The defeated Lancastrian commander Duke of Somerset was executed in Hexham market place.

Until 1572, Hexham was the administrative centre of the former Liberty or Peculiar of Hexhamshire.

In 1715 James Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Derwentwater, raised the standard for James Francis Edward Stuart in Hexham Market place. The rising, however, was unsuccessful, and Derwentwater was captured and beheaded after the battle of Preston.

In 1761, the Hexham Riot took place in the Market Place when a crowd protesting about changes in the criteria for serving in the milita was fired upon by troops from North Yorkshire Militia. 51 protesters were killed, earning the Milita the soubriquet of The Hexham Butchers.

Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Hexham was a centre of the leather trade, particularly renowned for making gloves known as Hexham Tans - now the name of a vegetarian restaurant in the town.

[edit] Notable buildings

East end of Hexham Abbey

Hexham is dominated by Hexham Abbey. The current church largely dates from c.1170–1250, in the Early English style of architecture. The choir, north and south transepts and the cloisters, where canons studied and meditated, date from this period. The east end was rebuilt in 1860.

The Abbey stands at the west end of the market place, which is home to the Shambles a Grade II* covered market built in 1766 by Sir Walter Blackett.

At the east end of the market place stands the Moot Hall, a c15 gatehouse that was part of the defenses of the town. The Moot Hall is a Grade I listed building, and was used as a courthouse until 1838.

The Old Gaol, behind the Moot Hall on Hallgates, was one of the first purpose built jails in England. It is a mid c14 building and is a Scheduled Monument and is Grade I listed.

[edit] Governance

Hexham is part of the parliamentary constituency of Hexham. The current MP is the Conservative Peter Atkinson.

[edit] Local media

Beaumont Street in Hexham with the Courant Offices

The local newspaper serving Hexham and Tynedale since 1864 is called the Hexham Courant. It was first launched by J. Catherall, and at that time espoused the Liberal cause. It later absorbed the Conservative-supporting Hexham Herald. In 1977, CN Group had taken over the business and has since continued to grow. Hexham has a town webportal called HexhamNet [1]. It is owned by the Hexham Community Partnership but continues to be managed by the Hexham Courant. It was first launched in October 2003 and continues to serve both the local community as well as visiting tourists to the Tynedale area.

[edit] Transportation

The town is well served by Hexham railway station on the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway. As well as this, Hexham is bypassed by the A69 road, linking it to Carlisle, It is also linked to Newcastle and the A1 by the A695. The 685 and 602 bus routes link the town to Tyneside and Carlisle.

A special tourist bus operates from Hexham tourist office up to the main sites on Hadrian's Wall - the route number is AD122 - the date of the building of the wall.

Hexham is also well seviced by several taxi firms, the largest of these being Advanced Taxis. There are two taxi ranks in the town, one in the town centre on Priestpopple and one at Hexham railway station.

[edit] Awards

Hexham won the Town award in the 2005 Britain in Bloom awards. In the same year Hexham was also named * 'England's Favourite Market Town' by the magazine Country Life.

[edit] Industry

In Hexham the Subskimmer was first designed and made, by Submarine Products Ltd. The town is also the site of a chipboard factory owned by the Austrian firm Egger Retail Products GmbH.

[edit] Sport

Hexham has a notably picturesque racecourse at Yarridge Heights in the hills above the town, with National Hunt (steeplechase) races throughout the year

[edit] Twin towns

- Metzingen – Germany
- Noyon – France

[edit] List of people from Hexham

Ann Cook - Innkeeper and author of Professed cookery.
Conrad Dickinson - Polar explorer
Pete Doherty formerly of, The Libertines, currently of Babyshambles, was born in Hexham.
Andy Duncan captain of Cambridge United F.C.
Mark Elder - Conductor
Gabriel Fielding - Novelist
Wilfrid Gibson - Poet
Hannah Glasse - Author of The Art of Cookery
Daniel Ainsleigh - Actor
Robson Green - Actor
William Hewson - Surgeon and anatomist
John of Hexham - Chronicler
Joseph Parker (1830–1902) - Congregationalist preacher and writer
Richard of Hexham - Chronicler
Joseph Richardson (British politician) - 'Well-natured Richardson', writer and MP

Matt Wells - Olympic rower

Pete Wells - Olympic rower

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ Kirby, pp. 153–154; Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Ms. D, s.a. 789.

[edit] External links

Major settlements in Northumberland
Alnwick \| Ashington \| Bamburgh \| Bedlington \| Berwick-upon-Tweed \| Blyth \| Cramlington \| Haltwhistle \| Hexham \| Morpeth \| Newbiggin-by-the-Sea \| Ponteland \| Prudhoe \| Rothbury \| Seahouses \| Wooler

Categories: Market towns in England | Towns in Northumberland

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