"Cheviot Hills"

The open moorland plateaux are managed as grouse moors and for grazing by distinctive white-faced Cheviot and black-faced Border sheep. Better quality grassland on the steep lower hill slopes is grazed by both beef cattle and sheep. The greener appearance of the lower slopes, indicative of agriculturally improved grassland, contrasts with colourful patches of bracken, heather and spring or flush plant communities. There are a few substantial blocks of coniferous plantation in the upper valleys of the Cheviots. The fast-flowing upper reaches of the Rivers Alwin, Breamish and Coquet, and the College and Harthope burns tumble through steep valleys which radiate from the central Cheviot core. Often lined with riverside meadows, broadleaved woodland and gorse scrub, the valleys provide sheltered sites for scattered farmsteads and for a few small hamlets such as Alwinton and Biddlestone.

The Cheviots are crossed by a network of ancient tracks and drove roads, which for centuries were busy with herds of highland cattle being driven from Scotland to markets in the south. Although traffic eased during the period of medieval border warfare, it became firmly re-established in the 17th and 18th centuries, particularly by drovers keen to avoid the tolls of the new turnpike roads. These tracks now form part of the network of tracks in the Northumberland National Park to which visitors are drawn each year, attracted by the wild and lonely landscapes of the uplands. One of the earliest such visitors was Daniel Defoe who, in the 1720s, was disappointed by the broad flat summit of the Cheviot but was much impressed by the upland barrier of the Cheviots which was 'in some places inaccessible, in many impassable'

"St Bartholmew Church, Whittingham"

"Whittingham parish comprises the townships of Callaley with Yetlington, Glanton, Lorbottle, Ryle Great, Ryle Little, Shawdon, and Whittingham, and is bounded on the north by Ingram and Eglingham, on the west by Alnham, on the south by Rothbury, and on the east by Edlingham. It is about four miles in length by the same in breadth, and embraces an area of 17,484 acres. Its population in 1801, was 1,465; in 1811, 1,862; in 1821, 1,749; in 1831, 1,790; in 1841, 1,896, and in 1851, 1,905 souls. The parish is very fertile, well enclosed, and cultivated. The tithes were commuted in 1841, award of rent charge, £980, of which £938 is for the township of Whittingham, and £42 for that of Little Ryle, and £686 to the Dean and Chapter of Carlisle, as tithe owners, and £294 to the Vicar of Whittingham."  [From History, Topography, and Directory of Northumberland, Whellan, 1855].

The following parishes are adjacent to Whittingham:- Alnham, Alwinton, Edlingham, Eglingham, Ingram, Kidland, Kirknewton, Rothbury.

Comment: This branch is directly linked to to Branch 29S and to the other branches associated with it.

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