Haltwhistle

The turbulent and inspiring years of the early church in Northumberland touched this district which was visited by St Aidan and traversed by the coffin of St Cuthbert (whose name is attached to many of our churches today).
Probably the oldest Christian building in the area is the tiny chapel apse recently excavated at Vindolanda Roman fort and provisionally dated as belonging to the 6th century AD.
An ecumenical service to celebrate the Millennium was held here.
It is also believed by some that St Patrick was born in the Vicus (Roman village) attached to the Roman Fort of Magnis by the Roman Army Museum.

In Haltwhistle at the back of the Market Place is the Church of the Holy Cross.
This is the oldest building in Haltwhistle and one of only a few early 13th century churches still functioning as a working church in England.
It is open to visitors on Thursday and Saturday from 2.00 until 4.00 pm from Easter to 30th September.

The oldest part of the Church is the chancel erected in the 12th century.
A fine triplet is noticeable here.
The shafts and piers of the arcade are early English in style and have various features of interest including a 6th century old Water Stoup and a tomb of the crusader Thomas de Blenkinsopp who died in 1388.

Much of the Church was decorated by the Pre-Raphaelites including excellent stained glass windows by William Morris and Burne-Jones and the Chancel ceiling which was decorated by Burne-Jones.
The Pre-Raphaelite artists were frequent visitors to our area, staying at Wallington with the Trevellyans and at Naworth Castle with the Howard and Roberts families.
They have also left examples of their skills in the "new" church, St. Martin's in Brampton - windows and altar cloth - and in the main hall at Wallington.

From the churchyard there is a splendid view of Plenmeller Common and the North Pennines behind.
It is thought that this may have been the site of a much more ancient religious place.
St. Aidan who established the great Christian Priory of Lindisfarne on Holy Island, evangelized much of northern England, founding numerous churches and monasteries, and is believed to have preached here in the early 7th Century and a corrupted form of his name may be the origin of the modern day name of the terrace, Eden's Lawn.

Dissent came late to Western Northumberland. A Presbyterian congregation was established and had built a church on Fair Hill by 1744, while the Society of Friends (Quakers) had founded a meeting house in Coanwood by 1760.

John Wesley preached through the area several times during its industrial heyday, inspiring much church and chapel building during the 19th century, and the numerous often tiny and beautifully situated chapels around the area are all worth a second glance. The Wesleyan Methodists were established in the town prior to their first chapel being built in 1850 and their society founded chapels at Halton Lea Gate, Tindale, Harper Town, Coanwood, Park, Kellah, Melkridge and Henshaw.

The Roman Catholics re-established their presence in the town by building a tiny church on Wapping in 1884 (although a priest had been appointed in 1860).
This proved too small for their needs and in 1993 they moved to Westgate where they share the former Presbyterian Church (built c. 1900) with the congregation of the United Reformed Church (this may be a unique arrangement), now called the Two Churches.
All the churches in the town work closely together now under the banner, `Churches Together'.

According to the Northumbria historian Hodgeson, it was at Unthank Hall two miles south of Haltwhistle that Bishop Ridley the martyr was born.
Nicholas Ridley had become a supporter of the Protestant cause whilst he was a student at Cambridge.
He was a friend of Archbishop Cranmer and became private chaplain first to Cranmer and then to King Henry VIII. Under the reign of Henry's son Edward VI, he became Bishop of Rochester, and was part of the committee that drew up the first English Book of Common Prayer.
When the young king died and his sister "Bloody" Mary came to the throne, he was imprisoned for his devotion to the doctrines of the Reformation and for his part in placing Lady Jane Grey on the throne. Later, with Cranmer, Ridley was taken to Oxford to answer his accusers.
There he was declared to be an "obstinate heretic" and on 16th October 1555 he was burnt at the stake near Balliol College. He wrote his last letter from prison to his sister, Elizabeth Ridley, at Walltown, two miles north of Haltwhistle.