Welcome to the WIKI Pages for Haltwhistle Heritage and History

Here we present stories and memories from the present and past describing the heritage and history of Haltwhistle and the surrounding area.

If you have any additions or corrections please email steve@stevegibbon.co.uk, thank you.

Accuracy

We have taken every care to ensure accuracy of this wiki content. Where possible sources of information are referenced. However, as is inevitable in the collection of people's memories and even in documented 'evidence' such as newspaper articles, the accuracy of information can vary and even stray towards the anecdotal. Please bear this in mind when using this wiki.

If you find any information which you think may be inaccurate we would be pleased to hear from you at steve@stevegibbon.co.uk. Please let us know the corrected information and sources if at all possible. Thank you.

If you are using this site for family history research purposes (once that data becomes available) there are a number of things you could try:

1. Use the search box on a full or partial name - try surnames first. Our main biographical pages use the format Surname, Forename e.g. 'Scott, Jane'. Other references within pages will use the more common terminology 'Jane Scott'.
2. Go the the People Category page where there is an alphabetically sorted list go biography entries. We have endeavoured to use married names but have created cross-link entries from maiden names as much as possible so you can look for e.g. 'Scott, Jane' or 'Rochester, Jane'. Both will take you to a full biography.
3. If you have an address search on that e.g. 'Cruddas Terrace' or more specifically '1 Cruddas Terrace' (no commas).

Disambiguation

In the case of family history particularly locally, you will often come across several individuals with the same name e.g. George Armstrong. On this WIKI we differentiate these common names in the following manner.

1. The first instance of the name encountered in our research will be recorded under the page 'Armstrong, George'.
2. This will not always be the oldest recorded instance - just the one we first came across.
3. Subsequent variations of the name will use the birth year to differentiate the page title e.g. 'Armstrong, George b 1879'.
4. Further methods will be used to differentiate beyond that as required.
5. If you are therefore searching for 'George Armstrong' it is suggested you use the People Category to search for and examine all instances of 'George Armstrong' until you are satisfied you have found what you want.

Categories

The following categories are utilised on this Wiki:

• People
• Streets and Premises
• Occupations
• Heritage Walks

Most Recent Pages

• 08:54, 21 March 2024 ‎Featherstone Prisoner of War Camp (hist | edit) ‎[10,709 bytes] ‎Steve (talk | contribs) (Initial article.)
• 17:22, 21 January 2024 ‎Gilsland Spa Hotel (hist | edit) ‎[2,814 bytes] ‎Steve (talk | contribs) (Initial content)
• 17:17, 21 January 2024 ‎A link to Ruth Ellis (hist | edit) ‎[1,950 bytes] ‎Steve (talk | contribs) (Initial content)
• 20:43, 5 January 2024 ‎History and Tour of Holy Cross Church (hist | edit) ‎[11,662 bytes] ‎Steve (talk | contribs) (Created page with "''* This information is provided by Colin Mills following a visit he hosted to Holy Cross Church for the Haltwhistle Heritage Group on 4/10/2023.'' ==Introduction== Colin began by recapping some of the information from his talk about King Edward I in August to set the scene: * There are possible connections to St Aidan which survive in the place name ‘Eden’s Lawn’. * The Anglo-Saxon church became large and well endowed. During the reign of King Knut, it was inc...")
• 20:37, 5 January 2024 ‎Edward I in Haltwhistle AD1306, and related topics (hist | edit) ‎[11,996 bytes] ‎Steve (talk | contribs) (Created page with "''* Information provided by Colin Mill 2/8/2023 to a talk for the Haltwhistle History Group'' These notes mainly cover the years 1297 to 1307, just ten years. We have here an itinerary of King Edward I journey across Durham and Northumberland in the autumn before he dies. You can keep these copies if you wish – we can get more copies from the library if there are not enough. The bits that are printed in bold are the official itinerary from the national archives...")
• 20:31, 5 January 2024 ‎A Town Walk – through the past, shops, Reivers, streams and Pigs (hist | edit) ‎[7,485 bytes] ‎Steve (talk | contribs) (Created page with "On Thursday 31st August a town walk organised by the library was led by Maureen and Lorna along Westgate from the library and main street as far as the Wappings. Everyone, new to the town or born there, would have learned something from these two lovely ladies and we had great fun on the walk as well to make this a great experience, finishing with coffee at the Centre of Britain Hotel. Living in the area for only 30 years meant I learned a lot. I provide some brief note...")
• 20:26, 5 January 2024 ‎Castles (hist | edit) ‎[1,719 bytes] ‎Steve (talk | contribs) (Created page with "Local Castles include: * Bellister * Thirlwall * Blenkinsopp * Langley * Ridley Hall * Haltwhistle * Featherstone * Unthank * Willemoteswick There are many uses of the word castle for various buildings ranging from hunting lodges, fortified buildings and mansion houses, through to castles authorised by the Crown. Not all of the above buildings are actual ‘Castles’ authorised by the Crown. Little is known about Haltwhistle Castle because other than some possible fo...")
• 20:15, 5 January 2024 ‎Churches and Chapels in Haltwhistle (hist | edit) ‎[5,788 bytes] ‎Steve (talk | contribs) (Created page with "==The Quaker Meeting House, Coanwood== The Meeting House was built in 1760 and is historically important as it has not been modified since it was built. It is a Grade II* listed building and is currently owned and cared for by the Historic Chapels Trust. However, the Trust is soon to relinquish this responsibility so there are steps being taken to preserve the future of this delightful building. The Meeting House is open every day between 10:00 and 16:00 (as of Septembe...")
• 19:55, 5 January 2024 ‎Tinsmith (hist | edit) ‎[863 bytes] ‎Steve (talk | contribs) (Created page with "From wikipedia, the full encyclopaedia online. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinsmith More details can be found there.] A tinsmith is a person who makes and repairs things made of tin or other light metals. The profession may sometimes also be known as a tinner, tinker, tinman, or tinplate worker; whitesmith may also refer to this profession, though the same word may also refer to an unrelated specialty of iron-smithing. By extension it can also refer to the person who...")
• 19:54, 5 January 2024 ‎Cordwainer (hist | edit) ‎[368 bytes] ‎Steve (talk | contribs) (Created page with "Information from WikiPedia A cordwainer is a shoemaker who makes new shoes from new leather. The cordwainer's trade can be contrasted with the cobbler's trade, according to a tradition in Britain that restricted cobblers to repairing shoes. For a full description of Cordwainer see [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordwainer Wikipedia here]. Category:Occupations")