Amble and District
Local History

      Amble town is located on the Northumberland coast at the mouth of the river Coquet, sitting on a modest promontory dividing Druridge Bay to the south and Alnmouth Bay to the north. Latitude: N55:19:48 Longitude: W1:35:06. Population: 6044 (2001 Census) Area: 168 hectares. map
    Within a few miles are the villages and hamlets of Warkworth, Broomhill, Hadston, Red Row, Acklington, Togston and Hauxley. Two other villages with significant populations; Radcliffe and Chevington Drift, were demolished in the 1970s/80s to make way for opencast mining. Inhabitants of these villages were moved to Amble and Hadston. This area falls within the old parish boundaries of Warkworth and Chevington Chapelry. The neighbouring parish of Shilbottle and Brainshaugh Chapelry will also be included here.
    The core of the site will be the 19th century work by John Crawford Hodgson; A History of Northumberland, Volume V from which we will (hopefully) be inspired to develop some additional pages and photo galleries. Please contact us (via the forum)

Page 1	Old photographs, plans, documents and ephemera wanted!! If you have any old photographs or documents of historical interest, relating to the people and places from our area then we would love to hear from you. Scans/copies can be emailed to us for publication on the site. If you would like to contribute please send us a message through the 'contact us form' above. We are interested in the area from West Chevington and Widdrington village to the coast, and north to Shilbottle and Newton on the Moor. That is the old parishes of Warkworth, Shilbottle, Brainshaugh and Chevington Chapelry, and a little beyond. We are particularly interested in: The Collieries; Radcliffe, Broomhill, Newburgh, Hauxley, Whittle and Shilbottle. The 'lost' towns; Chevington Drift and Radcliffe, and anything else that has disappeared due to opencast mining. Also fishing and agriculture, the port of Amble (Warkworth Harbour) and the port's vessels. Landscapes, streets and buildings particularly those showing change. Group photos: workers, soldiers (groups of local territorials, officers, war casualties), sports teams, etc. Note: We are restricted by copyright, and it's unlikely we can reproduce anything here already published post WW2, so we are particularly interested in pre WW2 material, although your own unpublished photos can of course be reproduced with your permission.
	Read the history of Amble and District written by Thomas McAndrews, an Amble coal miner and local historian who lived in Bede Street. (c 1910)

The old ecclesiastical parish boundaries (click to enlarge)
Warkworth Parish (pink), Shilbottle Parish (orange), Brainshaugh Chapelry (yellow) and Chevington Chapelry (green).

Ecclesiastical Parish/ Chapelry^Acres	Townships^N
Warkworth Parish^17455*	Warkworth, Birling, Gloster Hill, High Buston, Low Buston, Sturton Grange, Brotherwick, Walk Mill, Morwick, †Acklington, †Acklington Park, Hauxley, Togston and **Amble
ChevingtonChapelry⁵⁴⁸⁴	East Chevington, West Chevington, Bullocks Hall and Hadston.

† BrainshaughChapelry¹⁴⁰²	Brainshaugh
Shilbottle Parish⁶⁵⁰¹	Shilbottle, Shilbottle Wood House, Whittle, Hazon and Hartlaw, Newton on the Moor.
* Chevington Chapelry, being part of Warkworth Parish is included in this area. † Acklington and Acklington Park were severed from Warkworth Parish in 1859 and constituted, together with the extra-parochial chapelry of Brainshaugh, or Guyzance, into the new Parish of Acklington. ** 1869 saw the severance of Amble, Hauxley and Gloster Hill townships from Warkworth Parish to form the new Amble Parish, with the new church located in Church Street, Amble.

19th Century Township Populations from the Census returns.
	Year:
Township^Acres	1801	1811	1821	1831	1841	1851	1861	1871	1881	1891
Warkworth¹¹²⁹	614	568	594	614	785	834	730	765	662	666
Birling	87	81	69	85	80	73	83	78	83	104
Gloster Hill²¹²	21	21	31	28	18	45	46	38	44	39
High Buston⁷²¹	100	80	95	92	100	97	120	113	102	81
Low Buston⁸⁹⁶	67	72	85	103	115	109	129	123	95	96
Sturton Grange¹¹¹⁹	88	86	72	88	108	130	122	114	116	78
Brotherwick¹⁸⁵	10	9	10	4	10	13	7	15	20	23
Walk Mill¹²⁷	6	6	13	7	5	8	7	11	5	8
Morwick⁷⁶⁴	59	75	72	64	79	70	71	83	92	66
Acklington²¹²¹	257	249	269	285	301	284	255	258	230	235
Acklington Park⁷⁹⁴	108	125	125	107	133	104	163	120	142	76
Hauxley⁷⁵³	92	113	114	143	457	811	937	556	972	1030
Togston¹⁰⁷⁹	84	96	102	149	151	217	224	208	232	500
Amble¹²¹⁸	152	155	197	247	724	1040	1275	1233	2016	2975
Shilbottle³⁰⁰⁰	472	465	548	557	549	601	570	528	428	454
Shilbottle Wood House⁵⁶⁷	29	8	25	31	23	36	33	22	21	31
Whittle⁵⁴⁹	64	101	64	53	56	40	40	28	19	9
Hazon and Hartlaw¹⁴⁴⁵	132	116	99	92	85	118	217	243	281	163
Newton on the Moor⁹⁴⁰	162	228	244	265	290	290	291	288	233	215
Brainshaugh¹⁴⁰²	172	186	173	197	205	215	217	243	281	163
East Chevington²²⁴⁰	123	170	207	234	289	377	651	1134	1511	1550
West Chevington¹⁸⁵⁹	90	101	108	117	67	104	161	190	503	587
Bullocks Hall²¹⁰	7	22	14	14	19	20	14	15	11	15
Hadston¹¹⁷⁵	68	72	88	97	71	103	92	55	81	78