WARKWORTH, a parish, county of NORTHUMBERLAND,
comprising the townships
of Birling, Brotherick, High Buston, Low Buston,
Sturton-Grange, andWalkmill, in the eastern division
of COQUETDALE ward, and the townships of Amble, -
Acklington, Acklington-Park, Bullock's - Hall, East
Chivington, and West Chivington, Glosterhill, Hauxley,
Hadston, Morrick, Togston, and Warkworth, in the
eastern division of MORPETH ward, county of NORTHUMBERLAND,
and containing 2265 inhabitants, of
which number, 594 are in the township of Warkworth,
7 miles (S.E.) from Alnwick. The living is a vicarage,
in the archdeaconry of Northumberland, and diocese of
Durham, rated in the king's books at & 18. 5. 7., and
in the patronage of the Bishop of Carlisle. The church,
dedicated to St. Lawrence, is a handsome structure, said.
tq have been originally founded by Ceolwulph, King of
Northumbria, in 736, and rebuilt at a later period; it
has a spire nearly one hundred feet high; in its southwestern
extremity is a monument to the memory of Sir
Hugh de Morwick, a Knight Templar, who gave the
common to the inhabitants. There are. places of .worship
for Scottish Seceders and Wesleyan Methodists.
The parish abounds with excellent coal, freestone, limesltone,
and whinstone. The village is situated a short
distance westward from the sea, and is almost surrounded
by the river Coquet, which is here crossed by
an ancient bridge of two arches, having at the south
end a tower gateway, formerly defended by an iron
gate, through which the road passes: some valuable,
gems and pebbles are frequently fpund in its bed. This
place consists of one main street leading from the castle
to the bridge, and a short opening to the church,
of good modern-built houses, and contains two very
commodious inns. At the ancient cross, a market,
granted by King John, was formerly held for provisions,
but it has been long disused. Fairs for cattle are proclaimed
on the first Thursday in May, and on the
Thursdays before August 18th and November 23rd, one
being held also on the last-mentioned day. Warkworth
was anciently a borough, having been probably
so constituted by King Ceolwulph, in the time of the
Saxons. The Duke of Northumberland holds a court
leet on the first Wednesday in October, at which a
boroughreeve, two moorgrieves, three constables, and
other officers, are annually chosen. A building, now
sometimes called the "Town Hall," was erected, in 1736,
by Mr. G. Lawson, for a school-house, and is used as
such; but a more commodious one was erected by subscription
in 1824, the children in which are educated
on the Madras system: there are also a girls' National
school, and an infants' school for both sexes. Nearly
adjoining the churchyard are some remains of a small
Benedictine priory, founded' by Nicholas de Farnham,
Bishop of Durham, who died in 1257. The venerable
and magnificent ruins of Warkworth castle occupy a
fine elevation, rising from the margin of the river, south
of the village, the moat by which it is surrounded enclosing
more than five acres; the area is of an oblong
form, on the north side of which stands the keep, on
a lofty mound, encompassed by a wall thirty-five feet
high, both in good preservation; but of the grand entrance
to this once stately fortress only a few apartments
remain. It is not recorded by whom the castle
was erected; the arms of the Percy family, however,
appear to have been inserted in different parts of
the building, at a much later period than that of its
foundation. About a mile westward is an ancient
hermitage, with a neat small chapel, curiously adorned,
in the early style of English architecture, containing an
altar and various other devotional emblems, with the
representation of a recumbent female on a table monument
placed in a niche near the altar, and that of a
hermit standing over it, in a mournful attitude. This
interesting retreat is celebrated in the beautiful poem
entitled "The Hermit of-Warkworth," published by Dr.
Percy, Bishop of Dromore, in 1771- Warkworth gives
the inferior title of baron to the Duke of Northumberland.