WREIGH-HILL, a township in the parish of ROTHBURY,
western division of COQUETDALE ward, county
of NORTHUMBERLAND, 5 miles (W.) from Rothbury,
containing 29 inhabitants. It is bounded on the south
by the river Coquet, and was anciently called Wreck
Hill, probably from having been destroyed, in 1412,
by a band of Scottish freebooters, who killed most of
the inhabitants. In 1665, almost the entire population
was swept off by the plague, since which event great
quantities of human bones have been discovered on the
spot where the victims were interred. There are strata
of limestone and freestone in this township. George
Coughran, the celebrated youthful mathematician, was
born here.