HEXHAM, (Northumberland) near the conflux of the N. and S. Tyne, 211 cm. 276 mm. from London, had a mon. once, with
liberties so large that procured it the name of a shire; and by act of Pt. in the R. of Hen. VIII. was of itself made a
Co. palatine. It also was the see of a Bp. but the diocese was so harassed and ruined by the Danes, that no man would
accept of the Bpk. and therefore it was united to Lindisfarn; and the manor bel. to the Abps. of York, till they passed
with thir right, in an exchange made with K. Hen. VIII. whereby it was annexed to the crown, as it was in the R. of Q.
Eliz. to the Co. of Northumberland, being subjected to the same judicature; But this is only to be underftood of civil
matters; for its ecclesiastical jurisdiction is not the same with the rest of the Co. it being still a peculiar bel. to
the Abp. of York; and the vulgar still call the neighbouring country Hexhamshire. 'Tis a well-built T. and a Corp.
governed by a bailiff chose yearly. The W. end of its ancient Ch. built in the time of the Saxons, is demolished, but the
rest stands entire, and is a very stately structure, though it was much damaged in the civil wars, the first blood therein
being drawn in its neighbourhood; where an English detachment, though advantageously posted, was defeated by a party of
Scots, who fought their way through the Tine, and killed 400 men, and put the rest to flight; which was soon followed with
the tame surrender of Newcastle from which it is about 15 m. distance. The Mt. here is Tu. Fairs on Dec. 8, July 26, and
Oct. 29; the two last for leather. Part of the old mon. was soon after the Diss. turned into a dwelling-house by Sir John
Foster, whose posterity sold it to Sir John Fenwick; and his to Sir Will. Blacket, Bt. whose descendant of the same name
now enjoys it. A rivulet, called Hexbold, runs by the T. which sometimes suddenly overflows it.