Wark, Northumberland

Description
Wark, a village and a parish in Northumberland. The village stands on the North Tyne river, 4 1/2 miles SSE of Belllngham, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office (R.S.O.), and a station on a section of the North British railway. The parish comprises the three former townships of High and Low Shitlington and Warksburn. Acreage, 23,413 of land and 122 of water; population, 731. There is a parish council consisting of seven members. The Duke of Northumberland is lord of the manor. A seat of the Ratcliffes was at Mote Hill. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Newcastle-on-Tyne; net value, £231 with residence. Patron; Greenwich Hospital. The church was built in 1818 by the governors of Greenwich Hospital, and was reseated, redecorated, and the chancel rebuilt in 1883-84, when a reredos was erected. It is in the Gothic style, and consists of chancel, nave, and an embattled western tower. There are English Presbyterian and Wesleyan chapels, two banks, a mechanics' institute, containing reading-room, library, and lecture hall, presented in 1875 by Mr Hugh Taylor of Chipchase Castle, and a school, founded in 1679, with an endowment of £150 per annum. A bridge over the North Tyne, connecting this parish with Chollerton, was widened, and iron substituted for the old wooden upper portions in 1878.