Warkworth, Northumberland

Description
Warkworth, a village, a township, and a parish in Northumberland. The village stands on the river Coquet, 1 mile from the river's mouth, and 7 miles SE by S of Alnwick, with a station on the N.E.R, It is a borough by prescription, governed by a boroughreeve, gives The title of Baron to the Duke of Northumberland, mainly consists of one street, has some good houses, is much resorted to during the summer, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office, a bank, an old two-arched bridge, at the S end an ancient roofless tower, an old market-cross, now defaced by being made a gas-light, an ancient castle, a church, a Presbyterian chapel with manse erected in 1877, and a bar-harbour with a light on the south pier and one on the north. There are golf links and a salmon fishery. The castle was built in the 12th century by a Fitz-Richard, but then left unfinished, underwent in course of time many changes of form and proprietorship, was greatly enlarged in 1400-7 and in 1435-40 by the Percys, sustained a siege in 1405 by Henry IV., figures in Shakespeare's drama of Henry IV., was partly restored in 1856, occupies a triangular area of considerable extent, and presents a noble appearance of lofty walls, towers, turrets, and great keep, but is mainly ruinous. The church, dedicated to St Lawrence, is ancient, chiefly in the Norman and Perpendicular styles, and was restored in 1860; it consists of chancel, nave, S aisle, S porch, and a western tower with lofty octagonal spire. A Benedictine priory, a cell to Durham, stood near the church, and was founded about 1256 by Bishop Barnham. An ancient hermitage, " deep hewn within a craggy cliff," is on the river's banks about half a mile above the castle; appears to be of the time of Edward II., and is an almost unique relic of its kind; measures 18 feet by 7, exclusive of a sacristy 13 feet by 5; and is celebrated in Bishop Percy's well-known ballad of the "Hermit of Warkworth." The township comprises 1098 acres of land and 86 of water and foreshore; population, 666. There is a parish council consisting of eight members. The ecclesiastical parish comprises the townships of Birling, Brotherwich, High Buston, Low Buston, Morwick, Sturton Grange, and Walkmill. Population, 1122. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Newcastle-on-Tyne; gross value, £429 with residence. Patron, the Bishop. The vicarages of Amble, Acklington, and Chevington were formerly included in Warkworth.