A Brief History

Information Available

Minutes Apr 2010

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Minutes  Jan 2011

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Minutes  July 2011

Minutes  Oct 2011

Minutes Jan 2012

Minutes April 2012

Minutes Jul  2012

Minutes Feb 2013

The parish of Cartington lies in central Northumberland and is almost entirely made up of high moorland. It stretches from the heights of Mount Pleasant in the east, across Cartington Hill, to the Black Burn in the west.

Several streams flow though the parish to join the River Coquet, one of the deepest valleys being created by the Debdon Burn which provided hydroelectric power to Lord Armstrong’s Cragside.

The name Cartington is Scandinavian in origin and derives from ‘Kiartan’s hill’ or ‘homestead of Kiartan’s people.’

The parish lies in the valley of the River Coquet and was formerly part of the Middle March on the English side of the Border until the union of the crowns of England and Scotland in 1603; it lies in the heart of the border country.

The parish is as sparsely populated today, as it ever was, but the moorland is rich in upstanding remains, from Bronze Age burials and settlements to a medieval castle and village, suggesting that the area has been continuously populated since prehistoric times.

A large portion of the parish lies under forestry plantations and the wooded parkland of Cragside which in themselves may hide further archaeological sites.

The Cartington Coat of Arms has  a red ground, divided by a horizontal band of gold, between three gold wheels.

 As early as 1278 there was a John de Cartington.   There was also a “lance” of that name at Agincourt in 1415, but the arms quoted are those of a John de Cartington as they occur on a seal to a document in 1452.   Probably he was the same man who in 1458 was appointed a commissioner along with Henry, Earl of Northumberland, and other gentleman, to raise a body of arches in the County of Northumberland.

About 1494, Ann the daughter and heiress of Cartington  married Sir Edward Radcliffe,  a member of the Derwentwater family.   Thus the manor of Cartington passed from the Cartingtons to the Radcliffes whose arms are emblazoned on the shield above the doorway of All Saints Parish Church in Rothbury which leads  from the chancel into the priests vestry, once known as the Cartington Chantry.

Chairman
Ian Armstrong

Clerk
Ann Winter

Ian Fletcher
Graham Duff
Chris Macey

Meeting Dates

Mon April 8th 2013

Jubilee Hall, Rothbury
7.00 pm