Melkridge, Whitchester & Cowburn

MELKRIDGE township is on the road from Haltwhistle to Hexham, 2 miles east from Haltwhistle.The Mission church of St. John the Baptist is a building of stone, erected in 1905; at a cost of about £1,000, and will seat 120 persons; divine service is held at 10.30 a.m. and 6.30 p.m. by the vicar of Haltwhistle. The Wesleyan chapel, a building of stone, was erected in 1888 at a cost of £300, and will seat 100 persons: at Cawburn is a Primitive Methodist chapel, erected in 1874, at cost of £312; it is a building of stone, and has 130 sittings. In the township is a Reading Room. There is a colliery here, worked by the Blackett and South Tyne Collieries Limited, and producing good steam, gas and household coal. Sir Hugh D. Blackett bart. of Matfen Hall, who is lord of the manor, Mrs. E. J. Gibson, of Whitchester, and Ernest A. Webster esq. J.P. of Unthank Hall, are the principal landowners.

In and about the Cawfields farm, in the township of Melkridge, and chiefly in that portion which lies north of the wall, various Roman remains been found between the years 1848 and 1883 these include a mural tablet of the 2nd legion of the time of Hadrian, A.D, 117, and another of the 20th legion, and four tablets found in mile castles; an altar to Apollo, dedicated by a soldier from Upper Germany; a centurial atone of Valerius Maximns; an inscribed circulal: mile-stone 4,D. 223-6, 3 feet 9 inches high, found on a paved causeway and marking a distance of 18 Roman miles from Patriana (Cambeck Fort), a station between this and Cilurnum (Chesters) ; and two centurial tablets. The area is 4,422 acres of land and 29 of water; rateable value £5,136; the population in 1901 was 485

Council Schools.

Correspondent, W: H. Batey, 4 Crossfield terrace, Haltwhistle

Melkridge (mixed junior), rebuilt in 1908, for 50 boys & girls; average attendance, 29;

Miss Caroline A. Saint, mistress

Cowburn (mixed.), for 60 boys & girls; average attendance, 27; Miss Mary A. Aitken, mistress

PRIVATE RESIDENTS.

Carrick Joseph, Melkridge house Corbett Vincent

Gibson Mrs. E. J. Whitchester Bichardson Robert, High town

COMMERCIAL.

Appleby Edward, gardener to Joseph Carrick esk

.Armstrong John, farmer, Longsike

Armstrong John, cowkeeper.Edges green

Baxter David, farmer, High Close-a-Burn

Bell Robert & John Philip, farmers, Vicar's allotments

Bell Nicholas Wm. farmer. Edges green

Blackett & South Tyne Collieries Lim.  Vincent Corbett, manager

Burdon Richard. farmer, Cowburn rigg

Bushby Andrew, gardener to Mrs, Gibson, Whitchester

E Bush by Jacob, farmer, Common house

Carr Thomas, farmer, Scughey rigg

Dixon John, shopkeeper

Dixon Robert farmer .Carsgate & Lea burn

Hepple John, farmer, Sook hill

Hepple Thomas, farmer, Well house

Heslop Ann (Mrs.), farmer, Carsgate

Heslop John ( exors. of) farmers, Cawburn, Shield

Johnson Jacob Walton, farmer. Low house

Liddell Robert, farmer & landowner

Lowes William,farmer,Hall Peat moss

Murray Thomas & Son, farmers, Edges green

O'Hanlon Jas.Three Horse Shoes

P.H Reading Rooms (Arth. Willock, sec)

Skeldon Hugh, farmer, Close-a-Burn

Snowball William & Son, farmers, Low Close-a-Burn

Spraggon Benjamin & Sons, farmers, Wealside

Stobart Thomas, farmer, Shields-on- the-Wall

Teasdale Thomas.farmer,Melkridge farm

Tweddle Arthur, farmer, Woodhall

Varty Thomas, joiner

WHITCHESTER. 1 mile west from Melkridge, on the north bank of the South Tyne river, was a Roman military post of great .strength, defended on three sides by steep and rugged glens". It is the property and residence of' Mrs. Gibson.

HIGH TOWN is a hamlet, 2 miles east from Haltwhistle.

Letters through Haltwhistle, which is also the nearest money order & telegraph office

Wall Letter Box cleared at 9.15 a.m. & 6 p.m. ; no collection Sundays

HIGH and LOW RAMSHAW, HIGH and LOW TODDLEWOOD and LIMESTONES are hamlets of this township.

Letters through Haltwhistle, which is also the nearest money order & telegraph office, arrive at 9 a.m