Both groups appear to signify the secular and ecclesiastical interests which sought to control the town and the region. But the archaeology of Hexham starts long before Wilfrid founded his church there. The earliest evidence of human occupation in the area dates to the Neolithic period.
A Neolithic carved rock has been found among a number of carved stones of various dates in the Abbey; however its original prehistoric location is no longer known. Two additional stones of the same type and date have also been found at Shield Croft Farm near Gallows Bank, lending weight to the possibility of Neolithic occupation in the area.
Two burials dating to the Bronze Age have been discovered near Hexham over the years; one found in on the Newcastle road and one in on the Golf Course. This, combined with a Bronze Age axe from the town, suggests a fairly small presence in the area at that time.
As we move forward in time, we see less archaeology relating to the Iron Age. Only a coin from an unknown location in Hexham has been found, and this may well have originated from elsewhere.
There is far more archaeology dating to Roman times and this has caused some debate amongst archaeologists and local people. Do the many Roman stones, such as the one found near Hallstile Bank and others found built into later buildings, come from a previously unknown Roman site in Hexham?
Or were they simply transported from Corbridge where a large Roman military supply base was quarried to use the stone for the Anglo-Saxon church which was subsequently built in Hexham? The debate has led to a flurry of activity, where archaeologists seek to prove their favoured theory.
A number of tracks have been identified as possible Roman Roads , but no firm dating evidence has been found. When Beaumont Street was built alongside the Abbey in , two Roman altars were found. In addition, a Roman coin was found when two houses adjacent to the Abbey were demolished in and a number of Roman stones can be seen within the Abbey today. Is this enough to suggest a Roman site under the abbey? Some archaeologists have sought to prove that the Abbey is the site of a former Roman fort and claim to have found ditches relating to this fort.
The debate is likely to continue for many more years. The earliest documentary reference to Hexham occurs in AD Land known as Hestaldesham was granted by Queen Ethelrid, or Etheldreda, of Northumberland to Wilfrid to endow a new bishopric. The church was built between AD and and became a cathedral in In AD the bishop moved to Lindisfarne and the church became the centre of a monastery. These buildings were destroyed by the Vikings in AD and little remains of this early church.
St Wilfrid's crypt can still be seen below the church and the bishop's chair is still on display in the chancel. While this church eventually flourished, to be refounded by Augustinian monks in , two other churches also existed nearby, and considerably less survives of these today.
Its precise location is now lost, but it is thought to have existed somewhere near the Market Place. Wilfrid onwards. One theory is that it derives from the Old English Hagustaldes ea and later Hagustaldes ham , the elements possibly denoting a younger son who takes land outside the settlement, which could have referred to the land of Hexham west of the older settlement of Corbridge.
This period was the focus of a special issue of Hexham Historian 7 , and an article on the excavation of the Roman bridge piers at Corbridge is in Hexham Historian However, the modern form appears to derive from Hextildesham , in use from the late 12th century when the hamlets of Cockshaw, Priestpopple and Hencotes merge around the Market Place. The current Hexham Abbey pictured dates largely from the 12th century onward when it was refounded as a priory in the wake of the Norman Conquest.
The architecture of the Early English priory was described in Hexham Historian 23 , and its priceless medieval paintings in Hexham Historian The Moot Hall stands on the far side of the market place from the Abbey, an imposing medieval tower, as is the Old Gaol just beyond, the oldest purpose built prison in England. Fortifications such as these were important in this border region.
Hexham suffered from the border wars with the Scots, including attacks from William Wallace who burnt the town in Nearby, another building in the street is the headquarters for the Hexham Courant newspaper that serves the Tynedale area.
The newspaper was first published in The incident occurred on the 9th March , during a protest against methods of conscription into the local militia.
Objection was to the election of men to the militia by balloting, instead of the selection of recruits by landowners, as had previously been the case. The introduction of this new system met fierce resistance in other parts of Northumberland and in Durham so there was a large military presence for the balloting of men at Hexham. The military presence at Hexham seemed to be justified as around men attended the meeting, mostly to protest.
As their anger began to increase, the Riot Act was read and they were asked to disperse. The protesters made it clear they would not give in, so magistrates ordered soldiers from the North Yorkshire Militia to open fire on the crowd.
At least forty people were killed and over three hundred injured in the resulting chaos. He was sentenced to be hung, cut down alive, to be disembowelled, have his entrails burnt in front of his eyes! It was later discovered that Patterson had not been in Hexham on the day of the riot! There are two burns that pass through the old town of Hexham. One is the Cowgarth Burn that used to pass through the abbey grounds but its course through Hexham is now culverted. Just to the west of the abbey grounds is a small park called the Sele which is bounded on its west side by the wooded valley of the Cockshaw Burn.
Nearby, close to here the Cockshaw Burn is joined by the culverted Cowgarth Burn near the western end of Gilesgate. If you head back east along Gilesgate towards Hexham Market Place there is a large and attractive Georgian house called Hexham House in lovely grounds which are open to the public. The earliest parts of the house date to with later wings added and it now serves as a wedding venue.
In its grounds became a public park. Now culverted like its companion, the Cockshaw Burn joins the River Tyne near the Tynedale Golf Club which occupies the riverside land to the north west of Hexham. To the east of the golf course is the Tyne Green play area, along with a large animal feed warehouse shop and the Hexham Mart.
To their east is Hexham Bridge which crosses the River Tyne here and dates to the s. Near the south side of the bridge at Hexham is Hexham railway station on the Newcastle to Carlisle line and nearby, a small neighbouring trading estate. There is a larger trading and industrial estate over on the north side of the river near the A It hosts the prominent factory and chimneys of the Egger chipboard plant and the neighbouring headquarters of the Fentimans soft drinks manufacturer.
To the east of Acomb is the little village of Oakwood in truth a modern housing development and to its east the older village of Anick which of course has the potential to be confused with Alnwick. Anick is the site of a noted eating establishment called the Rat Inn. It is a very little village and was historically one of the estates of the priory at Hexham and being the former site of a grange farmed by its lay brothers.
To the east of Anick we find Beaufront Castle, built by John Dobson in the s on the site of an eaerlier castle or mansion that belonged to the Carnaby family in Elizabethan times and later the Erringtons. To its east is another little hamlet called Sandhoe the sandy hill spur where a hall built in Jacobean style by John Dobson is screened by a thick layer of trees on the roadside. Here, however we have drifted into the realms of Corbridge which nestles nearby on the north bank of the Tyne less than three miles east of Hexham.
At High Yarridge, about a mile south of Hexham we find Hexham racecourse where horse racing has been held since about A little to the south of the racecourse, flowing from west to east is the West Dipton Burn which rises initially as Stublick Sike on Stublick Moor near Langley Castle in the South Tyne valley to the west. However, the Yorkists fought back fiercely and the Lancastrian supporters gradually fled the field. Another Wars of the Roses battle was fought in April the following year in Northumberland at Hedgeley Moor near Powburn and again the Lancastrians were defeated.
The second Battle of Hexham also took place in , on the 5 May and this was the most decisive and important of the three. Again the Lancastrians were defeated putting an end to a period of four years of struggle between the supporters of the deposed and feeble-minded Lancastrian king, Henry VI under Margaret and men fighting for the Yorkist usurper, Edward IV.
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