History

Chollerton Parish 

The Parish of Chollerton can be found in the beautiful and rural North Tyne Valley. Bordered by the North Tyne river, the Parish includes the villages of Barrasford, Gunnerton and Colwell and the settlements of Barrasford Park, Great Swinburne, Chollerton and part of Birtley, as well as outlying farmsteads and houses. The historic Chipchase Castle and Estate also falls within the Parish boundary.

Evidence remains throughout the Parish of Iron Age activity through burial monuments and enclosed sites. The reuse of carved Roman stonework was a widespread practice throughout the region, including that of an altar found in the Parish churchyard in Chollerton. There are references to the birth of modern settlements in the North Tynedale area going back to the Middle Ages. 

The earliest maps to show the area and main settlements are Saxton's map of Northumberland of 1576 and Mercator's map of Northumberland of 1595. Whilst the main settlements within the Parish are named, there is little detail available regarding the villages until the enclosure awards and maps of the early 1700s.

What we see today at Chipchase Castle is a 17th century Jacobean mansion, built on the site of a mid-14th century house and one of the earliest recorded dwellings in the Parish.

The history of Barrasford and Gunnerton was extensively researched for the ‘Barrasford & Gunnerton Historical Village Atlas’ of 2011. Barrasford is the largest village in the Parish and the best historically mapped, thanks largely to documents held in the Duke of Northumberland’s archive at Alnwick.

Whilst farming is the predominant activity in the area, The Whin Sill, a Basalt outcrop, on which Hadrian’s wall sits, cuts through the middle of the Parish and is the source of the high quality Whinstone quarried on the outskirts of Barrasford and Swinburne.

Built in the 1880s at the outskirts of Colwell, Hallington Reservoir is largely fed by an aqueduct coming through the Parish from the Catcleugh reservoir as well as from local burns and streams.

The A68, also known as Dere street, an old Roman road which ran from York to the Firth of Forth and one of the main arterial roads to Scotland, passes through the eastern side of the Parish.

We have a thriving community which includes a football team, which plays in the local Sunday League.  One of the few left in the area and in existence for over 50 years.

The Parish is now home to some 700 residents. As well as interesting historical sites, we have three churches and a chapel, a pub, a post office, a long-established caravan park, two village halls, a first school and several play areas.