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Northumberland Green Hub WEBSITE LAUNCHED!

Message from NGH

NGH WEBSITE LAUNCHED!

Hi everyone. We’re really pleased to be able to announce that the NGH website is now live. You can view it https://nghonline.co.uk/

We’d love to know what you think and get your feedback. And when you’re telling anyone about NGH, please point them to the website where they’ll be able to find information and sign up to join.

 

 

Whitton Conservation Area

A Conservation Area is an area recognised as being of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. It is recognised not only for fine houses and structures but also for the ambiance and the presence of elements such as a mixture of wild and maintained verges, its tree structure, and the timelessness of its buildings and layout. In a Conservation Area, all elements are protected and require permissions for any action such as tree removal or modifications to buildings.

The small hamlet of Whitton, sitting on top of this small outcrop has for years been used as an area of defence as it overlooks much of the upper Coquet valley.

The small hamlet contains remnants of fortified buildings including two peel towers and two bastle houses. One of the peel towers at Whitton tower is part of a rare, fortified rectory completed in Georgian times. The second Peel is ruined and lies at Whitton Grange and was connected to the Tower peel by a tunnel.

Whitton has always been part of the local farming community. Some buildings have been farmsteads, one a hostelry and one a smithy. Whitton tower was once the rectory for Rothbury and had lovely grounds with large kitchen gardens. These were further developed in the 1970s while retaining some of the elements of the walled garden and grounds. Many of the magnificent trees planted in Victorian times are still to be found.

Whitton Grange was an early twentieth-century build, replacing a cottage of 1706. The Whitton farmstead has had many incarnations from farm building to hostelry to private dwelling. Other buildings are used as homes or for storage but centrally the area of the stackyard is still used for farming activities.

Some of the oldest trees in the Rothbury area are to be found in Whitton. Some are in gardens and some at the roadside.

(Whitton and Tosson Parish Council express their gratitude to John Monaghan of Whitton Grange who provided the text.)