Bellingham, Northumberland

File:Bellingham Town Hall - geograph.org.uk - 1144389.jpg]]

Famous as a stopping point on the Pennine Way trail, it is popular with walkers and cyclists. Nearby is the Hareshaw Linn, a waterfall and the site of early coke blast furnaces.[http://www.northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk/activities/hareshaw-linn-walk/ Hareshaw Linn]

The village's local newspaper is the Hexham Courant. There is an 18-hole golf course which was established in 1893.[http://www.bellinghamgolfclub.com/ Bellingham Golf Club]

The Heritage Centre is the local museum.[http://www.bellingham-heritage.org.uk/ Bellingham Heritage Centre] It has exhibitions on the Border Counties Railway, the Border reivers, mining, farming, the photography of W P Collier, and the Stannersburn Smithy. It has a database of local family names and one of old photographs. It also holds special exhibitions of historical or artistic interest, and readings and performances by poets, storytellers, musicians and dancers.

File:Hole, Northumberland.jpg

The Grade-I listed Church of St Cuthbert (13th century, substantially reconstructed in the early 17th century){{NHLE |num=1370442 |accessdate=22 March 2017}} is described as "almost unique in England"Tomlinson, W W, 1888. Comprehensive Guide to Northumberland owing to its stone barrel vault, which runs the length of the nave and extends into the south transept. Three miracles in Bellingham connected with the mediaeval cult of St Cuthbert are recorded in the twelfth-century Libellus"Little Book of Miracles of the Blessed Cuthbert Performed in Recent Times" of Reginald of Durham.

Within the churchyard on the north side is "The Lang Pack", purportedly the grave of a burglar who attempted to infiltrate a local house by hiding in a beggar's pack, but was discovered after he suffered an ill-timed coughing fit, and was promptly run through with the sword of the house's proprietor.File:Bellingham (North Tyne) Station 1786761 4685d47e.jpg

Adjacent to the church is St Cuthbert's Well, known locally as "Cuddy's Well", an ancient holy well.{{NHLE |num=1153901 |accessdate=22 March 2017}} The well is in the middle of a grassy path leading down to the river, on the other side of the churchyard wall.

From 1735 the parish rectors at Bellingham were under the patronage of the Governors of Greenwich Hospital. The Governors stipulated that the rectors were to be graduates of Oxford or Cambridge, and naval chaplains. Bellingham Rectory was one of six such rectories in the Simonburn area, the others being Falstone, Greystead, Thorneyburn, Wark on Tyne and Simonburn.Information in Bellingham Parish Church visited 2013.

Bellingham Bridge is a Grade II listed building built in 1834.{{NHLE |num=1044990 |accessdate=22 March 2017}} It crosses the North Tyne.{{cite web|url=http://www.bridgesonthetyne.co.uk/bellin.html|title=North Tyne - Bellingham Bridge|publisher=Bridges on the Tyne|accessdate=15 January 2017}} Bellingham Town Hall was completed in 1862.{{NHLE|desc=Town Hall|num=1153580|accessdate=17 March 2022}}

Two miles north-east at Hole Farm is a 16th-century Grade II* listed building, Hole Bastle, a well-preserved example of a bastle house.{{NHLE |num=1044998 |accessdate=22 March 2017}}

Another example is Black Middens Bastle House which is situated at an isolated spot on the north side of the Tarset Valley. It is managed by English Heritage.{{cite web |title=History of Black Middens Bastle House |url=https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/visit/places/black-middens-bastle-house/history/ |website=English Heritage |access-date=19 May 2021}}

Shitlington Crags is a crag near Shitlington Hall, south of Bellingham, at 170 metres elevation. The Pennine Way passes by the crag.{{Cite web|title=Route Description - Pennine Way|url=https://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/en_GB/trails/pennine-way/route/|access-date=2021-05-08|website=National Trails|language=en-GB}}

There is a former Union Workhouse located along the main street of Bellingham.

• Sir David Lindsay Keir, the historian and academic, was born and brought up here.

Bellingham is in the parliamentary constituency of Hexham. Joe Morris of the Labour Party is the Member of Parliament.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=MPs representing Hexham

|url=https://members.parliament.uk/constituency/4100/overview|archive-url=|archive-date= |access-date=12 August 2024|website=UK Parliament|language=en}}

For local government purposes it belongs to Northumberland County Council, a unitary authority. There is an electoral ward of the same name; it stretches north to the Scottish border and has a total population of 4,074.{{cite web|url=http://www.ukcensusdata.com/bellingham-e05008026#sthash.FPsXcKRW.dpbs|title=Ward population 2011|accessdate=26 June 2015}} The incumbent councillor for the Bellingham ward is John Riddle, who is a member of the Conservative Party.{{Cite web|title=John Riddle|url=https://www.northumberlandconservatives.org.uk/people/john-riddle|access-date=2021-05-08|website=Northumberland Conservatives|language=en}}

Bellingham has its own parish council, Bellingham Parish Council.{{cite web|url=http://www.parish-council.com/bellingham/|title= Bellingham Parish Council}}

The village football team competes in the Tyneside Amateur League First Division.[http://www.football.mitoo.co.uk/LeagueTab.cfm?TblName=Matches&DivisionID=6741&LeagueCode=TAL2009 Tyneside Amateur League Division One: League Table] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314031858/http://www.football.mitoo.co.uk/LeagueTab.cfm?TblName=Matches&DivisionID=6741&LeagueCode=TAL2009 |date=14 March 2012 }}

• St Cuthbert's Well

{{reflist}}

{{Commons category|Bellingham, Northumberland}}

• [http://www.hexham-courant.co.uk Hexham Courant].
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080509213458/http://www.davidgibbins.btinternet.co.uk/ The Pennine Way Site]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090108155802/http://www.genuki.bpears.org.uk/NBL/Bellingham/index.html GENUKI] (Accessed: 1 November 2008)
• [http://communities.northumberland.gov.uk/Bellingham.htm Northumberland Communities] (Accessed: 1 November 2008)

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Category:Villages in Northumberland

Category:Civil parishes in Northumberland