The historic village of Elsdon is said to be one of the prettiest villages in Northumberland in northeastern England. It sits in the scenic Redesdale Valley and is the largest settlement within the Northumberland National Park, although its population is a meagre 258.
Economically, it has seen better days. One of the main routes between Newcastle and Edinburgh used to run through the village until a new road, built in the 1830s, bypassed Elsdon.
A colliery (a coal mine and associated buildings) opened in 1880 and employed up to 25 men until it closed in 1972. Nowadays, hikers and cyclists help to bring income to the village.
In Norman times, Elsdon was an important place, and the late-medieval knight Robert de Umfraville built a motte-and-bailey castle around 1080AD. Only the earthworks remain today.
The village’s sizable church is dedicated to St Cuthbert, whose body is believed to have been rested here on its long journey from Lindisfarne to Durham Cathedral in the 9th century.
The graveyard contains casualties from the nearby Battle of Otterburn (1388), while inside the church is a Roman tombstone and other fascinating relics.
The 14th-century Elsdon Tower is one of Britain’s best preserved examples of a medieval pele tower, or small fort. It was the residence of Elsdon’s parish priest and was built to provide protection from Border Reivers. These kin-based gangs wrought havoc on both sides of the England/Scotland border from the late 1200s to the early 1600s.
In one of the worst incidents in 1584, a raid by the feared Eliots of Liddesdale killed 14 Elsdon residents and took 400 prisoners for ransom, in addition to many cows and horses being stolen.
The village green is the heart of the community. A weekly market would have been held back in the day, and the buildings surrounding the green would have included a number of inns and pubs.
The inscription on the above plaque reads: “This oak tree was planted on the old cockpit and celebrates the crowning of George V 1912”.
Cockfighting was made illegal in England in 1835.
A stone on the village green marks the spot where bulls were chained and set upon by dogs for audience amusement. Bull baiting was also outlawed in the same year as cockfighting.
This plaque tells visitors that “in 1791, the body of William Winter was hung here in chains in sight of the place where he had murdered old Margaret Crozier of the Raw, Elsdon”.
As a deterrent to others. Winter was hanged in Newcastle, and his body brought back to Elsdon and suspended from the above gibbet until it rotted away. This gibbet is a replica, the original having been dismantled.
This article first appeared on Northumberland Traveller.