Hexham

The name Hexham derives from the Old English Hagustaldes ea and later Hagustaldes ham from which the modern form (with the "-ham" element) derives. Hagustald is related to the Old High German hagustalt, denoting a younger son who takes land outside the settlement; the element ea means "stream" or "river" and ham is the Old English form of the Modern English "home" (and the Scots and Northern English "hame").[2][3]

Hexham Abbey originated as a monastery founded by Wilfrid in 674. The crypt of the original monastery survives, and incorporates many stones taken from nearby Roman ruins, probably Corbridge or Hadrian's Wall.[4]

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Manuscript D: Cotton Tiberius B IV) records the murder of King Ælfwald by Sicga at Scythlecester (which may be modern Chesters) on 23 September 788:

This year Alfwald, king of the Northumbrians, was slain by Siga, on the ninth[5] day before the calends of October; and a heavenly light was often seen on the spot where he was slain. He was buried at Hexham in the church.[6]
Her wæs Alfwald Norðhymbra cyning ofslægen fram Sigan on .viiii. Kalendas Octobris, 7 heofonlic leoht wæs lome gesewen þær þær he ofslægen wæs, 7 he wæs bebyrged on Hagustaldesee innan þære cyrican.

Like many towns in the Anglo-Scottish border area and adjacent regions, Hexham suffered from the border wars between the kingdoms of Scotland and England, including attacks from William Wallace who burnt the town in 1297. In 1312, Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland, demanded and received £2000 from the town and monastery in order for them to be spared a similar fate. In 1346 the monastery was sacked in a later invasion led by King David II of Scotland.[7]

In 1464 during the Wars of the Roses, the Battle of Hexham was fought somewhere to the south of the town; the actual site is disputed. The defeated Lancastrian commander, Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset, was executed in Hexham marketplace. There is a legend that Queen Margaret of Anjou took refuge after the battle in what is known as The Queen's Cave, where she was accosted by a robber; the legend formed the basis for an 18th-century play by George Colman the Younger (The Battle of Hexham); but it has been established that Queen Margaret had fled to France by the time the battle took place. The Queen's Cave in question is on the south side of the West Dipton Burn, to the southwest of Hexham.[8]

St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Hexham

Until 1572, Hexham was the administrative centre of the former Liberty or Peculiar of Hexhamshire.[9][10]

In 1715, James Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Derwentwater, raised the standard for James Francis Edward Stuart in Hexham Market place.[11]

"Hexham" was used in the Borders as a euphemism for "Hell". Hence the term "To Hexham wi' you an' ye’r whussel!", recorded in 1873, and the popular expression "Gang to Hexham!".[12] "Hexham-birnie" is derived from the term and means "an indefinitely remote place".[12]

Hexham's architectural landscape is dominated by Hexham Abbey. The current church largely dates from c. 1170–1250, in the Early English Gothic style of architecture. The choir, north and south transepts and the cloisters, where canons studied and meditated, date from this period.[14]

The abbey stands at the west end of the market place, which is home to the Shambles, a covered market built by Sir Walter Blackett in 1766; it is a Grade II* listed building.[15]

The Old Gaol

At the east end of the market place stands the Moot Hall, originally commissioned as a gatehouse that was part of the defences of the town. The Moot Hall, which is considered one of the best examples of a medieval courthouse in the north of England,[16] is a Grade I listed building.[17]

The Old Gaol, behind the Moot Hall on Hallgates, was one of the first purpose-built jails in England. It was built between 1330 and 1333 and is a Grade I listed building.[18]

The Leazes on Shaws Lane is a Grade II listed mansion built in 1853 by John Dobson for William Kinsopp.[19]

The Queen's Hall

Hexham Library and the Queen's Hall Art Centre can both be found in the Queen's Hall, completed in 1866. The building contains the Brough Local Studies Collection which is the second-largest local history collection in the county.[20][21]

Dare Wilson Barracks, the home of X Company, 5th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, was completed in 1891.[22]

Hexham is in the parliamentary constituency of Hexham. Guy Opperman has been the member of parliament for Hexham since May 2010. The town comes under Northumberland County Council and contains three wards: Hexham Central with Acomb, Hexham East and Hexham West.

Beaumont Street in Hexham with the Courant offices

Priestpopple street

The Hexham House Grounds

Market Street in the old centre

The Hexham Courant is the local newspaper, serving Hexham and Tynedale since 1864. It was first launched by J. Catherall & Co., and at that time espoused the Liberal cause. It later absorbed the Conservative-supporting Hexham Herald. In 1977, CN Group acquired the newspaper.

From within the Hexham Courant office a webcam overlooking Hexham Abbey can be viewed on the following website: Hexham Courant

Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC North East and Cumbria and ITV Tyne Tees.

Hexham's local radio stations are BBC Radio Newcastle on 103.7 FM, Capital North East on 105.8 FM, Heart North East on 96.4 FM, Smooth North East on 101.2 FM and Metro Radio on 103.2 FM.

Horse racing from the town's course on Yarridge Heights is regularly featured on telecasts by Racing UK and other selected broadcasters. Regular sound broadcasts of cricket commentary for Tynedale CC can be heard via the internet during summer on Spreaker Internet Radio.

Hexham is served by state first, middle and high schools and uses the three-tier system as does the rest of Northumberland. Queen Elizabeth High School, partly located in a former hydropathic hotel, is the town's major educational centre. The nearest private school is Mowden Hall School, a prep school located 10 miles (16 km) away in Stocksfield.

Hexham won the town award in the 2005 Britain in Bloom awards.[25] In the same year, it was also named England's Favourite Market Town by the magazine Country Life.[26]

Hexham was voted the happiest place to live in Britain, 2019 and 2021.[27]

The major employer in Hexham is Egger (UK) Limited.[28][29]

Hexham had been long famous for its manufacture of leather. Wright (1823) gives some statistics

77 men & boys employed as Leather dressers and Glove-cutters, 40 boys employed as Dusters and 1,111 women employed as Sewers. Skins dressed annually were 80,000, and 18,000 skins of dressed leather were imported. From these were made and exported annually 23,504 dozens of pairs of gloves. Dutch Oker was used in the processing, but local fell clay could be used if necessary.

Tanning was a necessary allied industry and there were four tanneries, employing a score of men. In a year they dealt with 5,000 hides and 12,000 calf skins. They supplied local saddlers, bootmakers and cobblers.

Hexham also had 16 master hatters, and the trade employed 40 persons. There were two woollen manufactories, worked by steam power, and two rope manufactories. There were corn water mills below the bridge. A windmill on the Sele was ruinous, but there was one still working on Tyne Green. It was, and still is a flourishing market, including a mart for cattle and other farm animals.[30]

In Hexham the Subskimmer was designed and made by Submarine Products. The town is also the site of a chipboard factory owned by the Austrian firm Egger Retail Products GmbH, which vents steam which can be seen from miles away.

Botanical brewery Fentimans is based in Hexham.

Hexham has many shops commonly found in other English market-towns, with five central supermarkets (Tesco, Aldi, Lidl, Marks and Spencer and Waitrose), multiple clothes shops, charity shops, banks, estate agents, antique shops and chemists.[31] Cafes and coffee shops are also common in Hexham, from commercial chains (Costa) to family run independents.

Hexham's racecourse is at Yarridge Heights in the hills above the town, with National Hunt (steeplechase) races throughout the year.[32]

Tynedale Cricket Club

The town is also home to Tynedale Cricket Club, who play their home matches on Prior's Flat. (NE46 3EW)

Founded in 1888, the club has had its most successful period over the most recent 40 years when they dominated the Northumberland County League, before starting the 21st century by winning several championships in the newly created Northumberland & Tyneside Senior Cricket League.

In late 2017 Tynedale CC became a founder member of the new Northumberland & Tyneside Cricket League (NTCL), formed when a merger between NTSCL & Northumberland Cricket League was voted through by constituent clubs at the inaugural AGM held at Kingston Park Rugby Ground.

This new league will comprise six divisions with divisions 5 and 6 regionalised into north and south sections.

• Metzingen, Germany[33]
• Noyon, France

• Hexham Bridge
• Hexham Old Bridge
• Devil's Water
• Hexham (UK Parliament constituency)
• Ailred of Rievaulx
• Acca of Hexham
• Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle
• Eata of Hexham
• Richard of Hexham
• John of Hexham
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle
• Battle of Heavenfield
• Battle of Neville's Cross
• Robbs
• Hexham Heads

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Hexham.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hexham.

• Hexham at Curlie
• Hexham visitor website
• "Hexham" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
• Hexham local history society website