Meldon Parish history
Meldon is a very rural parish with a low population; indeed the only settlements exceeding a small handful of households are Meldon, Molesden, Pigdon and Throphill.
Hodgson states in his early C19 classic ‘History of Northumberland’,
“This parish is bounded on the east by the parish of Mitford … on the south by the parishes of Whalton and Bolam; and on the west and north by the parish of Hartburn. In 1821, it contained 32 families, inhabiting 28 houses, and consisting of 156 persons. According to a survey made in the time of the earl of Derwentwater, it contains 996 acres, exclusive of 30 acres taken up by the river Wansbeck, roads, and the village of Meldon.”
Whellan, in his 1855 ‘History, Topography, and Directory of Northumberland’, states that
"Meldon parish is situated in the north-west corner of Castle Ward, and comprises an area of 993 acres. The number of its inhabitants in 1801 was 54; in 1811, 129; in 1821, 129; in 1831, 114; in 1841, 152 and in 1851, 144 souls. John Cookson, Esq., of Meldon Hall, is lord of the manor and owner of the soil. Meldon was anciently a member of the barony of Mitford, and seems to have been a place of some importance, for we find here the remains of a large strong building, with extensive gardens, and in Meldon Park the traces of several other edifices have been discovered. This place was formerly the property of the ancient family of Fenwick, from whom it was transferred by marriage to the Derwentwaters, in which family it continued till the attainder of James, the third Earl, when it was forfeited to the crown. It was afterwards granted to Greenwich Hospital, and was subsequently sold by the Commissioners of the Hospital to Isaac Cookson, Esq., alderman of Newcastle, for the sum of 56,900 guineas."
The parish of Meldon contains a number of features and sites of historical and archaeological interest, in particular Roman forts, shrunken and deserted Medieval villages, Medieval rigg, furrow and lynchets, a Grade I listed church and a handful of other listed buildings.
Meldon village
The name Meldon means the middle hill (coming from mel, middle or between, and dun, a hill as mid or between) and is the name of the parish and the village itself, which stands upon an elevated ridge.
A Morpeth Herald article in 2010 stated:
“Between Meldon Castle, near the church and the present Meldon Park, there was an extensive park with walls 20ft high with a turret overlooking it and the Wansbeck, which was called the Deerkeeper’s House. Part way down the road from Meldon to the bridge over the River Wansbeck (the successor to Meg’s Bridge) is a house which has the unusual name of Clay Walls. Beyond it, on a curve of the Wansbeck, is a place called Rivergreen where there was a mill and a pottery making local earthenware. In 1740 it was advertised as a very good earthenware manufactory to be let; there were also two farms to be let with lime and coal upon them, so tiles and bricks could also be made. The historian Hodgson wrote that here there was blue clay which was sent to Gateshead for over 40 years for glasshouse pots.”
By 1830 the Cookson’s of Newcastle had bought the lands of Meldon Park from the Commissioners of Greenwich Hospital. They were part of the lands which had been forfeited by the Earl of Derwentwater after his death by execution in the 1715 rebellion. Meldon Park is the name of the mansion built to the designs of John Dobson in 1832.
Molesden
The name Molesden originates from Mollisdon, the Vale of Moll, Moll being either the name of the burn running through the hamlet (now Molesden Burn), or a person called Moll. Archaeological interest locally includes a Romano-British camp near Molesden Cottage, and a hoard of coins dated to the reign of Edward I (1272 – 1301) found on ‘money banks’ on the far side of the Wansbeck to Molesden Wood.
The ‘Keys to the Past’ website states that:
“This is the site of the shrunken medieval village of Molesden, which was first recorded in 1296. Although there at least eight houses here in 1666, by 1769 only three farms survived. By 1847 two farms and a few cottages remained. One has since been abandoned. The remains of areas of ridge and furrow can still be seen, and the cropmarks of a line of buildings running along the north edge of the field have also been recorded.”
Pigdon
The name Pigdon may mean Pica's vale, or 'pointed-hill valley'. Pigdon was listed as Pikedenn in 1205 and Pykeden in 1242. From 1866, Pigdon was a civil parish in its own right until it merged with Meldon in 1955.
Throphill
Throphill was known alternatively as Thropple, and is the nearest hamlet to the Dyke Neuk pub at Northside. West Throphill Farmhouse was the home of farmer William Brewis (1778-1850), whose diaries of 1833-1850 are a rare and fascinating source of information and anecdotes about farming matters and the local Meldon community. Alongside daily notes of the farming year, Brewis commented on local and national events of a political and societal nature.
“The Old year wears away and has been the finest autumn, the oldest person living never saw such another, we have scarsely ever had a shower of Rain, since the great fall in May & June, the Harvest proved the finest weather ever known, we never had a lost Hour, the corn was got in so well not a spoiled sheaf, and the small is equally as fair and sound as the very best, only the overwhell rainy wet that fel during the spring, caused the gift to be very bad.”
Quoted with kind permission of the Robinson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, from the Christmas Day diary extract from William Brewis’ 1843 diary.
Rivergreen
Rivergreen, originally listed as Reveho, means the Bailiff’s or Steward's Hill.
As Hodgson described it,
“The mill (at Rivergreen) is on a sequestered haugh, about a mile to the north-east of the house, and has near it the old cottage of Rivergreen Pottery, now called the Garden-house which stands in a fine old orchard, and is occupied by the wood- man of the estate. This is one of the lovely and lonely spots with which the sides of the Wansbeck abound. The mill, the river, the flowery haugh, the old orchard and its cosey and sheltered cottage and all these girt around with shaggy and wooded banks, and enlivened with the miller and the woodman's families, form a panorama, which wants nothing but some such picturesque accompaniments, as it once had in its patriarch Joshua Delaval, and his four score goats and sixteen kids, to make it a subject, by the magic of some master's hand, worthy of blooming on canvas through the live-long year.”
Dyke Neuk and Northside
This C16 stone-built inn is noted in early mapping, and would have served the turnpikes that converge here. These were the Morpeth-Scots Gap and the Morpeth-Elsdon, via Longwitton. Such an inn would therefore serve a range of customers such as those in stage coaches and those using drove roads to bring animal stock from the area around the Scottish Borders to nearby Morpeth.
The Parish Council
The present parish council was created in 1955 by the amalgamation of the existing parishes of Longshaws, Meldon, Molesden, Newton Park, Newton Underwood, Nunriding, Pigdon, Rivergreen and Throphill.