NORT H U M 
feveral years, till at length Egbert king of Weffex fub- 
dued the kingdom, and rendered it tributary to his crown. 
From this time Northumberland remained in fubjedtion 
to the Weft Saxon yoke, till it was conquered, after a 
bloody ftruggle, by the Danes, who nearly extirpated or 
expelled the whole of the Saxon proprietors, and fettled 
themfelves in the deferted territories. 
Thus ended the powerful monarchy of Northumber¬ 
land, after it had fubfilted 330 years. As the pofleffors 
of the land were now entirely Danes, Danifli laws pre¬ 
vailed throughout its entire extent, and continued in 
force till the time of Edward the Confefi'or, when they 
were incorporated with the Weft Saxon and Mercian 
codes, and the whole made common to England un¬ 
der the name of The Laws of Edward. The governors 
fubfequent to this period were hereditary earls, who fome- 
times affumed the title and infignia of royalty. Edgar, 
however, deeming the hereditary rule of fo extenfive a 
country an elevation too high for a fubjedi, divided it 
into two diftindt portions; and not long after granted all 
the diftridt from the Tweed to Edinburgh to Kenneth 
king of Scotland, to be for ever annexed to his domi¬ 
nions. Other grants cut off additional diftridts about the 
fame era; fo that previous to the Norman conqueft North¬ 
umberland was reduced to its prefent limits. Thefe 
events led to important changes. This county, now ren¬ 
dered a frontier-diftrift with Scotland, became the prin¬ 
cipal theatre of the border-wars, which raged from the 
time of Stephen td the union of the two crowns in the 
perfon of king James. The people of Tindale and Reedf- 
dale, in common with the borderers of Cumberland and 
Scotland, were, in thofe days, nothing lefs than clans of 
lavvlefs banditti, who were conftantly engaged in depre¬ 
datory excurlions. The trad! which they occupied ex¬ 
tended about fifty miles in length, and fix in breadth, 
and was called “ the debateable land,”, both nationslay¬ 
ing claim to it, though in fadt it belonged to neither, as 
their utmoft efforts w'ere ineffedfual for the fubjedtion of 
its inhabitants, whofe dexterity in the art of thievingwas 
fuch, that they could twift a cow’s horn, or mark a horfe, 
fo that its owner could not know either again. 
The Englifh borders were divided into three marches. 
The weftern march extended from the Solway Frith to 
Tindale; the middle march comprifed Tindale and Reedf- 
dale; and the eaftern march reached from Reedfdale to 
Tweedmouth. The marches were under the jurifdidtion 
of a lord-warden general, an office of a military nature, 
and ufually held by one of the dukes or earls of North¬ 
umberland. The executive part of the duties, however, 
was ufually confided to a deputy, under whom were three 
inferior wardens. One of thefe officers fat, by the king’s 
commifiion, as judge in the march-courts, and affifted in 
framing border-laws and fettling treaties with Scotland. 
Their common bufinefs w'as to regulate the watches, dif- 
cipline the militia, and takemeafures for afiembling them 
in arms at the firft alarm of an enemy in the time of war; 
but during peace they were chiefly employed in fupprefs- 
ing the infolence and rapine of the borderers. 
In former times, the lands of Northumberland were 
held of the king by knights’ fervice. The barons and 
people of higher condition dwelt in caftellated manfions, 
or moated towers. The middling dalles of the people 
held their lands of the barons chiefly in focage-tenure ; 
and refided in buildings called peels or piles, cor.fifting of 
a ground-floor, in which their cattle were kept during the 
night, with a floor above, occupied by the family. The 
lower orders, in common with the middle clafs, were fub- 
jedt to the grievous fervice of keeping night-watches at 
all the fords, pafies, and inlets, of the valleys, to guard 
againft the incurfions of the borderers, or'of the Scots, 
during hoftilities. When either a troop of banditti or 
an enemy appeared, every man within hearing of the 
horn was bound, under pain of death, to rife and affift 
in the protedtion of the country. In this liate of things, 
as may be fuppoled, the occupations of peaceful life were 
B E R L A N D. 223 
little attended to. Agriculture was fuffered to languilh, 
and every art, but the art of war, was efteemed mean and 
dilhonourable. Fortunately the events of the two laft 
centuries have materially altered this dreadful afpedt of 
human life. Since the union of Scotland and England, 
thofe fcenes of contention and barbarifm, w’hich rendered 
exiftence and property equally precarious, have been gra¬ 
dually difappearing. The country has been inclofed far 
up the valleys of Tindale and Reedfdale ; and the refine¬ 
ments of civilization, and the focial and enchanting har¬ 
mony of rural life, now prevail, where, before that happy 
event, fcarcely a found was heard, but the “ warder’s 
tread,” or the agonized fcreams of the widow and the fa- 
therlefs, whofe kind protestor lay weltering in his blood, 
while the flames were devouring their little cottage. 
The afpedt of Northumberland difplays as much va¬ 
riety as that of any other county in England. Along 
the fea-coaft the land is, for the moll part, a perfect level. 
Towards the middle the furface is more diverlified, and 
thrown into large fwelling ridges : thefe parts are well 
inclofed, and in fome l’pots enriched with woods and 
plantations. The weftern and northern diftridts of the 
county, with the exception of a few intervening vales, 
may be charadterifed as an extenfive fcene of open moun¬ 
tainous country, where the hand of cultivation can rarely 
be difcovered. Of thefe diftridts, that tow’ards the north 
is the molt valuable, exhibiting in general a feries, of fine 
green hills, thrown into numberlefs combinations of forms, 
and encloting and flickering many deep, narrow, and fe- 
queftered, glens. The more fouthern divifion, on the 
other hand, is not marked by any ftriking irregularities 
of furface, but, like the high wolds of Yorkshire, prefent 
a range of folitary waftes, producing little elfe but heath, 
and fcarcely affording iubfiftence to the few fheep by 
which they are depaftured. With refpedl to foil, it may be 
obferved, that a ftrong fertile clayey loam covers the level 
tradt along the fliore. This foil is admirably adapted for 
the culture of any fpecies of grain. A fandy, gravelly, 
and dry, loam, is chiefly apparent in thofe valleys which 
are watered by rivers ; but particularly in the vales of 
Breamifh, Till, and Beaumont, and on the outlkirts of 
the Cheviot Mountains. In the middle and fouth-eaft 
parts of the county, a wet cold clayey bottom is found 
to exift throughout a great extent of country; and in 
moft of the mountainous diftridts black peat-earth is more 
abundant than any other kind of foil. The climate is as 
changeable as the nature of the country is various. Upon 
the mountains fnow fometimes lies for feveral months in 
confiderable depth, though there is none in the valleys, 
or lower diftridts. The weather is extremely inconftant, 
but moftly runs in extremes. In the fpring, dry eafterly 
winds are very prevalent, and continue late-; fo that fu-:n- 
mer feldom commences till near the clofe of June, when 
milder breezes from the fouth pour in their life-infpiring 
balm, and quicken the drooping plants into vigorous ve¬ 
getation. Hence the autumn of the year is properly the 
l’ummer of Northumberland. The months of September 
and October are ufually fine fettled weather; but no fooner 
has November begun, than winter fets in. 
In a country exhibiting fuch diveriity of furface and 
climate, a correfponding difference of produce and ma¬ 
nagement may be expedited to prevail. Wheat is feldom 
railed, except on the lands near the fliore. Drilling has 
been introduced, and is pradtifed to a confiderable extent. 
The manures in ufe are chiefly the produce of the flieep- 
fold in the higher diftridts; and lime, marl, and fea-weed, 
in the lower. A large quantity of manure is likewife 
brought from London, as ballaft, in the coal-veffels. 
Great attention is paid to rearing ftock. The favourite 
and almoft exclufive breed of cattle is the lhort-horned or 
Dutch kind ; and this preference is given in confequence 
of the fuperior rapidity of their growth. The Devonfliire 
kind is only in the poffeffion of one proprietor; and in 
Chillingham-park, belonging to the earl of Tankerville, 
is a ftock of wild cattle, probably the only remains of the 
i true.- 
