Longhorsley Village
Population: 500. amenities: Village Shop, Post Office, Pub and Restaurant, Butchers, Play parks incl. floodlit all-weather court.
Situated in the tranquil village of Longhorsley in beautiful Northumberland, just 7 miles from Morpeth, and on the edge of the Northumberland National Park. Longhorsley is an ideal base from which to explore; a 20 minutes drive will get you to secluded golden beaches that stretch for miles of coastline, or the gateway to the Cheviot Hills, city shopping in Newcastle or the famous Metro Centre is just half an hour away. With the Scottish Borders and Roman Wall within 40 minutes, Longhorsley should be described as "an idyllic country village, half an hour from everywhere"Anyone holidaying in Longhorsley will never be short of things to do in Northumberland, be it walking in the hills with unspoiled countryside, water sports, superb seaside or just taking in the scenery and history.
The Horsley Tower
The Horsleys gradually increased in possessions and influence and early acquired knightly Rank. It was on their behalf and doubtless by them that the tower of Longhorsley, now-a-days known as the Pele Tower, was built, probably as late as the reign of Henry VII.
The existing building is a fine specimen of a strongly fortified tower of the fifteenth century, with a slight addition of a later period. It has a fine view to the coast and North West. A beacon, lighted on the summit of the tower at night, would be clearly seen far out at sea and would be plainly visible from the hilltops above Rothbury. Built in times of battle, as a defence against raiding Scots from across the border. It is possible that there was a building on the same site which fell into disrepair and was rebuilt as the present Tower of Longhorsley, which was destined to become, in later days, the peaceful home of the catholic clergy of the Village.
During most of the eighteenth century Morpeth was served by Jesuit priests from Longhorsley. The last Jesuit priest was Father Joseph Howe, he died in Longhorsley in 1798. He lived in the Pele Tower, which at that time was owned by the Widdringtons, who were descendants of the Horsley's and ancestors of the Riddell's. They were Catholics but Joseph Howe was not their Chaplain although under their patronage.
The Catholic Church of St. Thomas
Edward Widdrington II son of Edward Widdrington I and Dorothy, daughter of Thomas Horsley, married Elizabeth daughter of the third Lord Molyneaux. She left, in her will, a sum of money for the Catholic Church in Longhorsley for the maintenance and support of a priest being of the society of Jesus for ever after in the parish of Longhorsley.The new church, of Saint Thomas the Martyr, was built in 1834, close up to the Pele Tower, and took the place of the old chapel at the top of the Pele Tower, which is now a private residence.
The stand in which the Northern people, as a body made against the introduction of Protestantism is a matter of in itself and the older blood of Northumberland, to a great extent, remained strongly attached to the Catholic religion.
St. Helen's Church of England
The first Church of England Church was built in a field known as Ellege about a half a mile south of the village. It is not known exactly why it was built so far away from the village as no traces of buildings show that a village ever stood near it. A possible answer to this could be that the sandstone is very close to the surface in the village and it would therefore prove very difficult to dig down far enough for a grave.Nothing remains of this Norman Church as it was entirely rebuilt in 1783 on the same site, but it is described as having a low Norman arch and marble pillars which, being broken, were replaced by four freestone pillars in 1763. A large bell was provided and hung for use in 1725 and in 1731 Archdeacon Sharp's notes say that there had been a "handsome gallery" erected since his last visitation.
At a meeting of the freeholders and the majority of the farmers, on 13 March 1783, it was agreed that the church wardens and a committee should inspect the workmanship of the re-building of the new church, which was dedicated to Saint Helen, and transact all business there to.
This church is a plain building with a porch on the west end of the south wall. At the west end is a bell-cott and the same is on the east side but without the bell. The chancel was built in 1798 by Mr. Wallis Ogle of Causey Park. He also offered to give a vestry but this was opposed.
In 1826 Charles W. Bigge of Linden became proprietor of the new church which was by purchase from the Ogle family. He placed, in the chancel, a communion table and rails of black oak which ad been dug from a bog on his estate.
In the east end of the chancel is a glass window given in memory of Sarah Elizabeth Ames, of Linden, by her husband, Louis Eric Ames, in 1869.
As the church was quite a way out of the village, the parish room was used for the services during the winter. This, in very early years, was originally used as the Church of England school. The building is on the east side of the school house.
New Church of St. Helen and the Old School Room
At a meeting of the vicar, the church wardens and the principle inhabitants of two of the quarters belonging to Longhorsley, on the 18 July 1751, it was unanimously agreed that a new school should be built. A draft was immediately drawn up to show which people were required to bring certain materials for the building. This was built on the west side of the School house and served the village until 1966 when due to the inconvenient position of the church and the vast amount of money needed for the building repairs etc., there was no electricity or water there, it was decided not to continue to use it for services but to adapt the church of England school. This building is now the Church of Saint Helen, the first service being held there on the evening of Friday 4 November 1966 and a new and very modern school was built. In 1981 a new entrance to the church was made and a new porch was built. The stone, slates and doors for this were brought up from the old church porch. The old parish room, the original school, on the east side of the school house is now the garage of the school house, now a private residence.When the old school was used the canteen for this was along the East road and the School on the West Road. The children had to cross over the main road to get to it everyday at lunch time. The head master of the time, 1952, Mr. Gorden was concerned about the safety of the children and applied to the council for a stick with a large circle on the top of it with a red ring around the words "Caution Children Crossing" but this idea was turned down. Instead the council sent him two large boards which were easily blown down in the wind and they proved to be more dangerous than letting the children cross without any sign at all so Mr. Gorden soon stopped using them. A few years later the 'lollipop' stick was introduced. Whether this had anything to do with Mr. Gorden's proposal we will probably never know.
The New School
The new Church of England first school was built and first used in 1966 when the old school became the church. It is larger than the other one, with a total of three class rooms now all being used although there were times when only two were used as there were not enough children attending. The school was nearly closed down at one point but since the new housing estates of Whitegates and Reivers Gate have been built they have brought more children into the village and the school should not now close. The Children from the neighbouring villages of Netherwitton and Longwitton also attend the school in Longhorsley
Claim to Fame
Thomas Bell and The Be-Ro Works
Before the new shop was built Ann Bell's husband, William ran a grocery business from a small shop just across from the two cottages until he died in 1854, then Ann continued to keep it going assisted by her second son, Robert, until the Belmont building was built in 1875.In the shop flour was sold, possibly that which was ground at the village Mill Farm, this flour was sold as Bell's Royal flour. Ann's third son Thomas Bell loved to experiment and he experimented with baking powder and the effects rising agents have when used in flour. He produced the firs 'self-raising' flour and called it Bell's Royal Self -raising flour. Later he took the first two letters of each of the words Bell's and Royal and became the founder of the Be-Ro Works, which has now recently been taken over by McDougalls.
The Heroic Story of Emily Wilding Davison
The Shop across the Road from the Newsagent's shop, also has a famous background. In 1913, on a fine morning of May, a telegram boy knocked on the door of the stone built corner shop, now the village Post Office. The Post Office message was addressed to the most militant suffragette in England, Emily Wilding Davison. This telegram was to result in the violent death of this 40 year old woman.Emily Davison was born on 11th October 1872 at Blackheath, although she was born outside the county she was certainly from good Northumbrian stock, her father from Morpeth and her mother from Longhirst. She was educated at Kingston High School and as a teenager was very intelligent. After passing the Oxford and Cambridge High School Certificate at the age of 19 she went on to attend Holloway College where she studied English Language and Literature. During the two years she was at the College she must have passed Holloway prison for women many a time, little would she have known that she, herself, would be imprisoned within the forbidding walls, some years later.
It was when she was attending Holloway College that her family moved back to Northumberland, After the death of her father, her mother had to open a bakery in Longhorsley to make a living. Emily had to get a job teaching to make ends meet, but she carried on studying for her honours degree in her spare time. As a result she was awarded a first class honours degree in English Language and Literature. Old Longhorsley villagers still recall the day Emily got news of her Oxford degree and say that when she found out, she ran into her mothers shop, grabbed a jar of Black Bullets and ran out onto the village green where she found the children playing. She threw the sweets into the air for all the children to catch.
In 1906 she joined Emmeline Pankhirst and the suffragettes and was involved in many militant actions over the next few years, which resulted in imprisonment. After she received the telegram, which was later to result in her death, she was said to be distinctly unhappy, but the mystery of who the telegram was from and what it said remains just that.
She soon left for Epsom Downs, and after buying her return ticket to Epson she was on her way. On the bright and clear day of the Epsom Derby with the King and Queen present, she found herself a place by the rails at Tattenham Corner. Suddenly there was a sound of galloping horses. There, running towards her, was the King's horse, Anmar. Emily placed her race card in front of her eyes as a shield and dashed under the railings to the centre of the course to pin the union colours, Green White and Violet for Give Women Votes, on Anmar. This plan went disastrously wrong; Emily was struck by the horses flying hooves and flung into the air and onto the ground some distance away.
Emily was rushed into Epsom Cottage Hospital where it was found she had a fractured skull, she died on June 8th 1913, 4 days after the Epsom Derby day, and is now buried in the family grave in St. Mary's Graveyard, Morpeth.