Wooler is a small
townA town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
in
NorthumberlandNorthumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It lies on the edge of the
Northumberland National ParkNorthumberland National Park is the northernmost national park in England. It covers an area of more than 1030 km² between the Scottish Border in the north to just south of Hadrian's Wall. It is one of the least populated and least visited of the National Parks...
, by the
Cheviot HillsThe Cheviot Hills is a range of rolling hills straddling the England–Scotland border between Northumberland and the Scottish Borders.There is a broad split between the northern and the southern Cheviots...
and so is a popular base for
walkersWalking is one of the main gaits of locomotion among legged animals, and is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined by an 'inverted pendulum' gait in which the body vaults over the stiff limb or limbs with each step...
and is referred to as the "Gateway to the Cheviots". As well as many shops and pubs, the town boasts a youth hostel, many hotels and campsites.
The main
A697The A697 is a road that can be used an alternative to the A1 for those travelling between Scotland and England via the North East.It connects Morpeth on the A1 to the A68 at Oxton, near Edinburgh...
runs by the town linking
MorpethMorpeth is the county town of Northumberland, England. It is situated on the River Wansbeck which flows east through the town. The town is from the A1, which bypasses it. Since 1981, it has been the administrative centre of the County of Northumberland. In the 2001 census the town had a population...
to
ColdstreamColdstream is a small town in the Borders district of Scotland. It lies on the north bank of the River Tweed in Berwickshire, while Northumberland in England lies to the south bank, with Cornhill-on-Tweed the nearest village...
on the
Scottish BorderThe Scottish Borders is one of 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by Dumfries and Galloway in the west, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian in the north west, City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian to the north; and the non-metropolitan counties of Northumberland...
. Wooler contains two schools; Wooler First School and Glendale Middle School. Noel Hodgson, the author of
Below Flodden and
Dancing Over Cheviot, two Northumbrian poem books, lived and taught at Glendale Middle School.
Close by is
Yeavering BellThe Yeavering Bell is a twin-peaked hill near the River Glen in Northumberland, England. The hill, 361 metres above sea level, is encircled by the wall of a late-prehistoric hillfort, a tribal centre of the Votadini called in Brythonic and Old Welsh Din Gefron, from which the name stems The...
crowned by a large iron-age fort, a stronghold of the
VotadiniThe Votadini were a people of the Iron Age in Great Britain, and their territory was briefly part of the Roman province Britannia...
.
History
Wooler was not recorded in the
Domesday BookDomesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
, probably because when the Book was written in 1086, northern
NorthumbriaNorthumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory, the Humber Estuary.Northumbria was...
was not fully under Norman control. However, by 1107, at the time of the creation of the 1st Baron of Wooler, the settlement was described as "situated in an ill-cultivated country under the influence of vast mountains, from whence it is subject to impetuous rains". Wooler subsequently enjoyed a period of prosperity and with its expansion it was granted a licence in 1199 to hold a market every Thursday. The Saint Mary Magdalene hospital was established around 1288.
Wooler is close to Humbleton Hill the site of a severe Scottish defeat at the hands of Harry Hotspur in 1402. This battle is referred to at the beginning of Shakespeare's play
Henry IV, Part 1Henry IV, Part 1 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597. It is the second play in Shakespeare's tetralogy dealing with the successive reigns of Richard II, Henry IV , and Henry V...
– of which Hotspur is the dashing hero.
Wooler also used to have a Drill Hall that used to be the local "Picture House" that children were evacuated to in World War Two. There also used to be a fountain situated at the top of Church Street in the town.
Alexander Dalziel of Wooler (1781–1832) was the father of the celebrated
Dalziel BrothersThe Brothers Dalziel were a highly productive firm of Victorian engravers founded in 1839 by George Dalziel and his brother Edward Dalziel . They were later joined by John Dalziel and Thomas Dalziel . All were sons of the artist, Alexander Dalziel of Wooler in Northumberland...
. Seven of his eight sons became artists, and as engravers in London there was no one to touch them. Their sister Margaret was also an engraver.
Between 1887 and 1965 the town was served by
Wooler railway stationWooler railway station was a stone built railway station serving the town of Wooler in Northumberland. It was on the Alnwick to Cornhill Branch which ran from Alnwick to Cornhill Junction on the Kelso line near Coldstream.-History:...
on the
Alnwick to Cornhill BranchThe Cornhill Branch was a single track branch railway line in Northumberland, England, that ran from on the terminus of the three mile long Alnmouth to Alnwick line via ten intermediate stations to a junction on the to line at Cornhill-on-Tweed.-History:...
.
Meaning of place-name
Wooler may be from Old English
wella "well, spring" and
ofer (
ridgeA ridge is a geological feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for some distance. Ridges are usually termed hills or mountains as well, depending on size. There are several main types of ridges:...
, hill). A record of the name as
Welnfver in 1186 seems to suggest this origin. The well or spring referred to is the
River TillThe River Till in Northumberland is the only tributary of the River Tweed which flows wholly in England. . The upper part of the Till, which rises on Comb Fell, is known as the River Breamish...
). The Wooler Water, (part of which is also known as `Happy Valley'), is a tributary of the River Till and is formed by a confluence of the Harthope and Carey Burns which rise in the Cheviot Hills, to the south of Wooler.
The other origin may be "Wulfa's hillside", from the Old English personal name
Wulfa "wolf" and
őra "hillside, slope", although this word in place-names usually means "river mouth, shore". A record of the name as Wulloir in 1232 may suggest this origin.
It is not certain which is the 'proper' origin.
Notable people
- John Alexander
John Alexander was Chief Clerk to Bow Street Magistrates' Court, then called Bow Street Police Court , and simultaneously, as was then the custom, Editor of the Police Gazette in England from 1877 until his retirement in 1895.John Alexander was born in Wooler, Northumberland, son of country...
(1830–1916) was Chief Clerk to Bow Street Magistrates' CourtBow Street Magistrates' Court was the most famous magistrates' court in England for much of its existence, and was located in various buildings on Bow Street in central London close to Covent Garden throughout its history.-History:...
from 1877 to 1895.
- Josephine Butler
Josephine Elizabeth Butler was a Victorian era British feminist who was especially concerned with the welfare of prostitutes...
(1828–1906) was a feminist campaigner who led the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Act was born in Milfield not far from Wooler, and retired to a house in Wooler in her final years.
- Grace Darling
Grace Horsley Darling was an English Victorian heroine who in 1838, along with her father, saved 13 people from the wreck of the SS Forfarshire.-Biography:...
(1815–1842) was a shipwreck heroine who came to Wooler in the last stages of her fatal illness.
External links