Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for HOWICK

HOWICK, a parish, with a village, in Alnwick district, Northumberland; on the coast, 1 mile NE of Long Houghton r. station, and 5 NE by E of Alnwick. Posttown, Bilton, Northumberland. Acres, 1, 692; of which 72 are water. Real property, £2, 738. Pop., 265. Houses, 51. The property is divided between two. The manor belonged to the Muschamps; passed to the Vescies, afterwards to the Greys, who became Earls Grey; and gives to the latter the title of Viscount. Howick Hall, the seat of Earl Grey, occupies the site of an ancient tower, destroyed in 1780; is a fine Grecian edifice, built in 1782, and much enlarged and improved in 1812; and contains some valuable statues, paintings, and other works of art. A trout stream, called Howick burn, crossed by a stone bridge, winds through the park, and along a beautifully wooded dene, to the sea; and the shore, adjacent to its mouth, is broken into picturesque masses of jagged freestone rock. Traces exist of a camp variously regarded as British, Roman, and Danish; and ancient spears, swords, coins, and several gold rings, linked together in the form of a gorget, have been found. Coal was at one time worked, but proved unremunerative. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Durham. Value, £318.* Patron, the Bishop of Durham. The church was rebuilt, in 1746, by Sir Henry Grey, Bart.; was remodelled, with insertion of Norman windows and floriated capitals, in 1849, by the third Earl Grey; and contains, under a rich Gothic canopy of Caen stone, the monument of the second Earl Grey, the distinguished prime minister. There are a national school, and charities £40.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a parish, with a village"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Howick CP/AP       Alnwick RegD/PLU       Northumberland AncC
Place: Howick

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