Hexham

“ Hexham, there surely hasn't been any doubt in your mind about that?"
"You might have told me that you were bound here when I saw you just now at the club," said Uncle Gamaliel, bringing us out of this chaos of ejaculation, and then, as his eye fell upon the table, he added: "I hope you were not thinking of eating a cold rarebit." He produced a match and applied it to the wick. "With your permission," he said.
Hexham shook himself. "More beer, Leila," he cried. "Shimmelpinneck, cut some more bread," murmuring, as he handed me the knife: "Well, I must say you're a good man to keep a secret." ”

“ In 1545 the archbishop exchanged Hexhamshire with the king for other property, and in 1572 all the separate privileges which had belonged to him were taken away, and the liberty was annexed to the county of Northumberland. Hexham was a borough by prescription, and governed by a bailiff at least as early as 1276, and the same form of government continued until 1853. In 1343 the men of Hexham were accused of pretending to be Scots and imprisoning many people of Northumberland and Cumberland, killing some and extorting ransoms for others. ”

“ The Lancastrians were defeated in 1464 near Hexham, and legend says that it was in the woods round the town that Queen Margaret and her son hid until their escape to Flanders. In 1522 the bishop of Carlisle complained to Cardinal Wolsey, then archbishop of York, that the English thieves committed more thefts than “all the Scots of Scotland,” the men of Hexham being worst of all, and appearing 100 strong at the markets held in Hexham, so that the men whom they had robbed dared not complain or “say one word to them.” ”

“ Hexham Abbey does not stand alone as a religious house owing its origin to the self-sacrifice and piety of a woman. Queen Etheldreda, the wife of Ecgfrid, King of Northumbria, gave land, which formed part of her dower (including the parishes of Hexham, Allendale, and St John Lee) , to St Wilfrid. A monastery was founded in 674, and a church built, which, according to Richard, prior of Hexham, must have been one of the largest and most sumptuously equipped in England at that time. ”

“ Hexham is a very imposing-looking town, as it is approached from the railway. The Moot Hall and the Abbey Church occupy commanding features in the landscape. The Abbey Church was at one time a cathedral, dedicated to St. Andrew. Every building in Hexham that can boast of any antiquity bears testimony to the disturbed state of the old times. ”

“ The crosses at Hexham, where Archbishop Wilfrid founded a monastery, are very ancient. We are able to tell the date of these stones, for they were placed at the head and feet of the grave of Bishop Acca, who was a follower of St. Wilfrid, and accompanied him on his missionary journeys. Acca succeeded Wilfrid as Bishop of Hexham, and according to the old chronicler Bede, “being a most active man and great in the sight of God and man, he much adorned and added to his church.” ”

“ Never had bishop a vaster diocese. Wilfred, Archbishop of York and Bishop of Hexham, had supreme ecclesiastical control over a district which—during his lifetime, and when he was in misfortune—was divided by Theodore of Tarsus into the four bishoprics of York, Hexham, Withern, and Lindisfarne. Of Wilfred’s cathedral of Hexham nothing remains but the underground oratory, built about 674. The church was fired by incursive Danes in 875. Three centuries later the canons of Hexham piously went to work to rebuild and restore ”

“ The town of Hexham, standing on hilly ground overlooking the Tyne, immediately below the point at which the North and South Tyne unite, and spreading from thence down to the levels all round, is one of the most ancient in the kingdom. ”

“ By this time Mr. Hexham's clamor for our presence had reached such a point that we could not disregard it longer. Together we began to move toward the conservatory.
"The worst of it is," she continued, hurriedly, "he asked me about where we first met, and I had to tell him something—I said it was at Uncle Gamaliel's—of a Sunday——"
I had not been quite prepared for this, and for the first time it occurred to me that perhaps she was right in doubting my wisdom in remaining under Hexham's roof. ”

“ Wilfrid also built at Hexham a church of central plan, with projections (porticus) on the four sides, a type of which no example has survived in England. Escomb (Durham) and parts of Monkwearmouth and Jarrow, which are attributed to the same period, have plans of an entirely different type—a relatively long and narrow nave, with small square-ended chancel—a plan, usually attributed to Celtic influence, which is most extensively represented in churches recognized as Saxon. ”

“ Augustine Canons placed there—1296, The nave burnt down—1297, Unsuccessful attempts made to restore the nave—1537, Monastery surrendered to Henry VIII.—1706, St Wilfrid’s crypt discovered under the nave of the choir—1907, The foundation stones of the new nave laid.
The town of Hexham, picturesquely situated on the southern bank of the river Tyne, 19 miles north of Newcastle, was once the centre of Border warfare and at one time a Roman station. To the west of the old market-place, one of the most interesting in England, stands the ancient abbey—a type of Early English architecture. ”

“ In 1652 we find him at Hexham, Northumberland, where ‘Edmund Hickhorngill’ on 24 Aug., having received adult baptism, was admitted into the baptist church formed in that year by Thomas Tillam of Colchester. On 20 Dec. ‘the church, with prayer, fasting, and imposition of hands of the minister, ordained brother Hickhorngill a minister, and their messenger into Scotland.’ He reached Dalkeith on 30 Dec. ”

“ But for Mrs. Hexham no such superficial elucidation would suffice. Having procured the beer, she sank into a chair a little apart, where the breeze from the open window seemed to refresh her. Her eyes followed me with a certain childlike wonder, and when I sought her out with a plate of the fresh rarebit, she had a question ready for me. As one who has at last found the key to the situation, she whispered:
"And what is your real name?"
"Shimmelpinneck," said I.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929. ”

“ There are several lakes among the mountains above Hexham, well worth going many miles to see, though their fame is eclipsed by their neighborhood to those of Cumberland. They are surrounded by old towers and castles, in situations the most savagely romantic ”

“ But, in addition to any inferences we may draw, ancient writers actually bear testimony both to the opinion, formed in their day, of the early ecclesiastical edifices, and also to the attention and expense bestowed upon supplying them with whatever was considered necessary and appropriate for their sacred purposes. Thus Hexham church, built by Bp. Wilfrid A. D. 674, is styled a wonderful work, "mirabile opus;" and Ripon was indebted to the same munificent prelate for a highly-commended church. (Notes to Bed, Hist. Eccl. 1. 5, c. 19.) ”

“ Hexateuch, the name given to the first six books of the Bible.
Hexham (6) , an interesting old town in Northumberland, prettily situated on the Tyne, 24 m. W. of Newcastle; has a fine cruciform abbey church, portions of which belong to the 12th century, and beautiful remains of a 7th-century monastery; the staple industries are glove and hat making; the river is spanned by a stone bridge of nine arches.
Heylin, Peter, English divine, born at Burford; graduated at Oxford, and in 1629 became chaplain-in-ordinary to Charles I.; was a zealous champion of the Church of England ”

“ Chesters, Hexham, Sept. 10.—I came here yesterday. My aged hostess, the eldest sister of the Newcastle Clayton family, is of a most tall, weird figure, and speaks in an abrupt, energetic, startling manner, but she is the most perfect lady imaginable, both in feeling and manners, and her kindness and thoughtfulness and consideration for others make her beloved far and wide. Chesters is famous for its liberal unostentatious hospitality, and Miss Clayton always lives here, though it is her brother’s place, and he resides at Newcastle. ”

“ Leaving Margaret and her son in his cave, the mouth of which was protected by the bank of a rivulet, and screened from view by brushwood, the outlaw went to inquire after such of her friends as had escaped the carnage of Hexham. More fortunate than could have been expected, he met Sir Peter Brezé, who was wandering about looking for the queen, and, soon after, Brezé found the Duke of Exeter, who had concealed himself in a neighboring village, and, with the duke, Edmund Beaufort, who had now, by the death of his brother on the scaffold, become head of the house of Somerset. ”

“ But of her nothing else is known (Freeman, Norman Conquest, v. 315) , and her very existence depends on the trustworthiness of a late authority. John of Hexham mentions that William was a kinsman of Roger, king of Sicily, but it is suspicious that no contemporary writer, even when speaking in some detail of William's dealings with Stephen and his brother Henry of Winchester, says a word of his relationship to the king. One nephew of Stephen was almost elected archbishop before him. Another nephew of Stephen succeeded him as treasurer of York. ”

“ Wilfrid, born about 634, the builder of the old church {163} at Hexham, a crypt of which, with some Roman stones used for the walls, is still in existence.
Near the fridstool was to be seen a queer, short, stone statue now moved to another place in the church, of a man, with brutal features, “wearing a long coat, buttoned in front from the neck to the waist, having three coils or clumsy ligatures . . . round his ankles; and he holds erect with both hands a staff or club as tall as himself.” ”

“ A Roman tombstone was discovered here, nine feet by three and a half feet, showing a Roman officer on horseback, overthrowing in fierce fight a savage and scowling foe. This fine relic is set up in the church, and is not the only thing to see there. The original church upon this spot was built in 674, in the reign of King Egfrid of Northumbria. Wilfrid, the very able and influential Bishop of York, was the man who presided at the building of it, and there were bishops at Hexham for a couple of centuries. In 875 the Danes ruthlessly burnt the town ”

“ This John was Bishop of Hagulstad, now Hexham, in the county of Northumberland, and the monasteries of Weremouth and Jarrow were in his diocese, for the see of Durham did not exist until a later period, when the Brotherhood of Lindisfarne settled there, carrying with them the bones of St. ”

“ It is no wonder that a rising, [185] supported by men of such various classes, which aimed at the extirpation of abuses of so many different sorts, and which yet was united by the feeling that all these abuses were due to one man alone, was regarded as ‘the daungerest insurrection that haith ben seen [446] .’
On September 29, 1536, when the Commissioners for the suppression of the monasteries came to Hexham in Northumberland, they were rudely surprised by finding the house there fortified, and prepared to defend itself to the last. ”

“ Do not lose eternal joys for sloth of mind or fleshly delights.”
As we have seen, the same destruction that had [137] come upon Lindisfarne came very soon after upon Wearmouth and Jarrow. Bede little knew how close home the blow which he forecast would strike.
We should have felt that something was wanting if no letter had been preserved from Alcuin to the bishop and monks of Hexham. Hexham was the see of one of Bede’s most highly valued correspondents, Acca. ”

“ Wilfrid had been to Rome, and seen the churches of that city and of the lands through which he travelled; and, on his appointment to power, he set himself to make the churches of his diocese worthy to compare with those of older civilizations. He did much to the cathedral of York, and built that of Ripon; but the Abbey of Hexham was his masterpiece. He built a monastery and church, dedicating the latter to St. ”

“ Look out for yourselves, for one of us has got to die, in spite of fate.' And one of them did die, for Hezekiah's aim was true, and his principles of economy would not admit of his wasting powder or ball. Throughout the whole of that bloody road between Lexington and Cambridge, the fatal approaches of the white horse and his rider were dreaded by the trained troops of Britain, and every wound inflicted by Hezekiah needed no repeating. But on reaching Cambridge, the regulars, greatly to their comfort, missed the old man and his horse. ”

“ FECKENHAM, JOHN de (1518?–1585) , the last abbot of Westminster, born in Feckenham Forest, Worcestershire, about 1518, was the son of poor peasants named Howman. The parish priest early discovered his abilities, and through the influence of some 'considerable' persons obtained his mission into Evesham monastery; after taking the vows he became known as John of Feckenham. When about eighteen he entered Gloucester Hall (now Worcester College) , Oxford, a seminary belonging to the Benedictine order, having a special apartment for the Evesham monks. ”

“ HESKYNS or HESKIN, THOMAS, D.D. (fl. 1566) , Roman catholic divine, was a native of Heskin, in the parish of Eccleston, Lancashire. After studying for twelve years at Oxford, he removed to Cambridge, where he commenced M.A. in 1540, being then a priest and a fellow of Clare Hall. He graduated B.D. at Cambridge in 1548. When it was proposed in 1549 to suppress Clare Hall in order to unite it to Trinity Hall, Heskyns signed a paper stating that as an obedient subject to the king he consented to the dissolution, though it was done contrary to his oath to the college. ”