Although there is reason to suppose that the history of Cartington can be traced on the strength of its
place-name to the
Early Middle Ages, Cartington is not named until the
Pipe Roll dated 1233 as Kertindon, a holding of the King's Forester, Ralph Fitz-Main. This family remained significant in the township, but increasingly land within it was held by another family, called the de Beaumains, who in time changed their name to Cartington, and eventually took over the manor here. The Cartington family remained influential until the death of John de Cartington in 1494, after which it passed through marriage to Sir Edward Radcliffe of
Derwentwater. In 1601 it transferred as the dowry of Mary Radcliffe on her marriage to Roger Widdrington. In 1515 it was briefly visited by the Scottish queen,
Margaret Tudor, where she rested for four days (having recently given birth to a daughter, also called Margaret, later
Lady Lennox) on her way further south to safety. It was noted at the time that she was unable to cope with travelling in a horse-drawn litter, so she was instead carried by servants of
Lord Dacre. The Widdringtons espoused the
Royalist cause in the
English Civil Wars, with Roger Widdrington supporting the King's Army during the
Bishops' Wars of 1639, and his son, Sir Edward Widdrington, raised a brigade of two thousand foot and two hundred horse which served under the
Marquis of Newcastle. After the defeat at
Marston Moor he went into exile, not returning until the
Restoration. Cartington remained in his wife's hands, and the family remained loyal to the King's cause, for in 1648 a Major Sanderson, serving under
Parliament, made a raid across Northumberland to take by surprise a scattered remnant of a Royalist force, with the final action being at Cartington Castle, where Sir Richard Tempest was surprised and laid siege to for two hours before being captured. Subsequently the family were
sequestered for their support of the King; being fined £400 for giving intelligence to the King's party and with Cartington Castle being
slighted to prevent its further use. By the early 18th century it became the property of the Talbots, but a John Talbot lost the estate for his role in the
Jacobite Rising of
1715, passing first to Giles Alcock, a merchant from
Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1883 it became part of the estate of
Sir William George Armstrong of nearby
Cragside. Cartington was formerly a
township in Rothbury parish, from 1866 Cartington was a civil parish in its own right. In September 2019, with only 95 electors living in the parish, Cartington Parish Council voted to abolish itself, with the land distributed between neighbouring
Thropton and
Rothbury parishes, == Landmarks ==