Name origin The name of Northumberland is recorded in the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as
norð hẏmbra land, meaning "the land north of the
Humber". The name of the kingdom of
Northumbria derives from the Old English meaning "the people or province north of the Humber", as opposed to
Southumbria, south of the
Humber Estuary.
Before the county The land has long been an English frontier zone, and it is now bordered to the north by
Scotland. Northumberland has a rich
prehistory with many instances of
rock art,
hillforts such as
Yeavering Bell, and
stone circles such as
the Goatstones and
Duddo Five Stones. Most of the area was occupied by the
Brythonic-
Celtic Votadini people, with another large tribe, the
Brigantes, to the south. During the
Roman occupation of Britain, most of the present county lay north of
Hadrian's Wall. It was controlled by Rome only for the brief period of its extension of power north to the
Antonine Wall. The Roman road
Dere Street crosses the county from
Corbridge over high moorland west of the
Cheviot Hills to
Melrose, Scottish Borders (). As evidence of its border position through medieval times, Northumberland has more castles than any other county in England, including prominent ones at
Alnwick,
Bamburgh,
Dunstanburgh,
Newcastle, and
Warkworth. Nearly 2,000-year-old Roman boxing gloves were uncovered at
Vindolanda in 2017 by the Vindolanda Trust experts, led by
Andrew Birley. Being similar in style and function to the full-hand modern boxing gloves, those found at Vindolanda look like leather bands dating back to 120AD. It is suggested that, based on their difference from gladiator gloves, the gloves were not used in mortal combat, but rather in a sport for promoting fighting skills. The gloves are currently displayed at Vindolanda's museum. Present-day Northumberland formed the core of the
Anglian kingdom of
Bernicia from about 547. It was united with
Deira (south of the
River Tees) to form the kingdom of
Northumbria in the 7th century. The boundaries of Northumbria under King
Edwin (reigned 616–633) stretched from the
Humber in the south to the
Forth in the north. Northumberland is often called the "cradle of Christianity" in England because Christianity flourished on
Lindisfarne—a tidal island north of
Bamburgh, also called Holy Island—after King
Oswald of Northumbria (r. 634–642) invited monks from
Iona to come to convert the English. The monastery at Lindisfarne was the centre of production of the
Lindisfarne Gospels (around 700). It became the home of
St Cuthbert (, abbot from ), who is buried in
Durham Cathedral. The Kingdom of Northumbria fragmented into a series of successor states following the Viking invasion. In the south, Viking settlers established the
Kingdom of York between the Humber and Tees. However, Viking influence petered out at the Tees, with the river serving as the northern boundary of the
Danelaw. Between the Tyne and Tees rivers, the Community of St. Cuthbert emerged as the successors to the Bishops of Lindisfarne; north of the Tyne, the earls of Bamburgh, who traced their lineage back to the Kings of Northumbria, continued to exercise authority and governance over this northern expanse. York was eventually integrated as a shire into the unified Kingdom of England by the House of Wessex. However, the West Saxon governmental structures were not extended beyond Tees, leaving the Earldom of Bamburgh and the Community of St. Cuthbert as contested buffer states with the emerging Kingdom of Scotland. After the battle of
Nechtansmere, Northumbrian influence north of the Tweed began to decline as the Picts gradually reclaimed the land previously invaded by the Anglian kingdom. In 1018, its northern part, the region between the
Tweed and the Forth (including
Lothian, which includes present-day
Edinburgh), was ceded to the Kingdom of Scotland.
As a county The
Earldom of Northumberland was briefly held by the Scottish royal family by marriage, between 1139–1157 and 1215–1217. Scotland relinquished all claims to the region as part of the
Treaty of York (1237). The earls of Northumberland once wielded significant power in English affairs because, as powerful and militaristic lords in the
Scottish Marches, they had the task of protecting England from Scottish retaliation for English invasions. Northumberland has a history of revolt and rebellion against the government, as seen in the
Rising of the North (1569–1570) against
Elizabeth I. These revolts were usually led by the earls of Northumberland, the Percy family.
Shakespeare makes one of the Percys, the dashing
Harry Hotspur (1364–1403), the hero of his
Henry IV, Part 1. The Percys were often aided in conflict by other powerful Northern families, such as the
Nevilles and the Patchetts. The latter were stripped of all power and titles by the victorious Parliamentarians after the
English Civil War of 1642–1651. After the
Restoration in 1660, the county was a centre for
Roman Catholicism in England, as well as a focus of
Jacobite support. Northumberland was long a wild county, where outlaws and
Border Reivers hid from the law. However, the frequent cross-border skirmishes and accompanying local lawlessness largely subsided after the
Union of the Crowns of Scotland and England under
King James I and VI in 1603. Northumberland played a key role in the
Industrial Revolution from the 18th century on. Many
coal mines operated in Northumberland until the
widespread closures in the 1970s and 1980s.
Collieries operated at
Ashington, Bedlington,
Blyth, Choppington, Netherton,
Ellington, and
Pegswood. The region's coalfields fuelled industrial expansion in other areas of Britain, and the need to transport the coal from the collieries to the Tyne led to the development of the first railways.
Shipbuilding and
armaments manufacture were other important industries before the deindustrialisation of the 1980s. The historic
county town was
Alnwick;
assizes were mainly held in
Newcastle, with the
county gaol in
Morpeth. From the
county council's formation in 1889 until 1981 Newcastle was the
county town, being briefly the county town of two counties when the city became a part of the
Tyne and Wear metropolitan county in 1974. Northumberland remains largely rural, and is the least densely populated county in England. In recent years, the county has had considerable growth in tourism. Visitors are attracted both to its scenic beauty and to its historical sites. ==Geography==