REFN: N1029
WIDDRINGTON is a parochial chapelry situated between the parishes of
Woodhorn and Warkworth, having the sea for its eastern and Ulgham
chapelry for its western boundary. It comprises the three small
villages of Widdrington, Dunridge, and Linton, whose united area is
4,530 acres, and rateable value £4,156 17s. The population in 1801,
was 446: in 1811, 370; in 1821, 388; in 1831, 395; in 1841, 447; and
in 1851, 429 souls. It possesses a rich, strong, clayey soil,
suitable both for pasturage and tillage, and Lord Vernon is the
proprietor of the whole chapelry, with the exception of the
Constablewick of Linton, which is the property of Mrs. Askew.
Widdrington was formerly included in the parish of Woodhorn, but, in
1768, it was admitted to the enjoyment of separate and distinct
parochial privileges, This manor was formerly the property of a
family which bore the local name, Gerard de Widdrington possessing
it in the reign of Edward III.; and we find various members of this
family stand conspicuous in the list of sheriffs of the county. Sir
William Widdrington, a most zealous royalist, was created Lord
Widdrington by Charles 1., in 1643, and was subsequently slain at
Wigan, in 1651. William, the third Lord Widdrington, having taken
part with the Earl of Derwentwater, suffered attainder in 1715, when
his real and personal estate, amounting to £100,000, was sold for
public use, the purchaser being Sir George Revel, from whom it
descended by heiresses to Viscount Bulkeley, and subsequently to the
present proprietors.
[From History, Topography, and Directory of Northumberland, Whellan,
1855].