Castle Ward, Northumberland Poor Law Union

History
PONTELAND, a village, a township, a parish, and a sub-district, in Castle Ward district, Northumberland. The village stands on the river Pont, 7 miles W of Dudley r. station, and 7½ N W of Newcastle; was formerly called Pont Island; had anciently a castle of the D' Alphels; was the place where Alexander of Scotland madepeace, in 1244, with the English; and has a post-office under Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and an ancient manor-house of the Erringtons, now an inn, and including some remains of the ancient castle. The township comprises 1, 733 acres. Pop., 488. Houses, 98. The workhouse of Castle Ward district is here; and, at the census of1861, had 42 inmates. The parish contains also the townships of Kirkley, Higham-Dykos, Milburn, Milburn-Grange, High Callerton, Little Callerton, Darras-Hall, Coaldcoats, and Berwick-Hill. Acres, 10,073. Real property, £18, 534; of which £110 are in mines. Pop., 1,089. Houses, 213. The manor belonged formerly to the Bertrams, the Erringtons, the Silvertops, and others; and belongs now to Admiral Mitford. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Durham. Value, £520.* Patron, Merton College, Oxford. The church is ancient; has a fine Norman W door, and a singularly large chancel; the latter was restored in 1861; and contains abeautiful piscina, and monuments of the Ogles, the Goftons, and others. There are a Wesleyan chapel, and an endowed school with £170 a year.—The sub-district contains also 5 other parishes, and part of another. Acres, 47, 568. Pop., 7, 190. Houses, 1, 470.

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

For more information on the history of the workhouse, see Peter Higginbotham's web site: www.workhouses.org.uk and http://www.workhouses.org.uk/CastleWard/

Parishes in the Union
Bolam, Northumberland Dinnington, Northumberland Gosforth, Northumberland Heddon on the Wall, Northumberland Kirkheaton, Northumberland Matfen, Northumberland Newburn, Northumberland Ponteland, Northumberland Stamfordham, Northumberland Stannington, Northumberland Sugley, Northumberland Whalton, Northumberland