Dilston, Northumberland

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Dilston like this:

DILSTON, or Devilstone, a township in Corbridge parish, Northumberland; on Devil's water, at its confluence with the Tyne, adjacent to the Newcastle and Carlisle railway, 2½ miles E by S of Hexham. Acres, 2, 904. Pop., 241. Houses, 43. The manor belonged to the Devilstones; passed to the Tyndales, of whom was William Tyndale, the translator of the Bible; passed again to the Claxtons; went, by marriage, in the time of Henry VIII., to Sir Edward Ratcliffe, the ancestor of the Earls of Derwentwater; continued in the possession of these earls till the attainder of the last of them for his participation in the rebellion; and gave them the title of baron. ...

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The ancient manorial tower still exists; while a comparatively modern mansion of the Ratcliffes has gone to ruin, excepting a chapel attached to it, which is kept in repair and contains the Ratcliffe burial vault. The unfortunate last Earl of Derwentwater was buried here; and he is represented as saying, -

Though in London I must die,
Oh carry me to Northumberland,
In my father's grave to lie;
There chant my-solemn requiem,
In Hexham's holy towers,
And let six maids of fair Tynedale
Strew o'er my grave with flowers.

Dilston through time

Dilston is now part of NORTHUMBERLAND Unitary Authority. Click here for graphs and data of how NORTHUMBERLAND has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Dilston itself, go to Statistics.

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