Famous as a stopping point on the Pennine Way trail, it is popular with walkers and cyclists. Nearby is the Hareshaw Linn, a waterfall and the site of early coke blast furnaces.[2]
The village's local newspaper is the Hexham Courant. There is an 18-hole golf course which was established in 1893.[3]
The Heritage Centre is the local museum.[4] It has exhibitions on the Border Counties Railway, the Border reivers, mining, farming, the photography of W P Collier, and the Stannersburn Smithy. It has a database of local family names and one of old photographs. It also holds special exhibitions of historical or artistic interest, and readings and performances by poets, storytellers, musicians and dancers.
Hole Farm and Bastle
St Cuthbert's
The Grade-I listedChurch of St Cuthbert (13th century, substantially reconstructed in the early 17th century)[5] is described as "almost unique in England"[6] owing to its stone barrel vault, which runs the length of the nave and extends into the south transept. Three miracles in Bellingham connected with the mediaeval cult of St Cuthbert are recorded in the twelfth-century Libellus[7] of Reginald of Durham.
Within the churchyard on the north side is "The Lang Pack", purportedly the grave of a burglar who attempted to infiltrate a local house by hiding in a beggar's pack, but was discovered after he suffered an ill-timed coughing fit, and was promptly run through with the sword of the house's proprietor.
Until 1966 Bellingham had a railway station, seen here in 1962
Adjacent to the church is St Cuthbert's Well, known locally as "Cuddy's Well", an ancient holy well.[8] The well is in the middle of a grassy path leading down to the river, on the other side of the churchyard wall.
From 1735 the parish rectors at Bellingham were under the patronage of the Governors of Greenwich Hospital. The Governors stipulated that the rectors were to be graduates of Oxford or Cambridge, and naval chaplains. Bellingham Rectory was one of six such rectories in the Simonburn area, the others being Falstone, Greystead, Thorneyburn, Wark on Tyne and Simonburn.[9]
For local government purposes it belongs to Northumberland County Council, a unitary authority. There is an electoral ward of the same name; it stretches north to the Scottish border and has a total population of 4,074.[17] The incumbent councillor for the Bellingham ward is John Riddle, who is a member of the Conservative Party.[18]
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