Wooler, United Kingdom

History

Wooler was not recorded in Domesday Book because in 1086 northern Northumbria was not under Norman control. By 1107, at the time of the creation of the 1st Baron Wooler, the settlement was described as "situated in an ill-cultivated country under the influence of vast mountains, from whence it is subject to impetuous rains". Wooler subsequently enjoyed a period of prosperity and with its expansion it was granted a licence in 1199 to hold a market every Thursday. St Mary Magdalene Hospital was established around 1288.

Wooler is close to Humbleton Hill, the site of a severe Scottish defeat at the hands of Harry Hotspur in 1402. The battle is referred to at the beginning of William Shakespeare's play Henry IV, Part 1 – of which Hotspur is the dashing hero.

After the Dissolution of the Monasteries the patronage and tithe income from the parish church passed from the Bishop of Durham to the Earl of Tankerville.

Alexander Dalziel of Wooler (1781–1832) was the father of the celebrated Dalziel Brothers. Seven of his eight children were artists and became celebrated wood-engravers in London. Their sister Margaret was also a wood-engraver.

There was once a fountain at the top of Church Street. Between 1887 and 1965 the town was served by Wooler railway station on the Alnwick to Cornhill Branch.

From the History section of Wooler on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.