Northumberland
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Locator map for the English administrative region of Northumberland.
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Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, England. The castle, originally built in the 11th century, was the medieval stronghold of the Percy family and the dukes of Northumberland. The outer walls (seen left) were strengthened by the addition of towers in the 14th century. Many of the buildings within the castle were restored in the mid 19th-century.
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Warkworth Castle, Northumberland. Building began in the 12th century, although the curtain wall and much of the rest of the castle was constructed during the 13th century. The seat of the Percy family, the castle stands on a hill above the River Coquet.
County of northern England.
Area
5,030 sq km/1,942 sq miTowns and cities
Morpeth (administrative headquarters), Berwick-upon-Tweed, HexhamPhysical
Cheviot Hills; rivers Aln, Coquet, Rede, Till, Tweed, upper Tyne; Northumberland National Park in the westFeaturesHoly Island (Lindisfarne); the Farne island group 8 km/5 mi east of Bamburgh, home to seal and bird colonies; part of Hadrian's Wall (a World Heritage site), including Housesteads Roman Fort; Alnwick and Bamburgh (1894) castles; Cherryburn, Thomas Bewick's birthplace; Hexham Abbey (mainly 12th century, with a Saxon crypt and apse); the walls of Berwick-upon-Tweed; large moorland areas used for military manoeuvres; Longstone Lighthouse (1826) from which Grace Darling rowed to rescue the crew of the Forfarshire; wild white cattle of Chillingham; Kielder Water (1982), the largest artificial lake in northern Europe |
Agriculture
sheep, cattle; fishingIndustries
manufacturing of computer components; pharmaceuticals and chemicals; plastics and paper; engineering; foods; tourism; coal was formerly mined at several locations – there is one deep mine remainingPopulation
(2001) 307,400Famous people
Thomas Bewick (artist), Jack and Bobby Charlton, Grace DarlingTopographyThe greater part of the county, comprising the districts of Berwick, Alnwick, and Tynedale, is rural. The Cheviot Hills, along the Anglo-Scottish border, rise to 810 m/2,657 ft; further east there are uplands rising to a height of 250–450 m/820–1,476 ft above sea-level. They are composed of coarse sandstones which dip towards a low coastal plateau, meeting the North Sea in low cliffs and shallow bays backed by sand dunes. There are extensive forests in the west of Northumberland, and much of the upland is used by the army. South of the River Coquet, coal is found underneath the coastal plateau in the districts of Wansbeck, Blyth, and Castle Morpeth. |
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