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 also 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]
Shitlington Crags is a crag near Shitlington Hall, south of Bellingham. The crag is at an average height of 170 metres. The Pennine Way passes by the crag.[15]
There is a former Union Workhouse located along the main street of Bellingham.
Notable residents
Sir David Lindsay Keir, the historian and academic, was born and bred here.
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