England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Simonburn St Mungo

The Parish

The parish of Simonburn lies in western Northumberland roughly 9 miles northwest of the town of Hexham. Simonburn is a mainly rural, indeed largely upland, parish taking its name from a rather small village which sits in a side valley off that of the River North Tyne and which sits a quarter mile west of the B6320 road which connects Hadrian's Wall at Chollerford through to Bellingham & Otterburn. Simonburn, itself, is a modestly small village, little more than a hamlet, gathered around church & hall in the valley of the Crook Burn. Simonburn sits north of the Roman wall and was subject to the depredations of the Border Reivers in later times. As a largely upland parish dairy farming dominates the lower areas whilst sheep graze the moorland stretches, some coal and iron ore was extracted but not on an industrial scale. The Crook Burn drains the parish the short distance eastwards to the North Tyne which joins the South Tyne to reach the North Sea throguh the port of Newcastle upon Tyne. Simonburn is sited at around 110 metres above the sea but land rises steeply westwards reaching over 300 metres at the course of the Pennine Way National Trail. Simonburn parish was the largest in its county until 1814 it was divided, the acreage is nevertheless still rather extensive, covering almost 13,400 acres it would have supported a population of just over 1,000 parishioners, very few of whom lived in the village of Simonburn. Like most places north of the Tees, Simonburn is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St Mungo's church sits just west of the main crossroads of the village on the northern side of the narrow lane which parallels the Crook Burn before petering out at farms on the edge of Simonburn Common. As Pevsner states initial appearances indicate a church of the 13th century and in the early English Gothic style, but as he rightly says there is very little left which is actually medieval. A few parts of the west end and a section of chancel walling are all that remains to indicate the true origins of the church. Instead we have a catalogue of rework and replacement, in 1763 the aisles were rebuilt, in the 1860s the chancel was also rebuilt whilst the remainder met a similar fate a decade later. Despite these changes the church remains an attractive site albeit the dark stone can appear dour on a wet day. The church is served by a substantial car park opposite which enables an easy extended visit. An unusual boxy lychgate of four arches enables entry from the east. The church sits tightly to the road which somewhat deters easy access to the favoured southeastern aspect, better from the road itself, but is otherwise free of photographic obstacles.