Historic Dilston

The Rising in Northumberland

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Various places around Hexhamshire have links with the 1715 Rising; some being cited as places where the Earl took refuge when government agents were on his trail. At one stage the Earl is supposed to have escaped capture by hiding in a cave at Shafto Crags in the vicinity of Capheaton and Wallington. Between Dilston and Nunsbrough, some holly bushes on the roadside are noted as having been used by Jacobite families as a ‘post-office’ when the Earl and other leaders were in hiding. The messages were conveyed between the rebels by the young women of the families who rode around Northumberland, acting as couriers. Staward Manor, near Langley, is said to be one of the houses where the Earl of Derwentwater was hidden. On nearby Hexhamshire common, the area known as Rebel Hill (not far from Staward) is traditionally believed to be where the Jacobite army re-grouped during the second week of the rising, before joining forces with the Scottish rebels in the Borders.

In North Tynedale, a Roman milestone on the top of Waterfalls Hill (off the A68, near Tone) marks the spot where the Earl of Derwentwater, together with a few followers, met up with ‘General’ Thomas Forster and some other men, at the start of the Rising on 6 October 1715. From here the rebels moved north to Plainfield Moor in Coquetdale where many more members from the Northumbrian gentry arrived to enlist.

On the first night of the rising, the Jacobites rested at Rothbury; the Earl and other leaders staying at The Three Half Moons Inn. The inn has since been demolished but the doorway remains, bearing an inscription that recalls the event. The following day the Jacobites moved on to Warkworth where, in the market place, they proclaimed James lll as king. At Warkworth, an inscription across a beam inside The Masons Arms records that on 8 October 1715, the Earl of Derwentwater and forty of his followers dined at the inn.

On the coast, near Alnmouth, the Jacobites marked time for almost a week, awaiting the arrival of James lll who they had expected to be sailing from France with troops and arms. When, through unforeseen circumstances, these plans did not materialise, the Northumbrian rebels decided to return to Hexhamshire to await news from their fellow Jacobites who had risen in the Scottish Borders and Highlands.

Arriving in Hexham on 15 October, the Jacobites openly declared James lll as king in the market place before riding off into the ‘Shire’ where they lay low in a field alongside the Devil’s Water at Nunsbrough.