Know Your Parish

Ford

By J K Brown

Two of the most delightful and picturesque villages in the whole of Northumberland are in the northern parish of Ford. Ford and Etal are only two miles apart, and both are steeped in history and have royal connections. It was at nearby Flodden that on 9 September 1513 the last and most ferocious battle between the two kingdoms was fought. Scotland's gallant and most loved King James IV fell, hacked to pieces amid the bodies of thirty of his nobles including twelve earls and his natural son Alexander Stuart. Nine thousand Scotsmen were killed, and there is scarcely a Scottish family of eminence that does not have an ancestor slain at Flodden.

Ford village, amongst tall and sturdy trees, is pleasantly situated on a gentle slope of a hillside near the river Till, a tributary of the Tweed. The gates at the entrance to the 13th century castle are at the west end of a wide avenue of stone-built houses amongst which are the former schoolhouse and the idyllic little post office cum general store. Squirrels may sometimes be seen playing on the wide grass verge

bordering the avenue which runs through the village from east to west. The building which was the schoolhouse was built by Louisa, Marchioness of Waterford, and inside are murals painted by her. Lady Louisa, a bridesmaid to Queen Victoria, was a descendant of the Delavals; widowed at 40, she came to live at Ford Castle in 1859, and decided to decorate her new school with paintings of scenes from the bible. Most of the characters were drawn from villagers and school children who would sit for her in her studio in the castle. The Marchioness is recognised as an accomplished artist, and some of her works are in the Tate Gallery.

Ford Castle was originally built about 1282 by Odinal de Ford. Through marriage and failure of the male line it has in turn passed from the Fords to the Herons, in whose family it remained until mid- 16th century, and to the Carrs, the Winkles, the Blakes, the Delavals and so to the Marchioness of Waterford. Finally it passed to the ancestors of the present owners, the Joiceys. It is now a residential college run by Northumberland County Council.

In 1385 the castle was destroyed by the Scots, and it was again badly damaged by James IV before the battle of Flodden. In 1549 a party of Scots led by a French general attacked the castle, but in spite of a severe pounding the defenders held out in one tower. It was largely restored when occupied by Sir John Delaval in 1761, and again a century later by Louisa, the widow of Henry, 3rd Marquis of Waterford.

The parish church of St Michael, despite much restoration, is an ancient structure dating from the 13th century. In 1314 it was burned down by the Scots (not them again!), but was restored then and again in 1598. By 1663 the building was in a bad state: the chancel was in ruins and without a roof, the nave was not a great deal better, and during services if it rained no-one could remain dry. Dr George Chalmers, who came to Ford in 1690 as rector, did much in the way of restoration, and by 1725 the church was described as being regular and neat.

The long list of Rectors starts with Henry, parson of Ford in 1241. He was followed by Walter Heron in 1248, and later there is Robert Heron, 1291-1314, Roger Heron 1326, and another in 1346. In 1496 Lawrence Heron was ordained as sub-deacon. The church registers date from 1683, and an interesting entry is that of 22 June 1868:

"The R. Hon. Adelbert Wellington Brownlow Cust, Earl of Brownlow, Belton, Lincs, married Adelaide Talbot, daughter of R. Hon. Earl of Shrewsbury, by special licence." Adelbert, the 3rd Earl, Viscount Alford, Baron Brownlow, died in 1921, and the youngest daughter of the 18th Earl of Shrewsbury, died in 1917. They died without issue and the Earldom became extinct. At the time of the wedding they would be staying at Ford Castle with Louisa, the widow of the 3rd Marquis of Waterford, to whose family Earl Brownlow was related.

Within three miles of Ford is the equally delightful village of Etal, with its ruined castle at the west end of the village and Etal Manor or Hall, occupied by Lord Joicey, at the east end. As at Ford the main avenue runs along the length of the village. The cottages on both sides are not as handsome as those at Ford, but the old `pub', the Black Bull, with its thatched roof, so unusual in Northumberland, certainly adds to its charms. The castle was built by Robert Manners in1341; only a few years after the Herons were given licence to fortify their manor house at Ford. Robert Manners was Lord of Etal in 1232. In about 1460 Sir Robert Manners married Eleanor, sister and co-heir of Edmund Lord Roos. He brought the baron of Roos into his family, and his grandson, Thomas Manners, Lord Roos, was created Earl of Rutland in 1525. The Earl did not live in Etal, and in 1547 exchanged his estates for lands elsewhere; Etal became the property of the crown, and was tenanted by a branch of the illustrious family of Collingwood. After the Union of the two crowns Etal was granted to George Hume, later the Earl of Dunbar; he died without male issue in 1611 after transferring his property to Lord Howard de Walden, who later became Earl of Suffolk. In 1636 it was purchased by the Ker/Cans of Roxburgh. Sir William Carr was the last of the name to possess Etal as his only son had died as an infant and the property went to his daughter who in 1762 married the Earl of Erroll. Eventually through early deaths, failure of male issue and marriage of female heirs, the estate passed to Augusta, heir to the 4th Earl of Glasgow and widow of Lord Frederick Fitzclarence. On her death the estate passed to William George, 17th Earl of Errol, whose son sold it to Laing of Sunderland. He in turn sold it to the Joicey family, who are still in possession.

The royal connection is that Lord Frederick Fitzclarence was the illegitimate son of King William IV and Mrs Jordan. Lord and Lady Fitzclarence made their home at Etal, and when his Lordship died as Commander in Chief of the Army in Bombay in 1855 his body was interred at Ford. Their only child, Frederica, died the following year, and Lady Fitzclarence had a chapel built in the grounds of Etal Manor where father and daughter lie together. This beautiful chapel is only 18 feet long and able to seat only 100 persons and here today Etal villagers and the Lords of the Manor, the Joiceys, and worship.

As in other border parishes, Presbyterianism was very strong, and they founded their own churches at Etal in 1697 and at Crookham in 1732.

Editor’s notes

Church Records

Ford, St Michael and All Angels parish records are held at Woodhorn. www.northumberland.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=1665

Transcripts of baptisms, burials and marriages 1684-1812 are available at Newcastle Local Studies Dept. http://www.newcastle.gov.uk/core.nsf/a/librarylocalstudies

Bishop Transcripts are from 1762 to 1841 http://search.labs.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#p=imageBrowser;c=1309819;w=68

The Northumberland & Durham FHS hold Monumental Inscriptions for Ford http://www.ndfhs.org.uk/Sales/prices/NI_21.html

On-line resources

A short description of Ford parish can be found in the work of Enas Mackenzie “An historical, topographical, and descriptive view of the county of Northumberland p368 http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=4RpNAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA368&dq=mackenzie+ford+parish

Keys to the Past http://www.keystothepast.info/durhamcc/K2P.nsf/K2PDetail?readform&PRN=N13751

Northumberland communities’ website contains photographs and pictures of bygone Northumberland. http://communities.northumberland.gov.uk/Ford.htm