crookham is a constablewick and village comprising the whole of the Pallinsburn estate, and Crookham, and Barelees, which belong to the Ford estate. The trustees of the late R.C. Askew, Esq., are the owners of Pallinsburn. the village of Crookham is situated two miles W.N.W. of Ford, and nine miles N.N.W. of Wooler, The Presbyterian Chapel is a good commodious building capable of accommodating about 1,600 persons, Rev. William Edmonds, minister. There is a day school attached to this chapel, John Hardy, teacher. The national school is a good stone building, and will accommodate 120 pupils. Average attendance, 85 children. It is used as a chapel of ease to Ford Church, the minister of which officiates here. pallinsburn hall, an, elegant modern brick structure, is pleasantly situated in the midst of beautiful pleasure grounds. In its vicinity there is a fine lake, which, from March to Autumn, is frequented by numerous flocks of black-headed gulls. The mansion is at present occupied only by servants, the heir to the estate being a minor. Barelees, Bird Nest, Bruce's Castle, Keek Out, Mardon, and Pallinsburn, are hamlets in this constablewick.

etal is a constablewick and village, the property of the Earl of Glasgow. The manor of Etal was formerly possessed by the Manners family, who held it under the barony of Wooler, for the annual service of half a knight's fee. One of this family, Sir Robert de Manners was governor of Norham Castle, in the reign of Edward III, and on the night of Edward's coronation he completely routed a party of Scots who attempted to obtain possession of the fortress under his charge. For this, and several other important services, he was rewarded by the King with a grant of land in the Berwick bounds, and afterwards represented Northumberland in Parliament. On his demise his estates and honours devolved upon his son John, one of whose successors Robert de Manners, for his services on the borders, received a portion of the forfeited estates of Sir Robert Ogle. This Robert was a firm adherent of the house of York, opposing the Lancastrians on every opportunity. He married Eleanor, the eldest daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Lord Roos, and had by her a son George, who espoused Anne, daughter of the Duchess of Exeter, and had by her Thomas, Lord Roos, who having livery of all the manors, estates, and castles, which came into his family by Eleanor, his grandmother, and Isabel his aunt, was advanced to the title and dignity of Earl of Rutland, in 1525. In 1546 we find the Etal estate was possessed by Thomas Carr, Esq.; it was crown property in 1667, but it shortly afterwards passed to Sir Robert Carr, Knt., on whose death it was again sequestered, and not restored till a composition of £539 8s. 7d. was paid for it in 1658. Sir William Carr, son of the Sir Robert just mentioned, erected Etal House, and left an only daughter, who was espoused, in 1762, by James, Earl of Errol, whose second son succeeded to this estate on the death of his maternal grandfather, in 1797, but on the demise of his elder brother, in 1798, he became Earl of Errol, and in accordance with his grandfather's will, relinquished the Etal estate in favour of his sister, who died in 1801. Her son and heir survived her only six years, when the estate passed to his maternal aunt, who had married the Earl of Glasgow, in whose family Etal still continues,

hetherslaw constablewick comprises the hamlets of Blinkbonny, Brick Sheds, Encampment, East, Mid, and West Flodden, Henlaw, Hetherslaw, Linthaughs, Look-out, Mount Pleasant, Sandyford, and Oakhall. the hamlet of Hetherslaw is situated one mile W.N.W. of Ford. Flodden Hill, in this neighbourhood, was the scene of the celebrated battle of Flodden Field, which was fought on the 9th September, 1513, between the English commanded by the Earl of Surrey, Lord Dacres, and other noblemen; and the Scotch under King James IV. This decisive conflict is sometimes called the battle of Branxton, as it was partly fought, and finally decided, by the death of King James, and the total defeat of his army near that place. James, the Scottish King, had long complained of Henry's retention of the jewels which his father had bequeathed to Margaret, the Scottish Queen, and was enraged at the recent death of Barton, his gallant admiral, the pride of Scotland, whom the English, accusing of piracy, had attacked and slain. Eager to vindicate the honour of his crown, James listened gladly to the proposal of France, and while Henry was still engaged upon the continent, crossed the borders with his army. The defence of England devolved upon the brave Earl of Surrey. When this leader beheld the strong position of the Scottish camp, with its only accessible quarter bristling with cannon, he marched on as if for Scotland, and returned to attack the enemy on the opposite and unguarded side of the hill. James immediately occupied another of the Cheviots, and, having arranged his army into several distinct bodies, marched down to meet the charge of the Earl. After a brief struggle, a large body of the Scottish spearmen drove back the right wing of the English, while encircled with a gallant array, James pushed on, despite of all the efforts of his adversaries, to within a few yards of the royal standard. Notwithstanding the panoply in which he and his followers were cased, the clouds of English arrows sped not in vain; yet still he pressed forward, with ranks ever closing as fast as his warriors fell. The billmen of England tried their deadly weapons; but no matter, the king toiled on, and with spear and battle-axe, with sword and mace he hewed out or crushed down a bloody and difficult path. Vain, however were his gallant efforts, the war-cry of the English thundered upon his rear, his spearmen had been swept away from the field, and the victors, exulting and resistless, were closing around him. Soon his ranks were broken, all was confusion and despair, and, amid the dead bodies of thirty of his faithful nobles, with his hands hacked in pieces, his head gashed with a bill, and his body pierced with arrows, the Scottish King yielded up his life. Six thousand horses, and a park of seventeen pieces of artillery fell into the hands of the conquerors. The loss of the Scotch was variously estimated at from eight to twelve thousand men, among whom were a great number of knights and gentlemen, seventeen lords, twelve earls, four abbots and the archbishop of St. Andrews. Long did the Scotch tremble at the name of Flodden Field. Near to Branxton is a large upright pillar, erected as a memorial of this victory. On the summit of Flodden Hill is a natural rock called the King's Chair, from which James had a good view of the English army and his own. The top of Flodden Hill is now covered with a large plantation of fir trees.

kimmerston is a constablewick and hamlet in the above named parish. the hamlet of Kimmerston is situated one and a half miles south by east of Ford. broomridge, a hamlet in this constablewick, was formerly a considerable village; and from a passage in Florence of Worcester, Camden supposes it to have been the Brunanburgh, where King Athelstan defeated Anlaf the Dane, Constantine of Scotland, and Eugenius the petty King of Cumberland, in 928. It was formerly a portion of the manor of Roddam.

William Whellan & Co., History of Northumberland, 1855