CHAPTER I.—­The Coast of Northumberland

Chapter II.—­North and South Tyne

Chapter iii.—­Down the Tyne

Chapter IV.—­Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Chapter V.—­Elswick and its Founder

Chapter VI.—­The Cheviots

Chapter VII.—­The Roman Wall

Chapter VIII.—­Some Northumbrian Streams

Chapter IX.—­Drum and Trumpet

Chapter X.—­Tales and Legends

Chapter XI.—­Ballads and Poems

ILLUSTRATIONS.

BAMBURGH CASTLE (From photograph by J.P.  Gibson, Hexham.)

Tynemouth priory
(From photograph by T.H.  Dickinson, Sheriff Hill.)

Hexham abbey from north west
(From photograph by J.P.  Gibson, Hexham.)

The river tyne at Newcastle
(From photograph by T.H.  Dickinson, Sheriff Hill.)

NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE

North gateway, Housesteads, and Roman wall
(From photograph by J.P.  Gibson, Hexham.)

Alnwick castle
(From photograph by J.P.  Gibson.  Hexham.)

Wreck of the “Forfarshire”
(From illustration kindly lent by B. Rowland Hill, Newcastle.)

Sketch map of Northumberland
(From a Drawing by C.H.  Abbey)

INTRODUCTORY.

The following book makes no pretensions to be a mine of deep historical research or antiquarian lore; its object will have been achieved, and its existence to some extent justified, if haply by its aid some of the dwellers in this northern county of ours, with its past so full of action, and its present so rich in the memorials of those actions, may pass a pleasant hour in becoming acquainted through its pages with the happenings which have taken place in their own particular fields, their own streets, or by their own riverside.

I am aware that many learned volumes on this subject, representing an enormous amount of patient labour and careful research in their compilation, are already in existence.  To such this little book can in no sense be a rival; but there must be many people who have not a superabundance of time, to enable them to dig out the information for which they wish, from these various sources; nor can they always make these volumes their own, to be consulted at leisure.

Northumbrians have always been interested in the records of their own county, and are now-a-days not less so than when, some three-and-a-half centuries ago, Roger North found them “great antiquarians within their own bounds.”  If to such as these this little book may perhaps bring in a more convenient form the information they seek, and help them to become better acquainted with the county which inspired Swinburne to write in stirring phrases of “Northumberland,” and to address the home of his people as