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Acomb Village, Northumberland
The village of Acomb is on the north bank of the Tyne and two miles north of Hexham. It was part of the ancient manor of Hexham and is often called West Acomb to distinguish it from a hamlet of the same name in Bywell St. Peter. The village has one main street running from east to west and an old fountain in the centre of a small square.
It was claimed that the Anglo Saxons settlers of Northumberland founded Acomb but there is evidence of previous settlement in the area. The Oakwood Stone, found at the edge of a field in the 1970s, and now in the parish church at St. John Lee, is one of the of the most southerly of the 'cup and ring' marked stones found in the county of Northumberland. The stone was most probably used as a capstone to cover an ancient stone burial chamber.
Little is known about medieval Acomb. As the village is on the north side of the town, it was open to Scottish attack and destroyed on several occasions. In 1467 it was burnt by a riotous group. The peasants living in Acomb at this time paid their rents to the Archbishop of York through a bailiff, but there was no resident Lord of the manor, or castle or pele tower in the area.
Henry VIII took over the Regality of Hexhamshire from the Archbishop during his reign and the Crown records on the village become fuller in the Tudor period. It was recorded that rents in the village were low, but the tenants were expected to turn out for military service whenever they were required. In 1694, the tenants of Acomb made an agreement to enclose the township's common arable fields. This ended the agricultural system which had been in place since the medieval period. After a further enclosure award was made in 1779, Acomb became very much like it is today, cut up into hedged or walled fields and farmed largely from centrally situated farmhouses.
In the nineteenth century the village was mainly occupied with lead and coal miners. It was described by The Newcastle Weekly Chronicle in December 1873 as 'a chaotic mixture of a mining settlement, with prosperous lead and coal mines working nearby and agricultural village with pens and stockyards spilling out on to the main street.'
The Hermitage is one of the principal buildings in the village. It was built at the beginning of the eighteenth century and stands between the Tyne and the foot of the hill on which the church is built.
By the end of the nineteenth century there were three chapels in the village. The Wesleyan chapel was built in 1861 opposite Town Foot Farm. The chapel closed in 1932 and was later demolished. The chapel belonging to the Primitive Methodists was opened in 1872 when Mr. W. Smith laid the foundation stone of the building. The original building incorporated the Sunday School, however, an extension to the chapel was built in 1893 to provide for a new schoolroom. The parish church of St. John Lee includes Acomb together with Alnwick, Sandhoe, Oakwood and Stagshaw.