Ecclesiastical Structure

Whereas South Tynedale was divided between half a dozen parishes, those parts of the liberty which lay in North Tynedale were incorporated within a single vast parish, that of Simonburn, covering over 130,000 acres.

In the upper reaches of the valley, above the confluence of the North Tyne and the Rede, there were subordinate chapels at Bellingham and Falstone (see Falstone Historic Village Atlas) and perhaps even at Belles at the very head of the valley. There is evidence that these sites were very long established ecclesiastical centres, with 8th and 9th century carved stonework from both Falstone and Simonburn (cf. Cramp 1984). The earliest reference to a chapel at Bellingham is c. 1140, but even here the chapel's dedication to St Cuthbert has given rise to the suggestion that it might have been established much earlier, perhaps in the 9th century.