Hethpool : Area of Study

The area of study adopted is represented by the 19th century Township of Hethpool, one of fifteen townships incorporated in the huge, 38,000 acre ecclesiastical parish of Kirknewton (cf. NCH XI (1922), 249-68). The parish embraced the bulk of the north Cheviot massif and a substantial proportion of what is now the Northumberland National Park.

Hethpool Township itself contained 1123 acres and embraces the west side of the valley of the College Burn from the boundary with Westnewton Township, at the foot of The Bell, as far as upstream as the confluence with the Trowup Burn, including the neighbouring hills of Little Hetha and Great Hetha.

It also includes the lower stretches of the tributary side valley of the Elsdon Burn, flanked by White Hill to the north and the two Hethas the south. The township has now been absorbed by the modern civil parish of Kirknewton which covers a much wider area also embracing the former townships of Kirknewton, Westnewton, Yeavering, Crookhouse, Grey's Forest and substantial parts of Selby's Forest and Coupland.