Morpeth and its River

The 16th-century travel writer, John Leland, described Morpeth as a 'fayrer towne than Alnwicke', a sentiment still upheld by the town's natives. It certainly is an attractive place, with many streets lined by fine Georgian buildings and a sprinkling of some that are considerably older. But it isn't a museum either, and its work-a-day bustle reflects a long tradition as a market town, just over 800 years in fact. This walk leads you past some of its most interesting sights, but there are others too, which are worth wandering to.

Little remains of the town's original buildings, which witnessed the often bloody events that marked its early history as a frontier town. Fortified shortly after the Norman Conquest, the first defence was a motte and bailey surmounting a mound, Ha Hill, overlooking the river in what is now Carlisle Park. This was superseded by more sophisticated fortifications on the higher ground behind, of which the 14th-century gatehouse still survives. The town had an abbey too, founded a little way upstream as a daughter to the great Cistercian monastery at Fountains. The medieval looking 'castle' opposite the park entrance, however, only appeared in 1821, serving successively as the gaol, police headquarters and then courthouse before being converted to residential use.

The old town bridge was replaced in 1832, its passage so narrow that, on two occasions, the mail coach crashed through the parapets to meet an untimely and watery end. It was replaced by Thomas Telford's graceful three-arched span, which, before the bypass was built, carried the Great North Road. At its northern end stands the Chantry, built in the late 13th century to serve as a chapel and tollhouse for the original bridge. Its chaplain began the town's first grammar school, which, refounded after the Chantry was dissolved along with the monastery by Henry VIII, continued in the building until 1858, when it moved to Cottingwood. The elegant Town Hall, gifted in 1714 by the Earl of Carlisle and re-fronted by Lord Joicey two centuries later, stands near the clock tower, which dates from around 1640 and served as the town gaol until the beginning of the 19th century. From its bells, the nightly curfew was rung at 8 o'clock.

Morpeth has associations with many notable people, including Vice-Admiral Lord Collingwood, Nelson's second in command at Trafalgar, and Dr John Horsley, dubbed the 'Father of British Archaeology' and minister of St George's Church for 23 years. Laid to rest in St Mary's churchyard, just south of the town, is Emily Davison, one of the suffragette movement's most determined activists. Repeatedly imprisoned for her defiant protests, Davison became a martyr in 1917 when she fell beneath the King's racehorse, Anmer.

While you're there

Some people may be surprised to learn that Scotland doesn't have a monopoly on the bagpipes, in fact they can be found in various forms from Africa to Russia. Housed in the 13th-century Chantry is a fascinating exhibition focussing on the Northumbrian version of this rather unusual instrument and the wonderful music that it produces.

Where to eat and drink

There is a choice of pubs and eating houses in the town, amongst them the Black Bull, fronted with regency bow windows and an Adam doorway and the Queen's Head, which was once a vicarage. Alternatively, try the Cobbler's Coffee Shop, entered through the doorway of Amos Atkinson's shoe shop.

What to look for

Go quietly through the woods beside the river and keep your eyes open, for you may see red squirrels scampering amongst the branches. Increasingly marginalised by the grey squirrel, which was introduced from North America in the 19th century, it is Britain's native squirrel. A rarer sight is the brilliant iridescent flash of a kingfisher, or even a glimpse of roe deer, browsing amongst the dark foliage.