History
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Roman fort and town[edit]
The Stanegate, Corbridge Roman Site
Main article: Coria (Corbridge)
Coria was the most northerly town in the Roman Empire, lying at the junction of the Stanegate and Dere Street, the two most important local Roman roads.
The first fort was established c. AD 85, although there was a slightly earlier base nearby at Beaufront Red House. By the middle of the 2nd century AD, the fort was replaced by a town with two walled military compounds, which were garrisoned until the end of the Roman occupation of the site. The best-known finds from the site include the stone Corbridge Lion and the Corbridge Hoard of Roman armour and sundry other items. In Rudyard Kipling's Puck of Pook's Hill, the town of Hunno on the Wall is probably based on Corstopitum.
The Roman Town is now managed by English Heritage on behalf of HM Government. The site has been largely excavated and features a large museum and shop. The fort is the top-rated attraction in Corbridge and is open daily between 10 and 6 in the summer and at weekends between 10 and 4 in the winter.
Buildings[edit]
St Andrew's parish church, showing at centre its reused Roman arch, thought to have been brought from the nearby Coria Roman town.
The former Corbridge Town Hall
The Church of England parish church of Saint Andrew is thought to have been consecrated in 676. Saint Wilfrid is supposed to have had the church built at the same time as Hexham Abbey. It has been altered several times since, with a Norman doorway, and a lychgate built as a First World War memorial. The Church is built largely from stone taken from Hadrian's Wall to the north, and the entrance to the Church is through glass doors given by Rowan Atkinson (known for Blackadder and Mr. Bean) and etched in memory of his mother, a parishioner.
There are only three fortified vicarages in the county, and one of these is in Corbridge. Built in the 14th century, the Vicar's Pele is to be found in the south-east corner of the churchyard, and has walls 1.3 metres (4 ft) in thickness. The register for St Andrew's dates from 1657. Later on in the town's history, Wesleyan, Primitive and Free Methodist chapels were all built too.
Corbridge Low Hall
Even older than the Vicar's Pele is Corbridge Low Hall, dating from the late 13th or early 14th century, with one end converted to a pele tower in the 15th century. The main block was remodelled in the 16th and 17th centuries, and the building restored c. 1890. Corbridge Town Hall was designed by Frank Emley and completed in 1887.
A number of fine Victorian mansions were developed on Prospect Hill to house successful industrialists and local businessmen in the late 19th century, after the arrival of the railway facilitated commuting to Newcastle.
Border warfare[edit]
Corbridge suffered, as did many other settlements in the county, from the border warfare which was particularly prevalent between 1300 and 1700. Raids were commonplace, and it was not unusual for the livestock to be brought into the town at night and a watch placed to guard either end of the street for marauders. A bridge over the Tyne was built in the 13th century, but this original has not survived. The present bridge, an impressive stone structure with seven arches, was erected in 1674.
