Place:Rothley, Northumberland, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Rothley from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"ROTHLEY, a township in Hartburn parish, Northumberland; on the river Font, 11 miles W N W of Morpeth. Acres: 2,720. Population: 174. Houses: 30. [Rothley] Crags are a fine range of millstone grit rocks; and are surmounted, at an elevation of 843 feet above sea-level, with a picturesque tower built, in the last century, by Sir W. Blackett. A hill to the N also is surmounted by an imitation ruin of a fort, and overhangs a lake. A quondam ancient tower at [Rothley] belonged to the abbot of Newminster."

Rothley was originally a township in the ancient parish of Hartburn, Northumberland. It became a separate civil parish in 1866, and remains a civil parish. From 1894 until 1974 it was part of Rothbury Rural District. In 1955 the neighbouring parishes of Fairnley, Hartington and Hartington Hall were abolished and their area absorbed into Rothley. In 1974 rural districts were abolished and Rothley became part of the Alnwick District until 2009 when Northumberland became a unitary authority.

Research Tips

• Northumberland Archives previously known as Northumberland Collections Service and Northumberland County Record Office. Now based within Woodhorn Museum in Ashington and providing free access to numerous records for local and family historians alike.

Full postal address: Museum and Northumberland Archives, Queen Elizabeth II Country Park, Ashington, Northumberland, NE63 9YF; Phone: 01670 624455

There is a branch office in Berwick upon Tweed.

• Northumberland and Durham FHS covers both Northumberland and County Durham. The Family History Society have a research centre in Percy House in central Newcastle upon Tyne (full address on website), open Monday to Friday from 10 am to 4 pm. Browse the website to see what else the society can provide.
• Further information from GENUKI
• Ordnance Survey map of Northumberland 1832 provided by A Vision of Britain through Time. This map includes the boundaries of the various Wards (or "hundreds") in existence at that time.
• Ordnance Survey map of Northumberland 1900 provided by A Vision of Britain through Time
• Ordnance Survey map of Northumberland 1944 provided by A Vision of Britain through Time
• English Jurisdictions 1851, a parish finding aid provided by FamilySearch, particularly helpful in large towns and cities.
• Unfortunately, there is no Victoria County History for Northumberland.