Matfen

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Matfen
Matfen (Northumberland)
Matfen

Matfen shown within Northumberland
OS grid reference NZ029719
District Castle Morpeth
Shire county Northumberland
Region North East
Constituent country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE
Postcode district NE20
Dialling code 01661
Police Northumbria
Fire Northumberland
Ambulance North East
European Parliament North East England
UK Parliament Hexham
List of places: UKEnglandNorthumberland

Coordinates: 55°02′28″N 1°57′14″W / 55.041, -1.954

Matfen is a village and a civil parish in Northumberland, England, near the towns of Hexham and Newcastle upon Tyne. It is an example of an eighteenth-century planned estate village. It was the birthplace of the nineteenth-century Premier of British Columbia, William Smithe.

Matfen Hall is the home of Sir Hugh and Lady Blackett and is operated as a hotel and country club. The Grade 2 listed building was built c1828 by Sir Edward Blackett to replace an earlier 17th century house.

Contents

[edit] Early area history

Matfen lies near the ancient course of Hadrian's Wall, one of the most noted Roman monuments in Britain. The story of this wall forms the earliest recorded history of the Matfen vicinity. The length of Hadrian's Wall is approximately 117 kilometres, spanning the width of Britannia; the wall incorporated Agricola's Ditch[1] and was constructed primarily to prevent harrying by small bands of raiders and unwanted immigration from the north, not really as a fighting front for a significant invasion.[2]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ C.Michael Hogan (2007) Hadrian's Wall, ed. A. Burnham, The Megalithic Portal
  2. ^ Stephen Johnson (2004) Hadrian's Wall, Sterling Publishing Company, Inc, 128 pages, ISBN 0713488409

[edit] External links