At the present time the National schools are being rebuilt on a new site.
The new chapel was built from designs by Mr. George Reavell, junior.
Ministers of the Congregational church : 1848, James Wood ; ... Sunderland ; .....Rogers ; Wm. Knox ; Wm. Stewart ; 1859-1869, William Nicholson, M.A., of the university of Helsingfors, agent of the Bible Society at St. Petersburg, 1869-1898, author of Myth and Religion, an Enquiry into their Nature and Relation, printed by the Press of the Finnish Literary Society, Helsingfors, 1892 ; 1869-1877, Wm. A. Kyd, M.A.; 1877-1887, Hopper Joplin ; 1887-1896, Jos. Bowran ; 1896, Robt. Teasdale, the present minister. The old trust deed is dated 22nd December, 1847, and the new trust deed 6th June, 1887.
The Roman Catholic chapel is dedicated to the Sacred Heart and St. Cuthbert. The following priests have ministered at Amble: 1844-1847, William Fletcher, who resided at Longhorsley, and afterwards fell a victim to the cholera in Newcastle in 1847 (?); 1847-1849, James Hubbersty; 1849-1850, John Rogerson, afterwards domestic prelate to the pope and chaplain to the English congregation of Roman Catholics in Paris, where he died in 1885 ; 1876-1882, Charles Gregory Smith, who resided at Felton; 1882-1884, Thomas McAuclyfe, D.D., who resided at Felton ; 1884-1886, Edward Robert, resident at Amble ; 1886-1889, John Roth, afterwards of Hadamar, Nassau ; 1889, Edmund Barnett ; 1889-1891, Matthew Culley; 1891-1896, Matthew Forster; 1898, Charles Dunn, the present chaplain. Ex inf. the Rev. Matthew Forster of Hutton Henry, co. Durham.
£1,500 was granted by the Ecclesiastical commissioners for this purpose. London Gazette, 30th December, 1870. The parsonage was built from designs by Messrs. Johnson & Hicks of Newcastle
Built on a piece of ground conveyed to the Ecclesiastical commissioners in 1863 by Mr. T. G. Smith's trustees, from designs by Messrs. Austin & Johnson of Newcastle. Perpetual curates or vicars of Amble: 1869-1882, Arthur O. Medd, subsequently incumbent of Bamburgh (cf. vol. i. of this work, p. 98); November, 1882, James Fairbrother, Bishop Hatfield hall, Durham, L.Th., 1872, the present incumbent.
Tithe rent charges of £170 19s. 6d. arising in Amble, £71 10s. 7d. arising in Hauxley, and £118 5s. arising in Morwick, etc., were granted by the commissioners. London Gazette, 6th February, 1869. Ibid. 27th January, 1871. A payment of £120 per annum was granted out of the common fund, for the maintenance of a curate. Ibid. 8th December, 1871.
By Order in Council published in London Gazette, 5th February, 1869. In 1889 the district was enlarged by the addition of nearly the whole of the remaining portion of Togston township. London Gazette, 1889.
The following are the returns of shipments of coal, each year ending on the 30th June : 1884,226,491; 1885, 253,194 ; 1886, 275,601; 1887, 210,382 ; 1888, 298,397; 1889, 311,673 ; 1890, 360,740; 1891, 365,411; 1892, 360,988; 1893, 354,174; 1894, 416,598; 1895, 440,842 ; 1896, 471,011; 1897, 499,830; 1898, 515,291.
Amble Link-house farm comprised 185 acres, and is subject to a rectorial tithe rent-charge of £34 19s. 5,1/2d, and a vicarial tithe rent-charge of £6 10s. 0,3/4d. The parcels of land sold at the same time in different lots comprised about 30 acres. Conditions of Sale, 1875.
Mr. E. M. Lawson-Smith's Deeds
Mr. E. M. Lawson-Smith's Deeds. The old grey-slated house of the Bullocks seems not to have been sold to Smith and Taylor but retained until a later date. It now belongs to Mr. Ogle of East Chevington.
M.I.,Warkworth.
On the 24th of April, 1656, William Smith of Togston, William Reed of Amble, and George Bullock of Amble entered into articles of agreement with Edward Browell and John Taylor, both of Amble, whereby it was agreed to divide their lands lying in Amble East-field which lay `mixed together and very inconvenient, by reason whereof many strifes and differences do oftentimes arise.' Smith and Reed were to have two farms next the sea; Browell and Taylor were to have two farms lying next the Long dike; and Bullock's half farm was to lie in the middle. Ibid.
Mr. E. M. Lawson-Smith's Deeds.
1650, 14th May. Feoffment from John Taylor and Edward Browell to Robert Widdrington. Schedule of Amble Deeds, Rev. John Hodgson's Collection.
Poll Book. Tibby Hudson, the last representative of the family of Hudson of Amble, died in the poor-house about 1830.
1631, 10th June. Bargain and sale (enrolled in Chancery) of a tenement in Amble from Sir William Hewitt, knight, and Thomas Hewitt, esq., to John Hudson and Thomas Patterson. Schedule of Amble Deeds, Rev. John Hodgson's Collection.
This may have been the estate advertised in the Newcastle Journal of 12th May, 1764, described as consisting of rich pasture, meadow, and arable land, with dwelling house, byre, barn, and of the annual rental of £50. Application was to be made to J. Ormston of Newcastle, linen draper, or John Richardson of Newcastle, attorney-at-law. It is described in the deeds, and was subsequently known as ` Temple's farm.'
Mr. E. M. Lawson- Smith's Deeds
 

TOWNSHIP OF AMBLE. Continued 4

 
    On the 14th of January, 1656, Henry Horsley of Milburn Grange executed a deed in which he declared that certain lands which were conveyed to Henry Lawson and himself by Sir William Hewitt were held in trust for William Smith. N The estates of Amble and Togston passed in regular descent from father to son until the death of Mr. T. G. Smith in 1862, when, under his will, the reversion was given to his kinsman, Mr. Edward Maule Lawson, second son of the Rev. Edward Lawson of Longhurst, who assumed the additional name of Smith, and is the present owner.
    The lands for which William Reed was rated in 1663, and which gave a vote to Robert Reed at the election of 1722, passed under his will dated the 13th of April, 1720, to his nephew, John Taylor, and were absorbed in his estates. N John Hudson was one of the copyholders who, in 1631, enfranchised their lands, N and though his name does not appear in the rate book of 1663, the massive head of the low browed doorway of a strongly built house, which still stands in the main street, bears the initials and date of
H.
R. M.
1749.

     Ralph Hudson in 1774 voted for lands in Amble, which were subsequently conveyed by Tibby Hudson to John Turner, who voted for the same at the contested election of 1826. N
     George Browell was one of the complainants in the suit heard in the Court of Exchequer in 1615, and his name appears in the list of copyholders in 1628. Edward Browell was party to a conveyance in 1650 N of 4 acres of land in Amble fields to Robert Widdrington of Hauxley, and he was proprietor of about a fourteenth part of the township in 1633. On the 24th of March, 1723, Edward Browell, son and heir of Gerard Browell, conveyed his lands in Amble to Alexander Johnston of Newcastle, chapman, who was succeeded by his son, William Johnston of Newcastle, merchant. In 1765 William Johnston Temple of Berwick, son of William Temple of the same place, by Sarah, his wife, who was sister of the above-named William Johnston, sold the lands in Amble purchased by his grandfather, to Ralph Lambton of Sunderland, who, two years later, conveyed the same to Martin Taylor. N William Johnston Temple subsequently became vicar of St. Gluvias, in Cornwall, and was the paternal grandfather of the present archbishop of Canterbury. Persons bearing the name of Browell still reside at Warkworth.
    The homestead of the Bullock family stood, and their house still stands, at the west end of the village street. In 1629 Robert Bullock was the lessee of the manor house, and his name appears as a tenant of the lands conveyed in 1630 from Sir William Hewitt to Lawson and Horsley. His holding was evidently but a small one, and is not mentioned in the rate book of 1663, N but Robert Bullock, a freeholder in Amble, died on the 17th of December, 1698, N and was buried in Warkworth churchyard. He was succeeded by his son, George Bullock, who was buried on the 2nd of January, 1728/9. On the 5th of February, 1730, Thomas Todd of Hilton, and Jane, his wife, and John Fawcus of Amble Hope-house, and Dorothy, his wife (which Jane and Dorothy were the two daughters of George Bullock, blacksmith, deceased), sold their lands in Amble to Thomas Smith of Togston and John Taylor of Amble. Smith and Taylor by deed dated the 15th of February, 1745, agreed to divide not only the lands so purchased, but their patrimonial lands which lay intermixed with one another `rigg and- rein.' N
     Both Edward and Barbara Taylor of Amble were complainants in the trespass suit heard before the Court of Exchequer in 1615, and Robert Taylor's name appears in the list of copyholders in 1630. In 1663 John Taylor was proprietor of a fourteenth part of the township. About the year 1720 John Taylor succeeded to the lands of his uncle, Robert Reed (subject to the life interest of the testator's widow, Dorothy Reed), and in 1767 Martin Taylor purchased from Ralph Lambton the estate previously belonging to Johnston and Temple, which had at an early date belonged to Browell. N What is known of the family is set out in the following pedigree :
 
 

TAYLOR OF AMBLE

Taylor Pedigree Amble Northumberland
 
notes    
(a) Warkworth Register. (c) Tynemouth Register. (e) Ibid. (Miss Lamb).
(b) Mr. Clutterbuck's Commonplace  Book. (d) Amble Deeds (the late Dr. Currie) (f) Felton Register.
    (g) Mr. E. Lawson-Smith's Deeds.
     
* 1689, May 5. `Martin Taylor of Newham and Ja............. etson of Gloster-hill'  mar. Warkworth Register.

 
      Mr. Alexander Wellwood Rattray, the representative of the Taylor family, in 1875 sold his estate N by auction for about £15,000 : the residence known as Amble house was purchased by the late Dr. Currie (who devised it to his wife), and the farm of Amble Link-house was purchased by the trustees of the will of Mr. T. G. Smith of Togston.
     The proceedings in the Court of Exchequer in 1615, already referred to, were largely the result of the gradual changing of the course of the river Coquet, which resulted in a tract of ground some 16 acres in extent being subtracted from the south and added to the north side of the stream. This gradual and natural variation was interfered with in 1765, when by a more violent process the river left its old course and broke another and shorter way through the links at a point intermediate between the river mouth and the place where it now flows into the sea. Since 1765 the river mouth has very slowly and gradually worked southward.
     In 1837 an Act of Parliament was obtained and commissioners were appointed for the purpose of improving the mouth of the river and forming a harbour. After the consideration of various schemes, plans submitted by Mr. John Murray were adopted on the advice of Sir John Rennie ; these plans, with certain modifications and additions, have been carried out at a cost of over £200,000. The engineering works comprise the construction of two heavy stone piers (one on either side of the river's mouth), which confine the entrance to the harbour to a width of about 250 feet and the
m straightening and deepening of the river and the erection of a line of quays and of shipping berths upon the south side. The import trade is inconsiderable, and consists of pit props, deals, and other timber. There is an export trade of bricks, fireclay, iron, herrings, etc., besides the greater part of the coal raised by the Broomhill and Radcliffe Coal Companies. N
    In 1869 the townships of Amble, Hauxley, with Coquet Island, Gloster-hill, and part of Togston were severed from the ecclesiastical parish of Warkworth and constituted an ecclesiastical district or parish ; N the new benefice was endowed by the Ecclesiastical commissioners under the Local Claims Act, with a fraction of the great tithes of the rectory of Warkworth. N A church, dedicated to St. Cuthbert, was built in 1870, N and a parsonage or vicarage house in 1876. N The township of Amble was constituted a local government district in 1878.
   The Roman Catholics began a mission by holding services at Cliff-house in 1844, but it was suspended from 1850 to 1876, and in 1879 a school chapel was built on a plot of ground on the site of the old manor house given by Mr. Charles Leslie. N
    A Congregational chapel N was built in 1848 and replaced by a new structure in 1894, and the Wesleyan Methodist Society built a meeting house in 1865, which was replaced by a larger chapel in 1891. N A public school under the management of a committee of the inhabitants was provided about 1854, and a National school was built in 1872 ; N both are under government inspection.
 

End

page 3

  
   
From "A History of Northumberland", volume V,  by John Crawford Hodgson. Published 1899

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