Chillingham, etc.

St. Peter's, Chillingham, below.

Chillingham is the birthplace of Jane Gray. Her father, Robert, was born in 1771 in Newtown not far from Chillingham. Her mother, Mary Mather, lived on the farming estate at Chillingham. Chillingham has a castle, and boasts the only wild herd of cattle in Britain. Mary was also born in 1771. Jane was born in 1800. I believe there were 5 other children. Eleanor, Elizabeth, Mark, Mary, and Robert.

Robert and Mary probably flitted to the East Lilburn estate as their family expanded.

Jane would have met John in Eglingham, not far from Chillingham, and East Lilburn, at one of the March gatherings. John would have been required to find a "bondager" to take with him to where he worked. It was not necessary that he marry the woman, and many hinds did not.

John probably worked on the estate at Eglingham because a condition of marriage was that the wedding banns be read 3 Sundays prior to marriage in the area in which you lived. I have found the record of the 3 banns being read.

From Eglingham, John and Jane might have flitted to Norham, and then to Loanend. Both estates are close to each other.

Eglingham, Lilburn, and Ilderton were all on the main route to Wooler, and then to Berwick on the North Sea coast. Many ships left Berwick for Leith, just to the north.

I doubt it was coincidental that John and Jane made their way to the Colborne area of Canada. At the many March gatherings that they would have attended, I'm sure they heard stories of people who emmigrated to Canada. The village names of Wooler, Norham, etc. would have made them feel close to home. In fact, I have a copy of an article from a Berwick-Wooler newspaper, 1840, in which the encouragement of Border people to emmigrate was discussed. The large estate farmers advocated some kind of financial assistance to encourage hinds and their families to move on. The Canada Company was asked to help as well.

With the advent of farm machinery in the 1830's, fewer labourers were required. It was more brutal in Scotland where the "clearings" were taking place. Labourers were forced to move on, most to the south into England, or overseas.

The population in the Wooler Parish in 1831 was 1 926 people. By 1841, the population had dropped to 1 874 people.