Ilderton

Ilderton was, and is, a village in Northumberland that is basically a farming estate. It has a church, but it is doubtful that John Cowey worshipped there. Ilderton was not far from Wooler, an important market town. It was a place where estate farmers sold their sheep, wool, and grains. It would have been the locale for the large gatherings in March where labourers would try to secure employment with the estate farmers. They would then "flit" to the next estate on Whitsuntide, around May 11 or 12, to begin their year's contract.

Wooler was also a centre of worship. There are several churches in Wooler, one of which was a gathering place for the Presbyterian worshippers. John Cowey was a follower of the religion which spread from Scotland. Although he married Jane Gray in Eglingham, he most likely became interested in the non-conformist church during visits to Wooler, while working at Loanend, or Ilderton. A Robert Semple was one of the original dissenters in the 17th century. Mark Cowie was baptized in the Wooler, Cheviot Street Church. It is a non-conformist church, or Presbyterian.

It was in Ilderton that John would be employed as a husbandman, and his wife, Jane, would work in the fields, spin wool for the estate farmer's wife, and care for the chickens each "hind" was required to raise for the farmer. Their sons, James and Robert, would be working from the age of 10 on the farm as carters, or field workers. All of them would have been paid.