Lordship in the Hills : The Liberty of Redesdale and the Monastic Landholdings in Kidland

The western half of Alwinton parish embraced Cheviot uplands around the headwaters of the Coquet and the Alwin. As noted elsewhere, it formed part of the liberty of Redesdale, the extensive vice-regal franchise held by the Umfravilles, which also embraced the south side of upper Coquetdale and all of Redesdale.

The Umfravilles represented one of the most powerful baronial lineages in Northumberland during the 12th - 13th centuries, holding the large barony of Prudhoe in the southern part of the county and, from 1243, the earldom of Angus in Scotland, as well as the liberty of Redesdale itself.

The part of Alwinton parish incorporated in the liberty corresponded to the 19th century townships of Linbrigg and Fairhaugh, including the detached portion of Linbriggs known as Carlecroft, plus the so-called lordship of Kidland. The latter formed a substantial block of territory representing the area of the initial grants of grazing rights and pasture grounds made to Newminster Abbey by the Umfravilles in the 12th and early 13th centuries (Dixon 1903, 59-95; NCH XV (1940), 448-53). Fairhaugh and Shillhope Law (medieval 'Turfhill' or 'Tursill') in Linbriggs were subsequently added to these earlier grants.

Because Kidland was held by a major ecclesiastical institution in the medieval period it became extra-parochial and maintained that status after the dissolution. However it is evident that the district did originally form part of the parish.

In 1233 the rector of Alwinton, Thomas de Rule, came to an agreement with the abbot and convent of Newminster that they should pay him half a mark of silver, 1 lb of pepper and 1 lb of incense yearly at Michaelmas, in lieu of tithes from Kidland (NC 43, 81-2; NCH XV (1940), 405).  Carlecroft, with Makendon and Chew Green, was added to Kidland township in 1889 (op. cit., 437). Originally known as Stokershaugh, Carlecroft, was also granted to a monastic institution by Richard de Umfraville during the medieval period, in this case Alnwick Abbey (Cal Charter R, III, 86).