Falstone Explained

Country:England
Official Name:Falstone
Coordinates:55.181°N -2.435°W
Population:257
Population Ref:(2011)[1]
Region:North East England
Unitary England:Northumberland
Lieutenancy England:Northumberland
Constituency Westminster:Hexham
Post Town:HEXHAM
Postcode District:NE48
Postcode Area:NE
Dial Code:01434
Os Grid Reference:NY723875
Static Image:St peters falstone.jpg
Static Image Width:240px
Static Image Caption:The parish church of St Peter's, Falstone

Falstone is a small village in Northumberland, England, just east of Kielder Water. The village is from the Anglo–Scottish border. Much of the village is clustered around its two churches, St. Peter's Anglican and the United Reformed Church.[2]

Falstone holds a popular annual agricultural show.

Etymology

The name Falstone is first attested in 1255, as Faleston. This derives from the Old English words fealu 'yellow, grey, mottled' and stān 'stone; thus it originally meant something like 'speckled stone'.[3] [4]

The district of Falstone also once contained a place called Powtreuet, first attested in 1325 as Poltrerneth, whose name comes from the Brittonic language.[5]

Governance

Falstone is in the parliamentary constituency of Hexham. Falstone has its own Parish council. Falstone parish was created in 1811 when the ancient parish of Simonburn was divided by Act of Parliament.

Transport

Falstone was served by Falstone railway station on the Border Counties Railway which linked the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway, near Hexham, with the Border Union Railway at Riccarton Junction. The first section of the route was opened between Hexham and Chollerford in 1858, the remainder opening in 1862. The line was closed to passengers by British Railways in 1956.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Parish population 2011. 25 June 2015.
  2. Web site: Northumberland Communities . communities.northumberland.gov.uk . Northumberland County Council . 18 February 2021 . en-uk . 2003.
  3. Book: Rowland , T. H. . T. H. Rowland

    . T. H. Rowland . Waters of Tyne . Sandhill Press Ltd . 1994 . Reprint . Warkworth, Northumberland, England . 0-946098-36-0.

  4. The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names, Based on the Collections of the English Place-Name Society, ed. by Victor Watts (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004),, s.v. FALSTONE.
  5. Bethany Fox, 'The P-Celtic Place-Names of North-East England and South-East Scotland', The Heroic Age, 10 (2007), appendix.