Northumberland is the most northerly county in England. Immediately to the North of it are the Scottish Borders, to the west is Cumbria, to the south the county of Durham and to the east is the North Sea. In earlier days there was much cattle rustling between Northumberland farms and Scottish farms. The border areas were also the scenes of many battles between The Scots and the English.
THE COUNTY OF NORTHUMBERLAND
The county of Northumberland measures about 63 miles from North to South and at its widest point about 43 miles from East toWest.
My ancestor Peter Ditchburn (born 1805) lived in Doddington as a young man but later lived , worked and died in Bedlington
THE DITCHBURN AREA IN NORTHUMBERLAND
This map shows the middle-north area of Northumberland where the Ditchburn farmsteads are situated. Most of the places named on this map are associated with people from the Ditchburn side of my family tree. The spelling of some of the place names has varied with time. Thus 'BOLTON' used to be spelt 'BOULTON' and Eglingham was Egglingham. By Northumbrians this is pronounced 'EGGLINGJAM'. The town of ALNWICK is pronounced 'ANNIK', though the river on which it lies is pronounced as it is spelt - the ALN.