The Grade II listed manor house is thought to have been built for a Heron of Chipchase about 1580 but there may have been a bastle or stronghouse already on the site. A plated paten and silver communion cup are used which bear the crests of the Craster and Bewick (of Close House) families, who shared the ownership of Kirkheaton from the mid 1770s to the end of the 19th century. Thanks to a number of benefactors and the love of many people, including some from far outside the parish boundary, services can still be held and there are at least two a month. In the 1970s it became a parish in its own right and shortly afterwards it was included in the united benefice of Cambo, Kirkwhelpington, Kirkharle and Kirkheaton. He started a choir for the 'first time for many a year' and had to 'speak seriously to the whole choir about spitting etc in church'. Rev Harris kept a notebook (now held in the Northumberland County Archives) which gives an insight into the village in the mid 1800s. In 1863 the chancel was enlarged and the vestry added by the Rev Thomas Harris. The most notable feature of the church is the bellcote. There was an ancient chapel which was rebuilt by Dorothy Windsor in 1755. Kirkheaton was originally a detached chapelry of the parish of Chollerton, but at the Reformation it became extra-parochial. The first mention of Kirkheaton is in the subsidy roll of 1296 and the 'inspeximus' of the possessions of Hexham Priory in 1298. In 1992 the population was 51, compared to 170 in 1881. From north to south, the parish measures about one mile. The parish of Kirkheaton is bordered to the north by the first three miles of the river Blyth, which rises at the west end. At one time the village could boast a public house, a shop, a school and even a Methodist chapel but in the 1990s public amenities consist of a phone box and a Victorian letter-box. At the west end of the village are the manor house and the church of St Bartholomew. Kirkheaton is still a working village with two farms, a transport company and several houses set around the village green. Heading north the traveller takes the first left north of Belsay village and, after negotiating a series of S-bends, proceeds almost due west for about four miles, ending in the village of Kirkheaton where the road peters out. About ten miles northeast of Hexham, Kirkheaton is best approached from the A696 Newcastle to Otterburn road.
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