157-577: Alnham ( / ˈ æ l n ə m / , / ˈ j ɛ l d ə m / ) is a hamlet and civil parish in Northumberland , England. It is about 14 miles (23 km) west of Alnwick , and is about 6 miles (10 km) from the Scottish border , on the south of a small tributary of the River Aln . The village stands on uneven ground, sloping from south to north, at the foot of the southern outliers of
314-522: A London borough . (Since the new county was beforehand a mixture of metropolitan boroughs , municipal boroughs and urban districts, no extant parish councils were abolished.) In 1974, the Local Government Act 1972 retained rural parishes, but abolished most urban parishes, as well as the urban districts and boroughs which had administered them. Provision was made for smaller urban districts and boroughs to become successor parishes , with
471-417: A civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government . It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes , which for centuries were the principal unit of secular and religious administration in most of England and Wales. Civil and religious parishes were formally split into two types in
628-557: A "pestilential fever" ( febris pestilentialis ) in his work On the Signs and Symptoms of Diseases ( De signis et symptomatibus aegritudium ). The phrase mors nigra , 'black death', was used in 1350 by Simon de Covino (or Couvin), a Belgian astronomer, in his poem "On the Judgement of the Sun at a Feast of Saturn" ( De judicio Solis in convivio Saturni ), which attributes
785-515: A Special Expense, to residents of the unparished area to fund those activities. If the district council does not opt to make a Special Expenses charge, there is an element of double taxation of residents of parished areas, because services provided to residents of the unparished area are funded by council tax paid by residents of the whole district, rather than only by residents of the unparished area. Parish councils comprise volunteer councillors who are elected to serve for four years. Decisions of
942-524: A boundary bank to the south-east face of the hill. The most significant structure to be built in Alnham in the 20th century is the War Memorial Hall, erected in 1920 as a testament to the impact of World War I on small rural communities like Alnham. It is a stone-built village hall with a stone incision above the porch door. There are no names inscribed on the memorial as there were no deaths in
1099-576: A boundary coterminous with an existing urban district or borough or, if divided by a new district boundary, as much as was comprised in a single district. There were 300 such successor parishes established. In urban areas that were considered too large to be single parishes, the parishes were simply abolished, and they became unparished areas . The distinction between types of parish was no longer made; whether parishes continued by virtue of being retained rural parishes or were created as successor parishes, they were all simply termed parishes. The 1972 act allowed
1256-477: A city council (though most cities are not parishes but principal areas, or in England specifically metropolitan boroughs or non-metropolitan districts ). The chairman of a town council will have the title "town mayor" and that of a parish council which is a city will usually have the title of mayor . When a city or town has been abolished as a borough, and it is considered desirable to maintain continuity of
1413-462: A city council. According to the Department for Communities and Local Government , in England in 2011 there were 9,946 parishes. Since 1997 around 100 new civil parishes have been created, in some cases by splitting existing civil parishes, but mostly by creating new ones from unparished areas. Parish or town councils have very few statutory duties (things they are required to do by law) but have
1570-559: A city was Hereford , whose city council was merged in 1998 to form a unitary Herefordshire . The area of the city of Hereford remained unparished until 2000 when a parish council was created for the city. As another example, the charter trustees for the City of Bath make up the majority of the councillors on Bath and North East Somerset Council. Civil parishes cover 35% of England's population, with one in Greater London and few in
1727-481: A civil parish which has no parish council, the parish meeting may levy a council tax precept for expenditure relating to specific functions, powers and rights which have been conferred on it by legislation. In places where there is no civil parish ( unparished areas ), the administration of the activities normally undertaken by the parish becomes the responsibility of the district or borough council. The district council may make an additional council tax charge, known as
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#17327914400731884-467: A conjunction of planets had caused "a great pestilence in the air" ( miasma theory ). Muslim religious scholars taught that the pandemic was a "martyrdom and mercy" from God, assuring the believer's place in paradise. For non-believers, it was a punishment. Some Muslim doctors cautioned against trying to prevent or treat a disease sent by God. Others adopted preventive measures and treatments for plague used by Europeans. These Muslim doctors also depended on
2041-750: A description of the disease modelled on Thucydides 's account of the 5th century BCE Plague of Athens , noting the spread of the Black Death by ship between maritime cities. Nicephorus Gregoras , while writing to Demetrios Kydones , described the rising death toll, the futility of medicine, and the panic of the citizens. The first outbreak in Constantinople lasted a year, but the disease recurred ten times before 1400. Carried by twelve Genoese galleys, plague arrived by ship in Sicily in October 1347;
2198-567: A garden and meadow associated with the manor as recorded in the Inquisition of Henry de Percy in 1368. The former farmhouses of Alnham castle, previously known as Castle Farm, can be found in the village today as the Pennywells – two Grade II listed cottages. Dating from around the early 18th century, they are built out of roughly-dressed stone. The garden wall attached to the front of the Pennywells, also built out of roughly-dressed stone,
2355-605: A group of three houses and an enclosure. The settlement lies on two artificially-levelled sites. It is likely that the original Medieval settlement was larger and more focussed on the Church. Alnham Castle is a scheduled monument that includes the remains of a Medieval tower house. It is located to the south of site of the Medieval village. The tower has a rectangular plan, measuring 22 metres (72 ft) by 18 metres (59 ft) and standing up to 2 metres (6.6 ft) high. The tower
2512-677: A lord. Being situated in a precarious position between the English and Scottish borders, Anglo-Scottish combat also caused disruption in Alnham. Alnham suffered at the hand of Scottish raids during the reign of Henry VIII . Two letters from the Earl of Northumberland to the King, dating from October and November 1532, describe how the Scots came across the borders and rampaged Alnham and surrounding towns. The tower at Alnham appears to have suffered damage from
2669-479: A multivallate hillfort. Several trackways near Castle Hill potentially date from the prehistoric or Romano-British eras. There is also evidence of Bronze Age, Iron Age and Romano-British agricultural activity on the hill. Prehistoric cord rig was discovered on the north-west of the hilltop, and prehistoric or Romano-British ploughing has resulted in lynchets on the north-east side. There is evidence that Medieval cultivation stretched from Alnham village and stopped at
2826-529: A new code. In either case the code must comply with the Nolan Principles of Public Life . A parish can be granted city status by the Crown . As of 2020 , eight parishes in England have city status, each having a long-established Anglican cathedral: Chichester , Ely , Hereford , Lichfield , Ripon , Salisbury , Truro and Wells . The council of an ungrouped parish may pass a resolution giving
2983-431: A new smaller manor, there was a means of making a chapel which, if generating or endowed with enough funds, would generally justify foundation of a parish, with its own parish priest (and in latter centuries vestry ). This consistency was a result of canon law which prized the status quo in issues between local churches and so made boundary changes and sub-division difficult. The consistency of these boundaries until
3140-687: A parish (a "detached part") was in a different county . In other cases, counties surrounded a whole parish meaning it was in an unconnected, "alien" county. These anomalies resulted in a highly localised difference in applicable representatives on the national level , justices of the peace , sheriffs, bailiffs with inconvenience to the inhabitants. If a parish was split then churchwardens, highway wardens and constables would also spend more time or money travelling large distances. Some parishes straddled two or more counties, such as Todmorden in Lancashire and Yorkshire. Black Death The Black Death
3297-416: A parish council, and instead will only have a parish meeting : an example of direct democracy . Alternatively several small parishes can be grouped together and share a common parish council, or even a common parish meeting. A parish council may decide to call itself a town council, village council, community council, neighbourhood council, or if the parish has city status, the parish council may call itself
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#17327914400733454-431: A population in excess of 100,000 . This scope is similar to that of municipalities in continental Europe, such as the communes of France . However, unlike their continental European counterparts, parish councils are not principal authorities , and in most cases have a relatively minor role in local government. As of September 2023 , there are 10,464 parishes in England, and in 2020 they covered approximately 40% of
3611-503: A population of between 100 and 300 could request their county council to establish a parish council. Provision was also made for a grouped parish council to be established covering two or more rural parishes. In such groups, each parish retained its own parish meeting which could vote to leave the group, but otherwise the grouped parish council acted across the combined area of the parishes included. Urban civil parishes were not given their own parish councils, but were directly administered by
3768-1079: A range of discretionary powers which they may exercise voluntarily. These powers have been defined by various pieces of legislation. The role they play can vary significantly depending on the size, resources and ability of the council, but their activities can include any of the following: Parish councils have powers to provide and manage various local facilities; these can include allotments , cemeteries, parks, playgrounds, playing fields and village greens , village halls or community centres , bus shelters, street lighting, roadside verges, car parks, footpaths, litter bins and war memorials. Larger parish councils may also be involved in running markets , public toilets and public clocks, museums and leisure centres . Parish councils may spend money on various things they deem to be beneficial to their communities, such as providing grants to local community groups or local projects, or fund things such as public events, crime prevention measures, community transport schemes, traffic calming or tourism promotion. Parish councils have
3925-415: A residential wing were constructed. Tower House was later used as a youth hostel and is now a private residence. The Medieval settlement at Alnham is a scheduled monument and is located to the south of St Michaels Church. The remains of this village exist as a series of earthworks between 0.3 metres (12 in) and 0.5 metres (20 in) high, a toft with an enclosure and two houses, a small hill, and
4082-409: A role in the planning system; they have a statutory right to be consulted on any planning applications in their areas. They may also produce a neighbourhood plan to influence local development. The Localism Act 2011 allowed eligible parish councils to be granted a " general power of competence " which allows them within certain limits the freedom to do anything an individual can do provided it
4239-528: A rue du Pipi. Pigs, cattle, chickens, geese, goats and horses roamed the streets of medieval London and Paris. Medieval homeowners were supposed to police their housefronts, including removing animal dung, but most urbanites were careless. William E. Cosner, a resident of the London suburb of Farringdon Without, received a complaint alleging that "men could not pass [by his house] for the stink [of] . . . horse dung and horse piss." One irate Londoner complained that
4396-545: A set number of guardians for each parish, hence a final purpose of urban civil parishes. With the abolition of the Poor Law system in 1930, urban parishes became a geographical division only with no administrative power; that was exercised at the urban district or borough council level. In 1965 civil parishes in London were formally abolished when Greater London was created, as the legislative framework for Greater London did not make provision for any local government body below
4553-720: A small population. Evidence of the Romans in the Cheviots, which is situated beyond the Roman frontier, is difficult to detect and distinguish from the Iron Age due to their limited cultural influence. The closest settlement to Alnham which is considered to be Roman can be found on Castle Hill. During the Middle Ages Alnham was an important location, as indicated by its ancient buildings, castle mound, and pele tower . There
4710-634: A small sporadic outbreak characteristic of transmission from rodents to humans with no wide-scale impact. According to Achtman, the dating of the plague suggests that it was not carried along the Silk Road , and its widespread appearance in that region probably postdates the European outbreak. Additionally, the Silk Road had already been heavily disrupted before the spread of the Black Death; Western and Middle Eastern traders found it difficult to trade on
4867-406: A small square sash, such as is ordinarily provided for a scullery or any inferior office. Three of the worm-eaten, mousy pews are square, with a table fixed in the centre of each: a fourth forms three sides of a quadrangle that is occupied by a stove. Fungi abound, and the pavement is sodden with damp. Ruin is imminent, unless precautions are taken to avert it. F. R. Wilson, an architect from Alnwick,
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5024-887: A small village or town ward to a large tract of mostly uninhabited moorland in the Cheviots, Pennines or Dartmoor. The two largest as at December 2023 are Stanhope (County Durham) at 98.6 square miles (255 km ), and Dartmoor Forest (Devon) at 79.07 square miles (204.8 km ). The two smallest are parcels of shared rural land: Lands Common to Axminster and Kilmington (Devon) at 0.012 square miles (0.031 km ; 3.1 ha; 7.7 acres), and Lands Common to Brancepeth and Brandon and Byshottles (County Durham) at 0.0165 square miles (0.043 km ; 4.3 ha; 10.6 acres). The next two smallest are parishes in built up areas: Chester Castle (Cheshire) at 0.0168 square miles (0.044 km ; 4.4 ha; 10.8 acres) (no recorded population) and Hamilton Lea (Leicestershire) at 0.07 square miles (0.18 km ; 18 ha; 45 acres) (1,021 residents at
5181-457: A socket cut into it to hold the shaft of a cross. Tower House, located near to the Church, is a Grade II listed building. It is also known as the vicar's pele and served as the vicarage of the Church for much of its existence. It was first recorded in Bowes and Ellerker's survey of 1541 and is listed as a "lytle toure". It was most likely constructed in the 15th or early 16th century. By the time of
5338-521: A spur to the creation of new parishes in some larger towns which were previously unparished, in order to retain a local tier of government; examples include Shrewsbury (2009), Salisbury (2009), Crewe (2013) and Weymouth (2019). In 2003 seven new parish councils were set up for Burton upon Trent , and in 2001 the Milton Keynes urban area became entirely parished, with ten new parishes being created. Parishes can also be abolished where there
5495-539: A team led by Galina Eroshenko placed its origins more specifically in the Tian Shan mountains on the border between Kyrgyzstan and China. However more recent research notes that the previous sampling contained East Asian bias and that sampling since then has discovered strains of Y. pestis in the Caucasus region previously thought to be restricted to China. There is also no physical or specific textual evidence of
5652-543: Is a Grade I listed building and part of the Diocese of Newcastle . It is a Parish Church of Saxon foundation located to the west of the village centre. The Church was first recorded in an 1184 charter. After William de Vesci gave the Church to Alnwick Abbey, a new west front, south chapel, north aisle, and chancel arch were constructed. It is likely that the Church was damaged in the Anglo-Scottish border wars in
5809-422: Is another Grade II listed structure. There are adjacent farm buildings, around 9 metres (10 yd) from the Pennywells, consisting of byres, a stable and shelter sheds which were built around a courtyard between around 1830 and 1840. The farm buildings have a separate Grade II listing. Castle Hill is a rare example of an Iron Age multivallate hillfort . The hillfort has been designated as a scheduled monument and
5966-507: Is at present the only part of England where civil parishes cannot be created. If enough electors in the area of a proposed new parish (ranging from 50% in an area with less than 500 electors to 10% in one with more than 2,500) sign a petition demanding its creation, then the local district council or unitary authority must consider the proposal. Since the beginning of the 21st century, numerous parish councils have been created, including some relatively large urban ones. The main driver has been
6123-494: Is evidence that it was a populous village and reached its peak of prosperity in the late 13th century. The Church of St Michaels was first recorded in an 1184 charter in which William de Vesci granted Alnham and its tithes to Alnwick Abbey . During the reigns of Henry III and Edward I , Alnham was part of the lordship and estate of William de Vesci (in 1242) and John de Vesci (in 1289). In 1293 William de Vesci claimed free Chase in Alnham, but with no male heirs, his property
6280-539: Is evidence that this is in response to "justified, clear and sustained local support" from the area's inhabitants. Examples are Birtley , which was abolished in 2006, and Southsea , abolished in 2010. Every civil parish has a parish meeting, which all the electors of the parish are entitled to attend. Generally a meeting is held once a year. A civil parish may have a parish council which exercises various local responsibilities prescribed by statute. Parishes with fewer than 200 electors are usually deemed too small to have
6437-434: Is located to the west of Alnham. It stands at a height of 289 metres (948 ft) above Ordnance Datum . It consists of a sub-circular enclosure within concentric ditches with ramparts which are built from earth and stone excavated from the site of the hillfort. The site also contains the remains of a Romano-British settlement. There are at least five hut circles within the interior of the hillfort. Three unenclosed huts on
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6594-492: Is more evident. A rare bronze spearhead has been found at High Bleakhope to the north-west of Alnham, possibly indicating occupation by an elite social class. The remote and elevated location of High Bleakhope suggests that the spearhead was placed there as an offering to a deity. A number of cairns have been discovered in the surrounding area which may have been constructed in the Bronze Age. Unenclosed settlements, common in
6751-481: Is needed to the range of (especially non- commensal ) animals that might be involved in the transmission of plague. Archaeologist Barney Sloane has argued that there is insufficient evidence of the extinction of numerous rats in the archaeological record of the medieval waterfront in London, and that the disease spread too quickly to support the thesis that Y. pestis was spread from fleas on rats; he argues that transmission must have been person to person. This theory
6908-405: Is not prohibited by other legislation, as opposed to being limited to the powers explicitly granted to them by law. To be eligible for this, a parish council must meet certain conditions such as having a clerk with suitable qualifications. Parish councils receive funding by levying a " precept " on the council tax paid by the residents of the parish (or parishes) served by the parish council. In
7065-533: Is part of the Rothbury Ward and is represented by Steven Christopher Bridgett ( Independent ). At the Parish council level, Alnham is part of Whittingham Parish Council which comprises the former three separate parishes of Alnham, Callaly and Whittingham. There are seven listed structures in Alnham, including old buildings, the Church, and a Medieval settlement. The Church of St Michael and All Angels
7222-568: Is still contested. It is speculated that rats aboard Zheng He 's ships in the 15th century may have carried the plague to Southeast Asia , India , and Africa. Research on the Delhi Sultanate and the Yuan dynasty shows no evidence of any serious epidemic in fourteenth-century India and no specific evidence of plague in 14th-century China, suggesting that the Black Death may not have reached these regions. Ole Benedictow argues that since
7379-528: Is supported by research in 2018 which suggested transmission was more likely by body lice and fleas during the second plague pandemic . Academic debate continues, but no single alternative explanation for the plague's spread has achieved widespread acceptance. Many scholars arguing for Y. pestis as the major agent of the pandemic suggest that its extent and symptoms can be explained by a combination of bubonic plague with other diseases, including typhus , smallpox , and respiratory infections . In addition to
7536-627: Is very old. Homer used it in the Odyssey to describe the monstrous Scylla , with her mouths "full of black Death" ( Ancient Greek : πλεῖοι μέλανος Θανάτοιο , romanized : pleîoi mélanos Thanátoio ). Seneca the Younger may have been the first to describe an epidemic as 'black death', ( Latin : mors atra ) but only in reference to the acute lethality and dark prognosis of disease. The 12th–13th century French physician Gilles de Corbeil had already used atra mors to refer to
7693-504: The 'Standards Board regime' with local monitoring by district, unitary or equivalent authorities. Under new regulations which came into effect in 2012 all parish councils in England are required to adopt a code of conduct with which parish councillors must comply, and to promote and maintain high standards. A new criminal offence of failing to comply with statutory requirements was introduced. More than one 'model code' has been published, and councils are free to modify an existing code or adopt
7850-595: The Cheviot Hills . The River Aln flows eastward through the village from its source in the Cheviot Hills down to the coast. The layout of the village appears to have been dictated by the river. The estimated population taken at the 2011 Census was around 245. There is evidence of human occupation in Alnham and the surrounding areas dating from prehistoric times. The remains of a medieval settlement, hillforts, and other historic buildings can still be found in
8007-1010: The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) to become the smallest geographical area for local government in rural areas. The act abolished the civil (non-ecclesiastical) duties of vestries . Parishes which straddled county boundaries or sanitary districts had to be split so that the part in each urban or rural sanitary district became a separate parish (see List of county exclaves in England and Wales 1844–1974 ). The sanitary districts were then reconstituted as urban districts and rural districts , with parishes that fell within urban districts classed as urban parishes, and parishes that fell within rural districts were classed as rural parishes. The 1894 act established elected civil parish councils as to all rural parishes with more than 300 electors, and established annual parish meetings in all rural parishes. Civil parishes were grouped to form either rural or urban districts which are thereafter classified as either type. The parish meetings for parishes with
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#17327914400738164-550: The Magna Brittannia described Alnham as being "pretty large". However, an undated map from pre-1750 shows a dwindling number of cottages, Seymour's Survey of c. 1756 records five cottages, and in the Enclosure Award of 1776 the village is recorded as having only two farms and three cottages. This decay can be attributed to the 17th and 18th century policy of leasing tenement lands to a single tenant, resulting in
8321-491: The Magna Brittannia of 1724 it is mentioned as being usually called "Yarwell". There is no direct evidence of Paleolithic or Mesolithic human occupation within Alnham, although it is possible that the Cheviot slopes to the west of Alnham provided a wooded area perfect for seasonal foraging parties. The only evidence of Neolithic habitation is a cup-marked stone found at Alnham Northfield. Bronze Age occupation of Alnham
8478-871: The Mamluk Sultanate , cultural center of the Islamic world , and the largest city in the Mediterranean Basin ; the Bahriyya child sultan an-Nasir Hasan fled and more than a third of the 600,000 residents died. The Nile was choked with corpses despite Cairo having a medieval hospital, the late 13th-century bimaristan of the Qalawun complex . The historian al-Maqrizi described the abundant work for grave-diggers and practitioners of funeral rites ; plague recurred in Cairo more than fifty times over
8635-619: The Roman Empire before the reign of Trajan , six centuries before arriving at Pelusium in the reign of Justinian I . In 2013, researchers confirmed earlier speculation that the cause of the Plague of Justinian (541–549 CE, with recurrences until 750) was Y . pestis . This is known as the first plague pandemic . In 610, the Chinese physician Chao Yuanfang described a "malignant bubo" "coming in abruptly with high fever together with
8792-476: The Y. pestis strain responsible for the Black Death as both the ancestor of later plague epidemics—including the third plague pandemic —and the descendant of the strain responsible for the Plague of Justinian . In addition, plague genomes from prehistory have been recovered. DNA taken from 25 skeletons from 14th-century London showed that plague is a strain of Y. pestis almost identical to that which hit Madagascar in 2013 . Further DNA evidence also proves
8949-471: The black rats that travelled on Genoese ships, spreading through the Mediterranean Basin and reaching North Africa , West Asia , and the rest of Europe via Constantinople , Sicily , and the Italian Peninsula . There is evidence that once it came ashore, the Black Death mainly spread from person-to-person as pneumonic plague , thus explaining the quick inland spread of the epidemic, which
9106-472: The break with Rome , parishes managed ecclesiastical matters, while the manor was the principal unit of local administration and justice. Later, the church replaced the manor court as the rural administrative centre, and levied a local tax on produce known as a tithe . In the medieval period, responsibilities such as relief of the poor passed increasingly from the lord of the manor to the parish's rector , who in practice would delegate tasks among his vestry or
9263-553: The germ theory of disease . Until then streets were usually unhygienic, with live animals and human parasites facilitating the spread of transmissible disease . By the early 14th century, so much filth had collected inside urban Europe that French and Italian cities were naming streets after human waste. In medieval Paris, several street names were inspired by merde, the French word for "shit". There were rue Merdeux, rue Merdelet, rue Merdusson, rue des Merdons and rue Merdiere—as well as
9420-595: The lord of the manor , but not all were willing and able to provide, so residents would be expected to attend the church of the nearest manor with a church. Later, the churches and priests became to a greater extent the responsibility of the Catholic Church thus this was formalised; the grouping of manors into one parish was recorded, as was a manor-parish existing in its own right. Boundaries changed little, and for centuries after 1180 'froze', despite changes to manors' extents. However, by subinfeudation , making
9577-403: The monarch ). A civil parish may be equally known as and confirmed as a town, village, neighbourhood or community by resolution of its parish council, a right not conferred on other units of English local government. The governing body of a civil parish is usually an elected parish council (which can decide to call itself a town, village, community or neighbourhood council, or a city council if
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#17327914400739734-404: The poll tax of the year 1377. Estimates of plague victims are usually extrapolated from figures for the clergy. Mathematical modelling is used to match the spreading patterns and the means of transmission . In 2018 researchers suggested an alternative model in which "the disease was spread from human fleas and body lice to other people". The second model claims to better fit the trends of
9891-443: The " Neolithic decline " around 3000 BCE, in which European populations fell significantly. This Y. pestis may have been different from more modern types, with bubonic plague transmissible by fleas first known from Bronze Age remains near Samara . The symptoms of bubonic plague are first attested in a fragment of Rufus of Ephesus preserved by Oribasius ; these ancient medical authorities suggest bubonic plague had appeared in
10048-470: The (often well-endowed) monasteries. After the dissolution of the monasteries , the power to levy a rate to fund relief of the poor was conferred on the parish authorities by the Poor Relief Act 1601 . Both before and after this optional social change, local (vestry-administered) charities are well-documented. The parish authorities were known as vestries and consisted of all the ratepayers of
10205-436: The 13th century. By the mid-13th century, the north arcade was replaced by pointed arches and the north aisle was widened. There is evidence that the Church was in a state of ruin at least once by the later Medieval period. It was restored with a rebuilt chancel and a new transept arch. A further restoration was recorded in 1664. By the mid-19th century, the Church had again fallen into a poor state. The Builder described
10362-479: The 1541 survey, the Tower was in need of repairs, but there is no evidence to suggest it received the reparations required. The Tower collapsed in 1651 and a record of the building in 1715 reveals that its condition had still not improved. In 1828, Archdeacon Singleton noted that the Tower was uninhabited and uninhabitable. However, by 1844 the building was in use again. New battlements, corner turrets, window openings and
10519-485: The 15th and early 16th centuries, and in the 16th and 17th centuries was transferred to other languages as a calque : Icelandic : svarti dauði , German : der schwarze Tod , and French : la mort noire . Previously, most European languages had named the pandemic a variant or calque of the Latin : magna mortalitas , lit. 'Great Death'. The phrase 'black death' – describing Death as black –
10676-457: The 1640s. Nestorian gravesites dating from 1338 to 1339 near Issyk-Kul have inscriptions referring to plague, which has led some historians and epidemiologists to think they mark the outbreak of the epidemic ; this is supported by recent direct findings of Y. pestis DNA in teeth samples from graves in the area with inscriptions referring to "pestilence" as the cause of death. Epidemics killed an estimated 25 million across Asia during
10833-452: The 18th century, the event was called the "pestilence" or "great pestilence", "the plague" or the "great death". Subsequent to the pandemic "the furste moreyn " (first murrain ) or "first pestilence" was applied, to distinguish the mid-14th century phenomenon from other infectious diseases and epidemics of plague. The 1347 pandemic plague was not referred to specifically as "black" in the time of occurrence in any European language, though
10990-403: The 19th century and are now entirely separate. Civil parishes in their modern form came into being through the Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73), which established elected parish councils to take on the secular functions of the parish vestry . A civil parish can range in size from a sparsely populated rural area with fewer than a hundred inhabitants, to a large town with
11147-606: The 19th century contained the townships of Alnham, Prendwick , Scrainwood and Unthank . These townships were recorded as separate localities in the feudal aid of 1242. In the UK Parliament, Alnham is part of the Berwick-upon-Tweed Parliament constituency which has been represented by Anne-Marie Trevelyan ( Conservative ) since May 2015. Prior to May 2015, the seat was represented by Alan Beith ( Liberal Democrats ). In local government, Alnham
11304-564: The 19th century is useful to historians, and is also of cultural significance in terms of shaping local identities; reinforced by the use of grouped parish boundaries, often, by successive local authority areas; and in a very rough, operations-geared way by most postcode districts. There was (and is) wide disparity in parish size. Writtle , Essex traditionally measures 13,568 acres (21 sq mi) – two parishes neighbouring are Shellow Bowells at 469 acres (0.7 sq mi), and Chignall Smealy at 476 acres (0.7 sq mi) Until
11461-591: The 2011 census, Newland with Woodhouse Moor and Beaumont Chase reported inhabitants, and there were no new deserted parishes recorded. Nearly all instances of detached parts of civil parishes (areas not contiguous with the main part of the parish) and of those straddling counties have been ended. 14 examples remain in England as at 2022, including Barnby Moor and Wallingwells , both in Nottinghamshire. Direct predecessors of civil parishes are most often known as "ancient parishes", although many date only from
11618-511: The 2021 census). The 2001 census recorded several parishes with no inhabitants. These were Chester Castle (in the middle of Chester city centre), Newland with Woodhouse Moor , Beaumont Chase , Martinsthorpe , Meering , Stanground North (subsequently abolished), Sturston , Tottington , and Tyneham (subsequently merged). The lands of the last three were taken over by the Armed Forces during World War II and remain deserted. In
11775-499: The 20th century. The only new building to be constructed in this period was the War Memorial Hall erected in 1921. The population gradually declined owing to mechanisation and reduction in farming incomes. Alnham falls within the North Core Strategy Delivery Area of Northumberland – one of the least populated areas of England with 26 residents per square km, compared to the county average of 63. In 2001,
11932-418: The Black Death in 14th century China. As a result, China's place in the sequence of the plague's spread is still debated to this day. According to Charles Creighton, records of epidemics in 14th-century China suggest nothing more than typhus and major Chinese outbreaks of epidemic disease post-date the European epidemic by several years. The earliest Chinese descriptions of the bubonic plague do not appear until
12089-513: The Black Death, because there were actually four strains of Yersinia pestis that became predominant in different parts of the world. Mongol records of illness such as food poisoning may have been referring to the Black Death. Another theory is that the plague originated near Europe and cycled through the Mediterranean, Northern Europe and Russia before making its way to China. Other historians, such as John Norris and Ole Benedictaw, believe
12246-468: The Cheviots through the Iron Age and Bronze Age, have also been found in the surrounding area. Two Iron Age palisaded enclosures have been discovered on High Knowes to the north-west of Alnham. Castle Hill in Alnham is an example of a Cheviot multivallate hillfort and is likely to have existed by the Iron Age. Remains of hut circles within the inner closure suggest that Castle Hill was a settlement with
12403-515: The English population. For historical reasons, civil parishes predominantly cover rural areas and smaller urban areas, with most larger urban areas being wholly or partly unparished ; but since 1997 it has been possible for civil parishes to be created within unparished areas if demanded by local residents . In 2007 the right to create civil parishes was extended to London boroughs , although only one, Queen's Park , has so far been created. Eight parishes also have city status (a status granted by
12560-674: The Islamic city of Almería in al-Andalus . Mecca became infected in 1348 by pilgrims performing the Hajj . In 1351 or 1352, the Rasulid sultan of the Yemen , al-Mujahid Ali, was released from Mamluk captivity in Egypt and carried plague with him on his return home. During 1349, records show the city of Mosul suffered a massive epidemic, and the city of Baghdad experienced a second round of
12717-461: The Islamic world in 1347–52. However, there is a conspicuous lack of evidence for pandemic disease on the scale of the Black Death in China at this time. War and famine – and the diseases that typically accompanied them – probably were the main causes of mortality in the final decades of Mongol rule. Monica Green suggests that other parts of Eurasia outside the west do not contain the same evidence of
12874-541: The Late Middle Ages ), the European population did not regain its 14th century level until the 16th century. Outbreaks of the plague recurred around the world until the early 19th century. European writers contemporary with the plague described the disease in Latin as pestis or pestilentia , 'pestilence'; epidemia , 'epidemic'; mortalitas , 'mortality'. In English prior to
13031-552: The Scottish raids as it was reported to have been in a bad condition by 1541. The dangerous position of Alnham between the English and Scottish borders is again revealed in a survey of the manor from 1615, which reads: the toune and manor of Alneham is parcell of the Barony of Alnewicke. The soyle thereof is good and fertile but the tenants have been greatly impoverished and disabled by the Scots and often English thieves by reason that
13188-595: The Silk Road by 1325 and impossible by 1340, making its role in the spread of plague less likely. There are no records of the symptoms of the Black Death from Mongol sources or writings from travelers east of the Black Sea prior to the Crimean outbreak in 1346. Others still favor an origin in China. The theory of Chinese origin implicates the Silk Road, the disease possibly spreading alongside Mongol armies and traders, or possibly arriving via ship—however, this theory
13345-685: The administration of the poor laws was the main civil function of parishes, the Poor Law Amendment Act 1866 , which received royal assent on 10 August 1866, declared all areas that levied a separate rate or had their own overseer of the poor to be parishes. This included the Church of England parishes (until then simply known as "parishes"), extra-parochial areas , townships and chapelries . To have collected rates this means these beforehand had their own vestries, boards or equivalent bodies. Parishes using this definition subsequently became known as "civil parishes" to distinguish them from
13502-405: The amalgamation of land formerly owned by tenants-at-will into larger farmholdings. Transformation came about later in the 18th century: Alnham Common was first recorded in a survey of 1702 and was divided and apportioned in 1776. The grounds were divided up into holdings along the east and southeast sides of the township and a new road was built through the village. The Duke of Northumberland secured
13659-531: The appearance of a bundle of nodes beneath the tissue." The Chinese physician Sun Simo who died in 652 also mentioned a "malignant bubo" and plague that was common in Lingnan ( Guangzhou ). Ole Jørgen Benedictow believes that this indicates it was an offshoot of the first plague pandemic which made its way eastward to Chinese territory by around 600. A report by the Medical Faculty of Paris stated that
13816-402: The bites of fleas whose midguts had become obstructed by replicating Y. pestis several days after feeding on an infected host. This blockage starves the fleas, drives them to aggressive feeding behaviour, and causes them to try to clear the blockage via regurgitation , resulting in thousands of plague bacteria flushing into the feeding site and infecting the host. The bubonic plague mechanism
13973-477: The bubonic infection, others point to additional septicemic and pneumonic forms of plague, which lengthen the duration of outbreaks throughout the seasons and help account for its high mortality rate and additional recorded symptoms. In 2014, Public Health England announced the results of an examination of 25 bodies exhumed in the Clerkenwell area of London, as well as of wills registered in London during
14130-399: The charter, the charter may be transferred to a parish council for its area. Where there is no such parish council, the district council may appoint charter trustees to whom the charter and the arms of the former borough will belong. The charter trustees (who consist of the councillor or councillors for the area of the former borough) maintain traditions such as mayoralty . An example of such
14287-543: The city walls of Kaffa to infect the inhabitants, though it is also likely that infected rats travelled across the siege lines to spread the epidemic to the inhabitants. As the disease took hold, Genoese traders fled across the Black Sea to Constantinople , where the disease first arrived in Europe in summer 1347. The epidemic there killed the 13-year-old son of the Byzantine emperor , John VI Kantakouzenos , who wrote
14444-418: The continent. According to some epidemiologists, periods of unfavorable weather decimated plague-infected rodent populations, forcing their fleas onto alternative hosts, inducing plague outbreaks which often peaked in the hot summers of the Mediterranean and during the cool autumn months of the southern Baltic region . Among many other culprits of plague contagiousness, pre-existing malnutrition weakened
14601-537: The council are carried out by a paid officer, typically known as a parish clerk. Councils may employ additional people (including bodies corporate, provided where necessary, by tender) to carry out specific tasks dictated by the council. Some councils have chosen to pay their elected members an allowance, as permitted under part 5 of the Local Authorities (Members' Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003. The number of councillors varies roughly in proportion to
14758-464: The council of the urban district or borough in which they were contained. Many urban parishes were coterminous (geographically identical) with the urban district or municipal borough in which they lay. Towns which included multiple urban parishes often consolidated the urban parishes into one. The urban parishes continued to be used as an electoral area for electing guardians to the poor law unions . The unions took in areas in multiple parishes and had
14915-466: The council will an election be held. However, sometimes there are fewer candidates than seats. When this happens, the vacant seats have to be filled by co-option by the council. If a vacancy arises for a seat mid-term, an election is only held if a certain number (usually ten) of parish residents request an election. Otherwise the council will co-opt someone to be the replacement councillor. The Localism Act 2011 introduced new arrangements which replaced
15072-525: The creation of town and parish councils is encouraged in unparished areas . The Local Government and Rating Act 1997 created a procedure which gave residents in unparished areas the right to demand that a new parish and parish council be created. This right was extended to London boroughs by the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 – with this, the City of London
15229-543: The debate about the cause of the Black Death, and unambiguously demonstrates that Y. pestis was the causative agent of the epidemic plague that devastated Europe during the Middle Ages". In 2011 these results were further confirmed with genetic evidence derived from Black Death victims in the East Smithfield burial site in England. Schuenemann et al. concluded in 2011 "that the Black Death in medieval Europe
15386-463: The desire to have a more local tier of government when new larger authorities have been created, which are felt to be remote from local concerns and identity. A number of parishes have been created in places which used to have their own borough or district council; examples include Daventry (2003), Folkestone (2004), Kidderminster (2015) and Sutton Coldfield (2016). The trend towards the creation of geographically large unitary authorities has been
15543-684: The disease spread rapidly all over the island. Galleys from Kaffa reached Genoa and Venice in January 1348, but it was the outbreak in Pisa a few weeks later that was the entry point into northern Italy. Towards the end of January, one of the galleys expelled from Italy arrived in Marseilles . From Italy , the disease spread northwest across Europe, striking France , Spain , Portugal, and England by June 1348, then spreading east and north through Germany , Scotland and Scandinavia from 1348 to 1350. It
15700-544: The disease. Symptoms of the plague include fever of 38–41 °C (100–106 °F), headaches, painful aching joints , nausea and vomiting, and a general feeling of malaise . Left untreated, 80% of victims die within eight days. Contemporary accounts of the pandemic are varied and often imprecise. The most commonly noted symptom was the appearance of buboes (or gavocciolos ) in the groin, neck and armpits, which oozed pus and bled when opened. Boccaccio 's description: In men and women alike it first betrayed itself by
15857-439: The ecclesiastical parishes. The Church of England parishes, which cover more than 99% of England, have become officially (and to avoid ambiguity) termed ecclesiastical parishes . The limits of many of these have diverged; most greatly through changes in population and church attendance (these factors can cause churches to be opened or closed). Since 1921, each has been the responsibility of its own parochial church council . In
16014-466: The emergence of certain tumours in the groin or armpits, some of which grew as large as a common apple, others as an egg ... From the two said parts of the body this deadly gavocciolo soon began to propagate and spread itself in all directions indifferently; after which the form of the malady began to change, black spots or livid making their appearance in many cases on the arm or the thigh or elsewhere, now few and large, now minute and numerous. As
16171-534: The established English Church, which for a few years after Henry VIII alternated between the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England , before settling on the latter on the accession of Elizabeth I in 1558. By the 18th century, religious membership was becoming more fractured in some places, due in part to the progress of Methodism . The legitimacy of the parish vestry came into question, and
16328-414: The expression "black death" had occasionally been applied to fatal disease beforehand. "Black death" was not used to describe the plague pandemic in English until the 1750s; the term is first attested in 1755, where it translated Danish : den sorte død , lit. 'the black death'. This expression as a proper name for the pandemic had been popularized by Swedish and Danish chroniclers in
16485-488: The fifteen years before the Black Death reached Constantinople in 1347. The evidence does not suggest, at least at present, that these mortality crises were caused by plague. Although some scholars, including McNeill and Cao, see the 1333 outbreak as a prelude to the outbreaks in Europe from the late 1340s to the early 1350s, scholars of the Yuan and Ming periods remain skeptical about such an interpretation. Nonetheless,
16642-462: The first clear reports of the Black Death come from Kaffa , the Black Death most likely originated in the nearby plague focus on the northwestern shore of the Caspian Sea . Demographic historians estimate that China's population fell by at least 15 per cent, and perhaps as much as a third, between 1340 and 1370. This population loss coincided with the Black Death that ravaged Europe and much of
16799-491: The following one and a half centuries. During 1347, the disease travelled eastward to Gaza by April; by July it had reached Damascus , and in October plague had broken out in Aleppo . That year, in the territory of modern Lebanon , Syria , Israel , and Palestine , the cities of Ascalon , Acre , Jerusalem , Sidon , and Homs were all infected. In 1348–1349, the disease reached Antioch . The city's residents fled to
16956-455: The government at the time of the Local Government Act 1972 discouraged their creation for large towns or their suburbs, but there is generally nothing to stop their establishment. For example, Birmingham has two parishes ( New Frankley and Sutton Coldfield ), Oxford has four, and the Milton Keynes urban area has 24. Parishes could not however be established in London until the law was changed in 2007. A civil parish can range in area from
17113-529: The immune response, contributing to an immense decline in European population. The disease struck various regions in the Middle East and North Africa during the pandemic , leading to serious depopulation and permanent change in both economic and social structures. By autumn 1347, plague had reached Alexandria in Egypt, transmitted by sea from Constantinople via a single merchant ship carrying slaves. By late summer 1348, it reached Cairo , capital of
17270-485: The largest share of the land: 1,379 acres of infield ground and 6590 acres of common. Further divisions of the land were granted to Alexander Collingwood, Charles Byrne, Percival Clennel, and the Vicar of Alnham. In the 19th century, the village of Alnham consisted of three farms, a church, a vicarage, a Church of England school (constructed in 1870), and six cottages. Farming continued to be the focus of economic activity. By
17427-661: The late Bronze Age . The immediate territorial origins of the Black Death and its outbreak remain unclear, with some evidence pointing towards Central Asia , China, the Middle East , and Europe. The pandemic was reportedly first introduced to Europe during the siege of the Genoese trading port of Kaffa in Crimea by the Golden Horde army of Jani Beg in 1347. From Crimea, it was most likely carried by fleas living on
17584-630: The late 19th century, Alnham Parish covered around 12,000 acres with the township of Alnham being by far the largest at 9535 acres. The population of Alnham in 1801 was 233 and remained relatively stable throughout the century, dropping to 205 by 1891. The 1831 census revealed that the majority of male residents aged over 20 in Alnham Parish was labourers or servants (45 men). A smaller proportion were employers and professionals (8 men), or "middling sorts" (15 men), which included small farmers and skilled workers. The village did not develop much during
17741-476: The late 19th century, most of the "ancient" (a legal term equivalent to time immemorial ) irregularities inherited by the civil parish system were cleaned up, and the majority of exclaves were abolished. The census of 1911 noted that 8,322 (58%) of "parishes" in England and Wales were not geographically identical when comparing the civil to the ecclesiastical form. In 1894, civil parishes were reformed by
17898-465: The mid 19th century. Using a longer historical lens the better terms are "pre-separation (civil and ecclesiastical) parish", "original medieval parishes" and "new parishes". The Victoria County History , a landmark collaborative work mostly written in the 20th century (although incomplete), summarises the history of each English "parish", roughly meaning late medieval parish. A minority of these had exclaves , which could be: In some cases an exclave of
18055-495: The mid-to-late 19th century for a Northumberland Central Railway line to run through Alnham. The proposed railway would have been located to the east of Pennylaws Cottage, but it was never built. Where an abbreviation is used in the references this is indicated below in (brackets) at the end of the source name. When a source is available online, a link has been included. Civil parishes in England In England,
18212-506: The most common industry (25.7%). Throughout its history, Alnham has been incorporated in various territorial units. In the Medieval period, Alnham formed one of the manors of the Barony of Alnwick held by the Vesci lineage beginning in the early 12th century and ending in 1310. The Barony was then sold to Henry de Percy and remains in the hands of the Percy family today . The Parish of Alnham in
18369-557: The name atra mors for the 14th-century epidemic first appeared in a 1631 book on Danish history by J. I. Pontanus : "Commonly and from its effects, they called it the black death" ( Vulgo & ab effectu atram mortem vocitabant ). Research from 2017 suggests plague first infected humans in Europe and Asia in the Late Neolithic - Early Bronze Age . Research in 2018 found evidence of Yersinia pestis in an ancient Swedish tomb, which may have been associated with
18526-465: The new district councils (outside London) to review their parishes, and many areas left unparished in 1972 have since been made parishes, either in whole or part. For example, Hinckley , whilst entirely unparished in 1974, now has four civil parishes, which together cover part of its area, whilst the central part of the town remains unparished. Some parishes were sub-divided into smaller territories known as hamlets , tithings or townships . Nowadays
18683-585: The north, but most of them ended up dying during the journey. Within two years, the plague had spread throughout the Islamic world, from Arabia across North Africa. The pandemic spread westwards from Alexandria along the African coast, while in April 1348 Tunis was infected by ship from Sicily. Tunis was then under attack by an army from Morocco; this army dispersed in 1348 and brought the contagion with them to Morocco, whose epidemic may also have been seeded from
18840-458: The north-west flanks of the hillfort, defined by a curving out bank, constitute the earliest of the remains, possibly dating from the Bronze Age. There were four possible phases of development of earthwork defences of the hillfort during the Iron Age. The first phase consisted of a univallate stone-walled enclosure, followed by the construction of the ramparts and ditches resulting in a bivallate hillfort (phase 2). Phases 3 and 4 saw Castle Hill become
18997-488: The other conurbations. Civil parishes vary greatly in population: some have populations below 100 and have no settlement larger than a hamlet , while others cover towns with populations of tens of thousands. Weston-super-Mare , with a population of 71,758, is the most populous civil parish. In many cases small settlements, today popularly termed villages , localities or suburbs, are in a single parish which originally had one church. Large urban areas are mostly unparished, as
19154-448: The parish has city status). Alternatively, in parishes with small populations (typically fewer than 150 electors) governance may be by a parish meeting which all electors may attend; alternatively, parishes with small populations may be grouped with one or more neighbours under a common parish council. Wales was also divided into civil parishes until 1974, when they were replaced by communities , which are similar to English parishes in
19311-499: The parish of Whittingham and Alnham had a total usual population of 505. In 2011, Alnham Parish had an estimated population of 245. 20.4% of residents were aged 0-15 and 10.2% of residents were aged 65+. 100% of residents identified as white. The majority of residents (68.6%) were Christian with the remaining population either having an 'other' religion, no religion, or did not state religion. 81.3% of residents aged 16-74 were economically active with agriculture, forestry and fishing being
19468-401: The parish the status of a town, at which point the council becomes a town council . Around 400 parish councils are called town councils. Under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 , a civil parish may be given one of the following alternative styles: As a result, a parish council can be called a town council, a community council, a village council or occasionally
19625-404: The parish. As the number of ratepayers of some parishes grew, it became increasingly difficult to convene meetings as an open vestry. In some, mostly built-up, areas the select vestry took over responsibility from the entire body of ratepayers. This innovation improved efficiency, but allowed governance by a self-perpetuating elite. The administration of the parish system relied on the monopoly of
19782-562: The parish; the church rate ceased to be levied in many parishes and became voluntary from 1868. During the 17th century it was found that the 1601 Poor Law did not work well for very large parishes, which were particularly common in northern England. Such parishes were typically subdivided into multiple townships , which levied their rates separately. The Poor Relief Act 1662 therefore directed that for poor law purposes 'parish' meant any place which maintained its own poor, thereby converting many townships into separate 'poor law parishes'. As
19939-563: The people that scarce the tenth person of any sort was left alive. Geoffrey the Baker , Chronicon Angliae Plague was reportedly first introduced to Europe via Genoese traders from their port city of Kaffa in the Crimea in 1347. During a protracted siege of the city in 1345–1346, the Mongol Golden Horde army of Jani Beg —whose mainly Tatar troops were suffering from the disease— catapulted infected corpses over
20096-499: The perceived inefficiency and corruption inherent in the system became a source for concern in some places. For this reason, during the early 19th century the parish progressively lost its powers to ad hoc boards and other organisations, such as the boards of guardians given responsibility for poor relief through the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 . Sanitary districts covered England in 1875 and Ireland three years later. The replacement boards were each entitled to levy their own rate in
20253-408: The period, which supported the pneumonic hypothesis. Currently, while osteoarcheologists have conclusively verified the presence of Y. pestis bacteria in burial sites across northern Europe through examination of bones and dental pulp , no other epidemic pathogen has been discovered to bolster the alternative explanations. The importance of hygiene was not recognized until the 19th century and
20410-668: The plague likely originated in Europe or the Middle East, and never reached China. Norris specifically argues for an origin in Kurdistan rather than Central Asia. The seventh year after it began, it came to England and first began in the towns and ports joining on the seacoasts, in Dorsetshire , where, as in other counties, it made the country quite void of inhabitants so that there were almost none left alive. ... But at length it came to Gloucester , yea even to Oxford and to London, and finally it spread over all England and so wasted
20567-483: The plague to an astrological conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. His use of the phrase is not connected unambiguously with the plague pandemic of 1347 and appears to refer to the fatal outcome of disease. The historian Cardinal Francis Aidan Gasquet wrote about the Great Pestilence in 1893 and suggested that it had been "some form of the ordinary Eastern or bubonic plague". In 1908, Gasquet said use of
20724-530: The plague's death toll, as the rat-flea-human hypothesis would have produced a delayed but very high spike in deaths, contradicting historical death data. Lars Walløe argued that these authors "take it for granted that Simond's infection model, black rat → rat flea → human, which was developed to explain the spread of plague in India, is the only way an epidemic of Yersinia pestis infection could spread". Similarly, Monica Green has argued that greater attention
20881-411: The population of the parish. Most rural parish councillors are elected to represent the entire parish, though in parishes with larger populations or those that cover larger areas, the parish can be divided into wards. Each of these wards then returns councillors to the parish council (the numbers depending on their population). Only if there are more candidates standing for election than there are seats on
21038-455: The population to reduce significantly. In 1352, after the Black Death, there were 34 holdings, half of which were unoccupied. The surviving residents of Alnham, however, may have benefitted somewhat from this reduction in population and secured better rights: the Inquisition for Henry de Percy in 1368 reveals that the bondages and cottages were held by "tenants-at-will", in comparison to earlier non-contractual tenancies which owed labour services to
21195-401: The presence of DNA / RNA with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques for Y. pestis from the tooth sockets in human skeletons from mass graves in northern, central and southern Europe that were associated archaeologically with the Black Death and subsequent resurgences. The authors concluded that this new research, together with prior analyses from the south of France and Germany, "ends
21352-615: The remarkably high mortality rates during the Datong mortality should discourage us from rejecting the possibility of localized/regional outbreaks of plague in different parts of China, albeit differing in scale from, and unrelated to, the pandemic mortality of the Black Death. What we lack is any indication of a plague pandemic that engulfed vast territories of the Yuan Empire and later moved into western Eurasia through Central Asia. According to John Norris, evidence from Issyk-Kul indicates
21509-545: The role of Y. pestis and traces the source to the Tian Shan mountains in Kyrgyzstan . Researchers are hampered by a lack of reliable statistics from this period. Most work has been done on the spread of the disease in England, where estimates of overall population at the start of the plague vary by over 100%, as no census was undertaken in England between the time of publication of the Domesday Book of 1086 and
21666-420: The runoff from the local slaughterhouse had made his garden "stinking and putrid", while another charged that the blood from slain animals flooded nearby streets and lanes, "making a foul corruption and abominable sight to all dwelling near." In much of medieval Europe, sanitation legislation consisted of an ordinance requiring homeowners to shout, "Look out below!" three times before dumping a full chamber pot into
21823-496: The said toune lieth open to the great wastes between the two realmes. Alnham was a significant agricultural centre in the early 17th century. Robert Norton's map of the Duke of Northumberland's Alnham Estate from 1619 reveals Alnham's meadowland consisted of four large common fields, 70 acres of arable land, and 168 acres of "Alnham oxe pasture". From the 18th century onwards, Alnham underwent a period of decay and transformation. In 1724,
21980-421: The state of Alnham Church in 1862: Open the rickety church-door. The eye is met by a green flash from the damp, mildewed walls, and by streaks of sky seen through the unceiled slates. The western end, with its Early Traditional single light, has not been much disturbed; but the rest of the window opening have been modernized and filled with common sashes, which are rotten, and let in wind and rain. The east end has
22137-435: The street. Early Christians considered bathing a temptation. With this danger in mind, St. Benedict declared, "To those who are well, and especially to the young, bathing shall seldom be permitted." St. Agnes took the injunction to heart and died without ever bathing. According to a team of medical geneticists led by Mark Achtman , Yersinia pestis "evolved in or near China" over 2,600 years ago. Later research by
22294-474: The village during the war. Alnham is an isolated rural community. The nearest main road is the A697 , around 7.5 miles (12 km) away. The village is situated on a local road running north-south from Prendwick to Scrainwood; from a junction near the village centre another road heads northwest from Alnham, past Castle Hill, for about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) to Ewartly Shank, where it ends. There were plans in
22451-728: The village today. Due to its location, Alnham often suffered in the Anglo-Scottish border conflict during its history. The economy of Alnham has been focused on agriculture throughout its existence as a settlement. The name "Alnham" derives from the Old English hām (homestead) and the Celtic river-name Aln or Alaunos , meaning "homestead on the River Aln". Variations of the name have been recorded over time, including: Alneham (1331), Elnam (1509), Ayneham (1557), and Ailnham (1663). Alnham has also historically been called "Yeldom", and in
22608-557: The way they operate. Civil parishes in Scotland were abolished for local government purposes by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 ; the Scottish equivalent of English civil parishes are the community council areas established by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 , which have fewer powers than their English and Welsh counterparts. There are no equivalent units in Northern Ireland . The parish system in Europe
22765-475: The western United States. Y. pestis was discovered by Alexandre Yersin , a pupil of Louis Pasteur , during an epidemic of bubonic plague in Hong Kong in 1894; Yersin also proved this bacterium was present in rodents and suggested the rat was the main vehicle of transmission. The mechanism by which Y. pestis is usually transmitted was established in 1898 by Paul-Louis Simond and was found to involve
22922-490: The writings of the ancient Greeks. Due to climate change in Asia , rodents began to flee the dried-out grasslands to more populated areas, spreading the disease. The plague disease, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis , is enzootic (commonly present) in populations of fleas carried by ground rodents , including marmots , in various areas, including Central Asia , Kurdistan , West Asia , North India , Uganda , and
23079-524: Was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as 50 million people perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population. The disease is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and spread by fleas and through the air. One of the most significant events in European history, the Black Death had far-reaching population, economic, and cultural impacts. It
23236-494: Was also dependent on two populations of rodents: one resistant to the disease, which act as hosts , keeping the disease endemic , and a second that lacks resistance. When the second population dies, the fleas move on to other hosts, including people, thus creating a human epidemic . Definitive confirmation of the role of Y. pestis arrived in 2010 with a publication in PLOS Pathogens by Haensch et al. They assessed
23393-456: Was caused by a variant of Y. pestis that may no longer exist". Later in 2011, Bos et al. reported in Nature the first draft genome of Y. pestis from plague victims from the same East Smithfield cemetery and indicated that the strain that caused the Black Death is ancestral to most modern strains of Y. pestis . Later genomic papers have further confirmed the phylogenetic placement of
23550-498: Was established between the 8th and 12th centuries, and an early form was long established in England by the time of the Norman Conquest . These areas were originally based on the territory of manors , which, in some cases, derived their bounds from Roman or Iron Age estates; some large manors were sub-divided into several parishes. Initially, churches and their priests were the gift and continued patronage (benefaction) of
23707-420: Was faster than would be expected if the primary vector was rat fleas causing bubonic plague. In 2022, it was discovered that there was a sudden surge of deaths in what is today Kyrgyzstan from the Black Death in the late 1330s; when combined with genetic evidence, this implies that the initial spread may not have been due to Mongol conquests in the 14th century, as previously speculated. The Black Death
23864-414: Was first mentioned in 1405 when it is recorded as one of Harry Hotspur's strongholds which was surrendered to Henry IV . It is in a good defensive position on the summit of a low ridge. The remains of a small, triangular annex can be found to the east and south. An outer enclosure which surrounded the tower is represented by a well-defined lynchet bank to the north. This enclosure most likely consisted of
24021-532: Was introduced into Norway in 1349 when a ship landed at Askøy , then spread to Bjørgvin (modern Bergen ). Finally, it spread to northern Russia in 1352 and reached Moscow in 1353. Plague was less common in parts of Europe with less-established trade relations, including the majority of the Basque Country , isolated parts of Belgium and the Netherlands , and isolated Alpine villages throughout
24178-538: Was passed to Antony Bek (Bishop of Durham) after his death. Bishop Bek sold the Barony of Alnwick, which included Alnham, to Henry de Percy, 1st Baron Percy . From that point onwards, Alnham remained in the same descent as the rest of the Percy estates. The history of Alnham was often troubled, including by climatic deterioration and harvest failure in the early 14th century, and the Black Death . These events caused
24335-414: Was responsible for the restoration of the building in 1870. All of the extant windows of the Church, other than those in the west end, are Wilson's. Further restoration work was carried out on the Church in 1953 by Gustav Adolph Renwick . Around 20 yards (18 m) to the south of the Church is a Medieval cross base which is a Grade II listed structure . It is a large stone, 2 feet (61 cm) high, with
24492-467: Was the beginning of the second plague pandemic . The plague created religious, social and economic upheavals, with profound effects on the course of European history. The origin of the Black Death is disputed. Genetic analysis suggests Yersinia pestis bacteria evolved approximately 7,000 years ago, at the beginning of the Neolithic , with flea-mediated strains emerging around 3,800 years ago during
24649-578: Was the second great natural disaster to strike Europe during the Late Middle Ages (the first one being the Great Famine of 1315–1317 ) and is estimated to have killed 30% to 60% of the European population, as well as approximately 33% of the population of the Middle East. There were further outbreaks throughout the Late Middle Ages and, also due to other contributing factors (the Crisis of
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