Kirkharle is a hamlet

Hamlet (place)

A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...

 in the county of Northumberland

Northumberland

Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...

 in Northern England

Northern England

Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North or the North Country, is a cultural region of England. It is not an official government region, but rather an informal amalgamation of counties. The southern extent of the region is roughly the River Trent, while the North is bordered...

 located about 12 miles (19.3 km) west of the town of Morpeth

Morpeth, Northumberland

Morpeth is the county town of Northumberland, England. It is situated on the River Wansbeck which flows east through the town. The town is from the A1, which bypasses it. Since 1981, it has been the administrative centre of the County of Northumberland. In the 2001 census the town had a population...

, just to the west of the crossroads of the A696

A696 road

The A696 is a major road in northern England, that runs from Otterburn in Northumberland to Newcastle upon Tyne.-Route:The A696 begins at a junction with the A68 road . It heads in a south-easterly direction through the village of Otterburn, and then past Kirkwhelpington...

 and B6342 roads.

Landmarks

Kirkharle Hall

Kirkharle Hall

Kirkharle Hall was a country house at Kirkharle, Northumberland, England, the former seat of the Loraine family, now much reduced and in use as a farmhouse...

 was a country house at Kirkharle, the former seat of the Loraine family

Loraine Baronets

The Loraine Baronetcy, of Kirk Harle in the County of Northumberland, was a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 26 September 1664 for Thomas Loraine, High Sheriff of Northumberland. The second Baronet was Member of Parliament for Northumberland. The third Baronet was High Sheriff...

, now much reduced and in use as a farmhouse.

A mile to the north of Kirkharle is Little Harle Tower, an 18th and 19th century mansion which incorporates a 15th or 16th century pele tower

Peel tower

Peel towers are small fortified keeps or tower houses, built along the English and Scottish borders in the Scottish Marches and North of England, intended as watch towers where signal fires could be lit by the garrison to warn of approaching danger...

.

Religious sites

Before the village gained the kirk (church) element it was called Herle (recorded 1177)
. Herle comes from the Old English "Herela-lea" which means "Herela's Grove" or "herg-leah" which means "temple-grove", a place of worship for the pre-Christian Angles

Angles

The Angles is a modern English term for a Germanic people who took their name from the ancestral cultural region of Angeln, a district located in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany...

. Other early forms included Kyrkeherle (c.1250), Kyrkherll (1346) and Kirkehirle (1428).

The current church, dedicated to St Wilfrid, was built in the fourteenth century. Among the quaint epitaphs in the church upon departed Loraines is the following:

Here lyes the Body of Richard Loraine, Esq., who was a proper handsome man of good sense and behaviour : he dy'd a Batcheler of an Appoplexy walking in a green field near London, October 26th, 1738, in the 38 Year of his Age.

The Loraine Baronets

Loraine Baronets

The Loraine Baronetcy, of Kirk Harle in the County of Northumberland, was a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 26 September 1664 for Thomas Loraine, High Sheriff of Northumberland. The second Baronet was Member of Parliament for Northumberland. The third Baronet was High Sheriff...

 acquired it by marriage the manor from the De Harles who owned it in the 14th century, and derived their name (literally "of Harle") from the village.

Notable people

Kirkharle's most famous son is Capability Brown

Capability Brown

Lancelot Brown , more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English landscape architect. He is remembered as "the last of the great English eighteenth-century artists to be accorded his due", and "England's greatest gardener". He designed over 170 parks, many of which still endure...

 the notable landscape gardener whose father was employed by the Loraines at Kirkharle Hall

Kirkharle Hall

Kirkharle Hall was a country house at Kirkharle, Northumberland, England, the former seat of the Loraine family, now much reduced and in use as a farmhouse...

.

External links

• GENUKI (Accessed: 14 November 2008)
• Brief details of the church