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Horncliffe is a village in the county of Northumberland, England. It lies on the south bank of the River Tweed about 5 miles (8 km) south west of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and about 3 miles (5 km) north east of Norham and is the most northerly village in England. Horncliffe in Northumberland is the most northerly village in England. It is situated on the south bank of the River Tweed, which forms the border with Scotland. Horncliffe is located about 5 miles south-west of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and about 3 miles north-east of Norham. The Union Chain Bridge is located just over half a mile north of Horncliffe, near the hamlet of Loanend.
HORNCLIFFE, a township, in the parish of Norham, union of Berwick-upon-Tweed, N. division of Northumberland, 5 miles (W.S.W.) from Berwick: containing 322 inhabitants. It is situated on the Tweed, and comprises about 840 acres of land. From Horncliffe Hall is a fine prospect of the extensive plain of Merse, and the luxuriant banks of the Tweed. The tithes have been commuted for £151. 3., payable to the Dean and Chapter of Durham.
About five miles inland from Berwick, along the curving, gracious banks of the tidal river Tweed, the chain-bridge heralds that particular bend in the river where, perched on the high red cliffs just beyond it, sits the small village of Horncliffe. Or Horckley, as it used to be called. If you stand in the haughs (expansive level fields on the banks) on the Scottish side, only the odd roof can be seen, and this was where the armies of Charles I and Oliver Cromwell camped in the 1600s. In those times the ford was the attraction, but since 1820 this point has been spanned by the chain-bridge built by Sir Samuel Browne, who used it as a prototype for his later design of the Menai Bridge in Wales. One foot leads to leafy Scotland, the other remains securely locked into the cliff face which welcomes the traveller into Northumberland. Just one tarmac road leads into and out of the village, thus it retains a strangely remote quality full of surprises.
Its heart for many years has been the river, though it is hidden and many visitors come and go and never know the existence of it. To take a walk down one of the network of paths to the river and watch the silver salmon leap on a summer evening is beautiful. Now we see only solitary expensively-clad fly fishermen, but a few years ago the river was alive with boats, fishermen and ghillies netting the salmon for sale all over the country. They lived in butts and benns, mostly now demolished in favour of more spacious dwellings, and the bothies on the river bank have been renovated and make excellent holiday cottages. In the 1930s James Strothers, 'Old Pluck', had a good business making leather waders for the fishermen. Photographs of the fishing industry can be seen at the pub in the village, The Fisher's Arms.
There are no shops now but there have been several; Loosie Lyle sold all sorts but is remembered particularly by the pensioners because she went specially to Berwick on a Saturday morning to bring their childhood supplies of aniseed balls and liquorice, and
Cadger Robertson delivered by pony and trap and presumably cadged honourably. Milk and eggs could be collected from the pub as the publican's brother was a farmer. In those days the only other shop, though there were other businesses, was a tailor's shop started in 1907 by Adam Robertson and through the good and lean years it managed to survive until 1958. In an upper room above the shop the tailor and his assistants toiled making suits and trousers, a good tweed suit in 1908 costing £2 12s 6d. He also delivered by pony and trap and went as far afield as Ashington, 60 miles away, for business. Poor pony!
There were hard times in the 1920s and 1930s but most of the villagers kept a pig in the garden and killed at different times and gave portions to friends and relations to spread the bounty. There was no electricity at that time so the sides of bacon were kept on hooks and salted down, not a scrap was ever wasted. The publican was no exception and his pig was a source of great delight to the children because it was given all the slops from the glasses as well as scraps, so it was frequently tiddly, snored loudly and could be poked unmercifully.
Most folk had orchards and vegetable patches and again the bounty was spread and no doubt fellowship and feuds abounded. Barter was the name of the game. The soil is rich and friable in Horncliffe if well tended and the present day gardens prove it; the onion show and the spring bulb show are still highlights of the village year. In the 1940s market gardener Jock Chalmers had a flourishing business providing local produce which he sold in Berwick; his tomatoes small and sweet were renowned. Now we have a honey farm which produces not only wonderful natural honey but cosmetics, creams and polishes. There used to be a blacksmith kept busy with work from the surrounding farms, and even a horn-maker. Now there are only a few farmworkers, but builders, joiners and carpenters have sprung up in their place.
The church was the mainspring of many village activities and on high days and holidays there were outings for the children in August to Spittal, services at harvest time and garden fetes at Allenby House where Captain Allenby lived. On Remembrance Day, always the 11th November no matter whether it was Sunday or weekday, the workers would come in from the fields or workshop to remember, hats off, tools down, their dead in the First World War, all together around the memorial.
The church was built in 1858, which was about the same time as the school. Sixty local children attended, each subscribing threepence a week for tuition; it was otherwise supported by charity. They had a halfpenny in the bank in 1863, but possessed the beginnings of a library though every acquisition was closely scrutinised by the school committee and any of an immoral nature were firmly rejected. In 1874 £1 was set aside to buy oranges to be given to the children on the afternoon before Good Friday and in 1883 the school was closed for six weeks for a whooping cough epidemic. We still have a school, now accommodated in a modern building set in pleasant playing fields.
After much hard work, village spirit and jollity the present Memorial Hall, opened in 1957, remains the centre of the community and houses all the meetings, hops and get-togethers that typify village life. The village post office, surely the smallest, least stable building in the British Isles, measuring three feet square, is now the hub of Horncliffe every weekday morn. Resilient to the winds of change, it has traded uninterrupted for the past 60 years.