Belford in 1839
Belford is in the northern division of Bamborough ward, on the Edinburgh mail-road, 48 miles from Newcastle, and 322 from London. The entire parish comprehends 9,380 acres (with a population, in 1831, of 2,030 inhabitants), and extends into Islandshire, a part of Durham ; the township of Belford contained, in 1831, a population of 1,354, about one-fourth agricultural. The town stands on a gradual slope about two miles from the sea. It consists of two principal streets ; the houses are in general neat and well built. The church, or chapel, is an irregular building capable of containing 600 or 700 persons ; there are two or three dissenting places of worship. There is a little weaving done ; and several of the townsmen are employed in stone-quarries and coal-pits near the town. There is a market on Tuesday, at which a considerable quantity of corn is sold for exportation, and there are two small cattle-fairs in the year.
The living is a perpetual curacy, of the clear yearly value of £147, with a glebe-house. There were, in 1833, in the township of Belford, five day-schools, with 181 children ; three boarding-schools, with 26 children ; and two Sunday-schools, with from 80 to 140 children. In the other townships of the parish were three day-schools, with 102 children, and one Sunday-school, with 42 children.
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