Hexham

The ancient town of Hexham has a gravitational pull for tourists and farmers alike. Since Saxon times people have been trading their sheep and cattle at the weekly Tuesday markets and the town’s proximity to some of the finest parts of Hadrian’s Wall is no less a draw.

The first church in Hexham, which stood on the abbey site, was built around 674 and though all that remains of it is the crypt, it is probably the finest Anglo Saxon crypt in existence. In Norman times the abbey was replaced by an Augustinian Priory, most of which survives to this day. The Sele was once a monastic enclosure but these days is an attractive piece of parkland in the town centre.

The Old Gaol and its museum and the medieval Moot Hall complete the town’s list of attractions but most people don’t stay in Hexham too long, preferring to get out to discover the most important Roman monument in the country, Hadrian’s Wall.