Northumberland

Northumberland, the most northerly county of England, separated from Berwickshire on the N. by the Tweed, from Roxburghshire on the N.W. by the Cheviot Hills, and bounded W. by Cumberland, E. by the North Sea, and S. by Durham; area 2,016 square miles. The surface is for the most part rugged, rising gradually to the height of 2,676 feet, in the Cheviot Hills and becoming wild and bleak in the moorland district of the south and south-west. Along fertile valleys which traverse the county eastwards from the spurs of the Cheviots flow the Till, Alne, Coquet, Wansbeck, and other streams; the other rivers include the Tweed and the Tyne, which in the last part of its course forms the boundary with Durham. The geological formation consists of Silurian rocks in the north-west.

with Triassic and Permian beds, and a vast tract of coal-measures near the coast; the Cheviots are mostly composed of porphyrites and andesites. Coal-mining is carried on in the south-east, lead mining (a declining industry) in the south-west. The valleys and the district near the coast have a clayey loam soil, yielding rich crops of barley, wheat, and beans. Cattle and sheep are reared extensively in the west part of the county. The Northumberland rivers and their estuaries abound in salmon and other fish A large group of connected industries, such as iron-working, ship-building, etc., has been established along the banks of the Tyne.