Ford.

Ford Village, Northumberland.

Thank you so much for the wonderful pictures. I could not stop looking and it provided me with at least a few minutes of meditation, dreaming as well as remembering my own childhood on roads just as small and countryside just as clean as there in Northumberland. Sorry to say that I am not from there, but I lived for twenty years in Germany. So these narrow roads are familiar to me. Again thank you so much for posting such beautiful photos

Ford is a small village in Northumberland, England, about 13 miles from Berwick-upon-Tweed

Veteran motor cars in Ford Village.

FORD VILLAGE

A model village of the mid-19th c, Ford could be a prosperous suburb instead of an auxiliary to an ancient castle. Ford Castle, owned by Lord Joicey and used as a county educational and cultural centre, was started in 1287 by Odenel de Forde and crenellated in 1338. It was demolished by the Scots in 1385 and attacked again in 1549. It was in the style of four corner towers with a curtain-wall, and three of the original towers survive. The castle was extensively restored and altered in both the 18th and 19th century. St Michael's church in the castle grounds is early 13th century with a thorough 19th century restoration. The bell cote is a very fine Northumbrian Gothic design.

St. Michaels church. Ford. Northumberland.

Ford Castle.

Ford village as seen today is the work of Louisa, Marchioness of Waterford, who developed it as a memorial to her husband who suffered a fatal fall from a horse in 1859. Tastes may differ about the result (to the 19th century historian Tomlinson there was 'no sweeter village outside Arcadia') but her Biblical paintings in the former village school are a memorial that requires no defence. Lady Waterford was a talented artist in the Pre-Raphaelite style. She spent 22 years (1860-82) on this series of watercolours on paper which was applied to canvas and then fitted into the walls and gables of the long school hall. Residents who attended classes there tell how the Bible lessons were drawn from Lady Waterford's pictures. She used villagers for models and paid the children 6 pennies and a gilly piece(bread and jelly) for their sittings.

The Old Smiddy. ( Blacksmith's Shop.) Ford Village. Northumberland.

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams, Live the life you've imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler.

Henry David Thoreau

Ford Village, Northumberland.

Home.