Paul If you go to Google Maps and put these places in, most will show up there. Fee -----Original Message----- From: Paul Hood Sent: Wednesday, June 05, 2013 12:44 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [NMB] Thornton Family I am not from Northumberland and I wondered the distance between places as I have found possible connections with my Thornton family in :- Donking Ridge, Dike Head, Gallows Hill, Rothley, Long Witton, Hartburn, Green Leighton, Rothley Shield, Elph Hills, Shaftoe Grange and Harwood, mainly farmers but a few labourers. Paul .. Please remember to snip most of the earlier message before you post any reply...... Thank you! The NORTHUMBRIA FAQ page is located at http://www.bpears.org.uk/NorthumbriaFAQ/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Paul: Those places are really not too far from each other, given the sort of distances families tended to move. At the very least they are all in the same general "middle" area of the large county of Northumberland. However, you have whetted my appetite, and no doubt those of others, by mentioning Thornton in the same sentence as Netherwitton. As you may know, there was a landed family named Thornton who had their estate at Netherwitton at a quite early date, and of whom was the famous (locally, anyway) Roger Thornton, best described as "Newcastle's answer to Dick Whittington". Having arrived in Newcastle, probably to be apprenticed to a local merchant, but with virtually no worldly goods ("At the West Gate came Thornton in, with a hap and a halfpenny in a lamb's skin" as the local rhyme had it) he went on, after initial setbacks, to become a very successful merchant himself, being three times Lord Mayor of Newcastle. He and his wife are the subjects of the magnificent Thornton Brass, which was in All Saints' Church for centuries before being removed to St Nicholas', now the Cathedral, in the mid-20th century and last seen by me a couple of years or so ago, more or less covered by some very heavy-looking pews! His family at Netherwitton is the subject of a pedigree in one of the Histories of Northumberland. I think it is in Hodgson's. Geoff Nicholson -----Original Message----- From: Fiona J Mitford <[email protected]> To: northumbria <[email protected]> Sent: Wed, 5 Jun 2013 13:06 Subject: Re: [NMB] Thornton Family Paul If you go to Google Maps and put these places in, most will show up there. Fee -----Original Message----- From: Paul Hood Sent: Wednesday, June 05, 2013 12:44 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [NMB] Thornton Family I am not from Northumberland and I wondered the distance between places as I have found possible connections with my Thornton family in :- Donking Ridge, Dike Head, Gallows Hill, Rothley, Long Witton, Hartburn, Green Leighton, Rothley Shield, Elph Hills, Shaftoe Grange and Harwood, mainly farmers but a few labourers. Paul .. Please remember to snip most of the earlier message before you post any reply...... Thank you! The NORTHUMBRIA FAQ page is located at http://www.bpears.org.uk/NorthumbriaFAQ/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message .. Please remember to snip most of the earlier message before you post any reply...... Thank you! The NORTHUMBRIA FAQ page is located at http://www.bpears.org.uk/NorthumbriaFAQ/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

My direct ancestor was Edmund Thornton b1810 Meldon, in 1851 he was a miller employing 2 men at Bedlington. In 1857 debts caught up with him and assets were sold, in 1861 he was a cartman. His father was John Thornton b1779 at Rivergreen Mill, his mother was Mary Yellowley. Now as far as I can see John's father was Henry Thornton baptised at Hartburn in 1738 and his father was Robert b1703 at Netherwitton and died in 1773 at Donking Ridge which I am told is a farm about 4 miles NW of Hartburn. There is a Henry Thornton b1680 at or around Hartburn who married a Jane Read in 1700, possibly Roberts father. With so many Thornton's in the area it is difficult to pin point the exact one I need. Paul