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There are plenty of fine old buildings around Corbridge, such as St Andrew’s church, with the Vicar’s Pele Tower alongside. There is another pele tower where the old Newcastle road leaves town, built into Low Hall. These towers are features of reiver country – places where cattle could easily be driven inside on the ground floor, while people took refuge above in time of strife.

There was plenty of strife in this area. Ethelred, King of Northumbria, was slain here in 796AD, and it is also where Regnald the Dane defeated both English and Scots armies in 918AD. King David I of Scotland occupied the town in 1138, while King John sacked it in 1201. Corbridge suffered three burnings, by William Wallace in 1296, Robert the Bruce in 1312, and King David II in 1346.

There is accommodation in Corbridge, plenty of pubs and restaurants, shops, a post office, two banks and an ATM. The tourist information centre, tel 01434 632815, offers a leaflet called ‘A Walk of Discovery around Corbridge’.

CorbridgeRiver Tynerailway station