Hexham
Hexham, my home, the fourth of the main County Towns, with its majestic Abbey and Market Place , forming a centre point, from which to explore the town. Fore Street the main shopping area, stretches along from the Market Place to Robbs Store the largest shop, but there are many smaller streets, along which you can find Craft and Antique shops and others in which to browse. 
Many people who work in Newcastle, only 20 mile away, choose Hexham as the place to live and raise their families, because of its rural setting. With a population of around 12000, there are plenty of leisure activities available, 2 Golf Courses, Leisure Centre, Swimming Pool, Racecourse and Parks if you just want to take a stroll. One such area is Tyne Green, which runs along the river bank, a popular place to picnic as well as hosting various events on the river.
Hexham proves to be attractive for visitors, who come and enjoy the many places of interest in the surrounding area, like Hadrians Wall, Beamish Museum, Kielder Water, Slaley Hall, and others, as well as enjoying the beautiful countryside. Then at the end of the day there are mixed variety of Restaurants to eat, and Bars serving Traditional Ales to wash it down. All in all a nice place to live, I'm sure you would enjoy a visit.
Hexham Abbey is reputed to have been built in around the12th century, it has been modernised and changed over the centuries. In 1828, John Dobson a famous builder of the time completed the present East face of the building.
The population of Hexham in the 1800's was around,4,000 people.
Beaumont street, (one of the main streets in Hexham), was constructed in 1864. The Queens Hall, (now the library and theatre), was erected in 1860.
The Hydro, which is now part of Queen Elizabeth High School, was originally a private residence, in 1879 it was rebuilt and turned into the Tynedale Hydropathic Mansion. A place for a well earned rest.
The statue which is at the top of Beaumont street is of Colonel Benson who was killed in the Boer war. His field glasses in his right hand signifies that whilst in action he raised the glasses to view the enemy, the sun caught the glass and a sniper shot him dead.
Robbs, one of the biggest shops in Hexham was founded in 1818 and it resided in numbers 2,4 and 6 Fore street. It moved to Beaumont street in 1846 and then back to 35 - 37 Fore street in 1891 . It is now owned by Joplings of Sunderland.
The old workhouse is situated on Loosing hill, it now houses administration for Hexham General Hospital.
Hexham has certainly changed over the last few years, with more and more businesses moving out or closing down. Since the building of the Metro Centre in Gateshead, and with social mobility, people are tending to shop out of the area.
The population of Northumberland in 1991 information via census figures for this period
was 309,400, to which Tynedale has 18.8 percent living in, and around the Hexham area. This includes Haltwhistle, Haydon Bridge, Hexham, Corbridge and Prudhoe.
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