Coquet River - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

COQUET (pronounced Cocket), a river of Northumberland, draining a beautiful valley about 40 m. in length. It rises in the Cheviot Hills. Following a course generally easterly, but greatly winding, it passes Harbottle, near which relics of the Stone Age are seen, and Holystone, where it is recorded that Bishop Paulinus baptized a great body of Northumbrians in the year 62 7. Several earthworks crown hills above this part of the valley, and at Cartington, Fosson and Whitton are relics of medieval border fortifications. The small town of Rothbury is beautifully situated beneath the rugged Simonside Hills. The river dashes through a narrow gully called the Thrum, and then passes Brinkburn priory, of which the fine Transitional Norman church was restored to use in 1858, while there are fragments of the monastic buildings. This was an Augustinian foundation of the time of Henry I. The dale continues well wooded and very beautiful until Warkworth is reached, with its fine castle and remarkable hermitage. A short distance below this the Coquet has its mouth in Alnwick Bay (North Sea), with the small port of Amble on the south bank, and Coquet Island a mile out to sea. The river is frequented by sportsmen for salmon and trout fishing. No important tributary is received, and the drainage area does not exceed 2 4 0 sq. m.