Berrington Lough Stadium

Berrington Lough Stadium also called the Berwick Motorcycle Centre was a purpose-built motorcycle speedway track located in Berrington Lough, a rural part of Northumberland, south of Berwick-upon-Tweed. The location of the track was approximately 1 mile north of Bowsden and 2 miles west of Berrington. The stadium was the home of the speedway team known as the Berwick Bandits. Today there is virtually no indication that a stadium existed, as a result of its demolition and removal.

1. History

Towards the latter part of the 1980 National League season, the Berwick Bandits were given notice by the landlords Berwick Rangers F.C. to vacate Shielfield Park, which resulted in the need to find new premises. This followed a disagreement over rent increase demands and the final meeting was held on 6 September. The football team unsuccessfully attempted to buy the speedway team during October. Initial attempts to build a new stadium failed and the team raced fixtures at Blantyre Greyhound Stadium during 1981 before finally identifying a plot of land towards the end of 1981. They set up a new public company and raised funds to build three grandstands, an office block, floodlighting and turnstiles. Work began in January 1982 and the first meeting was held on 24 April 1982, when Berwick defeated Edinburgh Monarchs. The stadium hosted a British qualifying round of the Speedway World Championship in 1986. The team raced at the venue for 13 years but due to its remote location the club were always fighting an uphill battle to maintain good attendances and make a profit. They did however win the British League Division Two Knockout Cup and Gold Cup while at the stadium. When the greyhound racing lease at Shielfield Park was ended by Berwick Rangers in 1995, the Berwick speedway promoter Mike Hope took the lease and the Bandits left Berrington Lough for their original home. The last meeting staged at Berrington Lough was the Academy League KO Cup Final against Stoke Potters on the 21 October 1995.

1. References

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Ancroft Northmoor

Ancroft Northmoor is a village in Northumberland, England. The population of the Civil Parish taken at the 2011 census was 895.

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Ancroft

Ancroft is a village and civil parish (which includes the village of Scremerston) in Northumberland, England. Prior to 1844, Ancroft lay within the Islandshire exclave of County Durham. It is south of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and has a population of 885, rising slightly to 895 at the 2011 census. There are several suggestions as to how Ancroft got its name. It might be an abridged version of "Aidan's-croft" - the croft of St Aidan who was the first Bishop of Lindisfarne (Holy Island). Alternatively, it might be that as the church is dedicated to Saint Anne, the village took its name from the church - "St Anne's croft". A third suggestion is simply that it means one croft or solitary croft - "ane croft". There was surely more than one croft here when the church was built, probably towards the end of the 11th century; but in common with most of this region, the community declined in the latter part of the 13th century because of the continual border raids by the Scots. This turbulent history is reflected in the number of castles and peel towers in the vicinity, besides the fortified tower that was added to the church in the thirteenth century. Because of the repeated incursions by Scots, this northern part of what we now call Northumberland was placed in the charge of the prince-bishops of Durham. They were powerful and wealthy men who had the resources to defend the border. That is why this area was still part of County Durham until the mid 1800s. After the accession of James I (James VI of Scotland) to the throne of England in 1603 there seems to have been a return of people to the village. But in 1667 the plague struck Ancroft, The victims were carried out into the fields where they were covered with shelters made from branches of broom. After death both bodies and shelters were burned in a rudimentary and fruitless attempt to control the spread of the disease. To this day a field to the south of the village is called "Broomie Huts". In desperation the authorities of the day ordered that the plague-affected cottages should be burned to the ground. The mounds where the cottages stood, and the former village street, can still be seen in the field between the main road and the burn. By the time of Queen Anne (1702–1714) the village was flourishing once more, with a population of over one thousand. The main industry, other than farming, was shoe and clog making. Sailors of the Royal Navy wore shoes or slippers from Ancroft. The naval specification required footwear with no metal parts - an obvious precaution to avoid sparks in a wooden ship loaded with gunpowder and tarred rope! Boots were also made for the British army - the Duke of Marlborough's troops marched to victory shod in Ancroft boots. A village tradition claims that each of the one hundred trees on the southern skyline represents a cobbler. Several of the local settlements originated around coal mines, an industry which is being redeveloped in today's open cast sites.

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Norham and Islandshires Rural District

Norham and Islandshires was a rural district in Northumberland, England from 1894 to 1974. The district was formed under the Local Government Act 1894 from the Berwick rural sanitary district. It contained all the historic area of Norhamshire and most of Islandshire, including Norham and Lindisfarne (Holy Island), which had been under the jurisdiction of the County Palatine of Durham until 1844. The district survived until 1974, when it was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972. It then formed part of the Borough of Berwick-upon-Tweed.

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Berrington, Northumberland

Berrington is a village in Northumberland, in England. It is situated to the south of Berwick-upon-Tweed, inland from the North Sea coast.

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