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.

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!

Several of the local settlements originated around coal mines, an industry which is being redeveloped in today's open cast sites.

The causeway is a Roman road which starts at Port Gate on Hadrian's Wall, north of Corbridge, and extends 55 miles (89 km) northwards across Northumberland to the mouth of the River Tweed at Berwick-upon-Tweed.