The crypt of the original monastery survives, and incorporates many stones taken from nearby Roman ruins, probably Corbridge or Hadrian's Wall.

[4] The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Manuscript D: Cotton Tiberius B IV) records the murder of King Ælfwald by Sicga at Scythlecester (which may be modern Chesters) on 23 September 788: This year Alfwald, king of the Northumbrians, was slain by Siga, on the ninth[5] day before the calends of October; and a heavenly light was often seen on the spot where he was slain.

In 1312, Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland, demanded and received £2000 from the town and monastery in order for them to be spared a similar fate.

[7] In 1464, during the Wars of the Roses, the Battle of Hexham was fought somewhere to the south of the town; the actual site is disputed.

The defeated Lancastrian commander, Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset, was executed in Hexham marketplace.

The Queen's Cave in question is on the south side of the West Dipton Burn, to the southwest of Hexham.

The choir, north and south transepts and the cloisters, where canons studied and meditated, date from this period.

[15] At the east end of the market place stands the Moot Hall, originally commissioned as a gatehouse that was part of the defences of the town.

The Moot Hall, which is considered one of the best examples of a medieval courthouse in the north of England,[16] is a Grade I listed building.

[18] The Leazes on Shaws Lane is a Grade II listed mansion built in 1853 by John Dobson for William Kinsopp.

[20][21] Dare Wilson Barracks, the home of X Company, 5th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, was completed in 1891.

Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC North East and Cumbria and ITV Tyne Tees.

Hexham is served by state first, middle and high schools and uses the three-tier system as does the rest of Northumberland.

Queen Elizabeth High School, partly located in a former hydropathic hotel, is the town's major educational centre.

In November 2016, the bus station was relocated to its current site at Dene Avenue – at a cost of £2.28 million.

Dutch Oker was used in the processing, but local fell clay could be used if necessary.Tanning was a necessary allied industry and there were four tanneries, employing a score of men.

Hexham's racecourse is at Yarridge Heights in the hills above the town, with National Hunt (steeplechase) races throughout the year.

In late 2017, Tynedale CC became a founder member of the new Northumberland & Tyneside Cricket League (NTCL), formed when a merger between NTSCL & Northumberland Cricket League was voted through by constituent clubs at the inaugural AGM held at Kingston Park Rugby Ground.