It included Hexham, Whitley Chapel, Allendale, and St John Lee[2] (today part of Plenmeller with Whitfield) until it was incorporated into Northumberland in 1572.

Hexhamshire was originally a single parish based on the church of St Andrew, Hexham, and surveys from 1295, 1547 and 1608 all show that the extent of its territory remained highly stable over time.

[3] It was probably formed from the lands gifted in 674 to Wilfrid, the Bishop of York, by the Northumbrian queen Æthelthryth to support the newly established Bishopric of Hexham.

[17] Hexham Abbey was dissolved in 1537 in the Dissolution of the monasteries,[18] and after a series of local uprisings the Crown took possession of Hexhamshire in 1545.

The parish covers a large but mostly sparsely populated area, including the villages of Dalton and Whitley Chapel, Broadwell House, and Hexhamshire Common.