[4] Towards the end of the first millennium BC, all of the remaining upland forest in the area had been cleared, and increasing numbers of settlements or homesteads were established on the high moorland.

Small enclosed homesteads such as this are likely to have continued in use for several centuries, and were probably only abandoned as the population moved to lower lying hamlets during the Early Medieval period.

[5] In 651 King Oswine granted 12 named vills, or townships, including Shotton, and perhaps Thornington, along with a large tract of land beside the Bowmont Water, to Saint Cuthbert.

The lord of the manor was Michael of Kilham, although he did not possess the whole township, part being held by Kirkham Priory in North Yorkshire, which had been founded by the barons of Wark.

[9] The manorial lordship passed through various hands to the Greys of Chillingham Castle, who eventually consolidated ownership of the whole township, in the 17th century acquiring the former Kirkham Priory holdings, which had earlier been sold by the crown after the dissolution of the Monasteries.

The fourth Scot raised his country meanwhile, and at daybreak 40 horse and foot attacked Kilham, but being resisted by the town, who behaved themselves very honestly, they were driven off and two more were taken prisoners.

Whereon the Scots raised Tyvidale (Teviotdale), being near at hand, and to the number of 160 horse and foot came back by seven in the morning, and not only rescued all the prisoners but slew a man, left seven for dead and hurt very sore a great many others.

[18][19] The adoption of new agricultural techniques and improvements to the area's transport infrastructure resulted in greater prosperity for Kilham's farming community in the late 18th and 19th centuries.

There are areas of heather moorland and, in wetter parts, blanket bog dominated by dwarf shrubs, sedges, sphagnum moss and cotton grass.

[32] Northumberland is the coldest county in England, with mean summer temperatures in the northern lowlands 0.5 °C below those found 60 miles (97 km) to the south.

[34] The nearest weather station for which comprehensive records are published is at Boulmer, located 29.8 miles (48.0 km) south east of Kilham, on the North Sea coast.

[39] Under the Public Health Act 1848 the area of the poor law union became Glendale Rural Sanitary District, which from 1889 formed a second tier of local government under Northumberland County Council.

The great landowners would hold large organised shooting parties for their friends, employing local farm workers as beaters.

[80] Now almost unpopulated, Coldsmouth and Thompson's Walls lies 1.7 miles (2.7 km) south west of Kilham in the northern reaches of the Cheviot Hills.

[81][82] South of the hill St Cuthbert's Way, a 62 miles (100 km) long-distance trail, passes on its route from Melrose to Holy Island.

The name is thought to mean Low Ground with a Wood, and the area has a number of ancient camps and settlements shown on early Ordnance Survey maps.

[27] Locally quarried dark igneous andesite and granite were mainly used, although sandstone was brought in from the east for higher status buildings.

Blackbirds, wrens and thrushes are often seen in the hedge banks along the lane to Longknowe, and the roadside verges contain a colourful variety of flowering plants, including dog roses, St John's wort, stitchwort and bloody cranesbill.

In summer the hillside is a profusion of purple and blue as wild thyme, cross-leaved heath and harebells come into bloom; foxgloves have colonised the stony ground.

[27] North of the hamlet, the trackbed of the former Alnwick and Cornhill Railway forms part of a walk along the Bowmont Water, where kingfishers, grey herons, oystercatchers and mallards can be seen.

An old beam forms a continuous bressumer over the door and two windows, and the building has a steeply pitched Scottish slate roof.

In 1812 the Ford and Lowick Turnpike Trust took over responsibility for the road from Milfield through Flodden, Howtel, Kilham, Langham and Shotton to the border, and in 1834 the deviation through Thornington was included.

With reduced income from tolls due to competition from the new railways, the turnpike trusts were gradually wound up in the late 19th century, and responsibility for highways taken over by Northumberland County Council after its creation in 1889.

The threat posed by the proposal spurred the North Eastern Railway to put forward a branch line of its own between Alnwick, Wooler and Cornhill on Tweed.

The company was strongly supported by the tradespeople of Alnwick, who were concerned at the loss of business if the farmers of Glendale had a direct raillink to the rival market and shops in Rothbury.

A goods and parcels service continued, but on 12 August 1948 torrential rain caused severe flooding, damaging the bridge over the Bowmont Water between Mindrum and Kilham.

Goods services were withdrawn from Kilham sidings in 1953, and the remaining northern part of the line to Wooler finally closed on 29 March 1965.

The rebels captured Barnard Castle and advanced on York but, with little popular support and facing overwhelming government forces, fled north, towards Scotland.

The Scots subsequently sold him to the English government for £2,000, and he was beheaded at York, refusing an offer to save his life by renouncing Catholicism.

[129] St Cuthbert's Way, a 62 miles (100 km) long-distance trail, passes to the south of the hill on its route from Melrose to Holy Island.