Turnpike roads leading to Newcastle, Alnwick, Hexham and Morpeth allowed for an influx of families and the enlargement of the settlement during the Middle Ages.

In 1291, Rothbury was chartered as a market town and became a centre for dealing in cattle and wool for the surrounding villages during the Early Modern Era.

Later, Rothbury developed extensively in the Victorian era, due in large part to the railway and the industrialist Sir William Armstrong.

Between 1862 and 1865, Armstrong built Cragside, a country house and "shooting box" (hunting lodge) just outside Rothbury, and extended it as a "fairy palace" between 1869 and 1900.

[2] Sites include a cairnfield, standing stone and cup-marked rock on Debdon Moor to the north of the town, a well-preserved circular cairn some 26 feet (7.9 m) in diameter,[3] a late Neolithic or Bronze Age standing stone,[3] and an extensive hillfort, covering an area 165 by 125 metres (541 by 410 ft) and associated cairnfield to the west of the town.

[5] Fragments from an Anglo-Saxon cross, possibly dating from the 9th century, are the only surviving relics pre-dating the Norman conquest.

[2] Edward I visited the town in 1291, when Fitz Roger obtained a charter to authorise the holding of a market every Thursday, and a three-day annual fair near St Matthew's Day, celebrated on 21 September.

[6] Rothbury was not particularly significant at the time, with records from 1310 showing that it consisted of a house, a garden, a bakehouse and a watermill, all of which were leased to tenants.

When the line of Fitz Roger died out, the town reverted to being a crown possession, but in 1334 Edward III gave it to Henry de Percy, who had been given the castle and baronry of Warkworth six years earlier.

Despite the Scottish border wars, Rothbury rose in prosperity during the 14th century, and had become the town with the highest parochial value in Northumberland by 1535.

Feuds still dominated local affairs, resulting in some parishioners failing to attend church because of them in the 16th century, and at other times, gathering in armed groups in separate parts of the building.

[2] Rothbury became a relatively important town in Coquetdale, being a crossroads situated on a ford of the River Coquet, with turnpike roads leading to Newcastle upon Tyne, Alnwick, Hexham and Morpeth.

In the 15th and 16th centuries the Coquet valley was a pillaging ground for bands of Reivers who attacked and burned the town with terrifying frequency.

The many fortified farms, known as bastle houses, are reminders of troubled times which lasted until the unification of the kingdoms of England and Scotland in 1603.

Near the town's All Saints' Parish Church stands the doorway and site of the 17th-century Three Half Moons Inn, where the Jacobite rebel James Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Derwentwater stayed with his followers in 1715 prior to marching into a heavy defeat at the Battle of Preston in 1715.

[12][13][14] The royal couple also visited Rothbury Family Butchers, whose owner, Morris Adamson, said:[15]"I talked to them for about 20 minutes about the business.

I put together for them a gift of Northumbrian lamb and specialist sausages and two days later they sent me a thank you letter from Clarence House saying how much they had enjoyed the visit and the meat.

The Duchess told me in the shop that her son (Tom) was a food critic and she said she would recommend he should come up to see us in Rothbury to sample our speciality sausages.

And Prince Charles congratulated us on keeping alive the traditions of the trade and providing meat that was sourced locally.

[16] Rothbury is served by the Northumberland County Council and represented by Councillor Steven Bridgett, first elected in 2008 as a Liberal Democrat and re-elected in 2013, 2017 and 2021 as an Independent.

The church has a font with a stem or pedestal using a section of the Anglo-Saxon cross shaft, showing what is reputed to be the earliest carved representation in Great Britain of the Ascension of Christ.

[32] The town is now served by an Arriva North East bus service X14 which runs via Longframlington, Longhorsley, Morpeth and continues to Newcastle upon Tyne, the nearest city.

The tartan chosen for their kilts was taken from the army regiment the Seaforth Highlanders, as during World War One some of their soldiers were stationed in Coquetdale and developed friendships with the local people.

[55] The deaugar has entered into Rothbury's popular culture: in 2021 local musician and poet James Tait wrote a debut children's book called The World of Lightness: A Story of the Duergar of Simonside;[56][57] an annual 10-mile winter nighttime trail run in the Simonside Hills is called the Duergar Nightcrawler;[58] and a Rothbury art gallery is named Red Deaugar Art Gallery, run by local artist Margaret Bodley Edwards, a descendant of Gothic Revival architect George Frederick Bodley (1827–1907), and of diplomat and founder of the Bodleian Library in Oxford, Sir Thomas Bodley (1545–1613).

Dubbed by a newspaper as a "Wild West Drama",[61] on the night of 28 February 1919, an attempted armed robbery took place at the Rothbury Brewery.

An organised crime gang robbed the Rothbury post office of £15,000 (about £30,000 in 2020 money)[66] in cash, stamps and pension books.

Armed with iron crowbars and dressed in camouflage and ski masks, the robbers cut the telephone wires, blocked the main road with a stolen council van, and threatened local residents.

Detective Inspector John Hope, who led the investigation, stated that too much of focus on cities leads to organized crime moving to rural villages.

Then, while driving on the A1, he attacked police officer David Rathband, stationed in a patrol car on the roundabout of the A1 and A69 roads near East Denton, permanently blinding him.

Vera (2011–present), a ITV crime drama set in North East England; Northumberland and Tyne and Wear, has scenes from two episodes filmed in Rothbury:[71] Line producer Margaret Mitchell commented on filming at Rothbury for Darkwater:[74] "We arrived very early in the morning, on an October day when it was very misty.