Stocksfield is located some 15 miles west of Newcastle upon Tyne on the south side of the River Tyne in the county of Northumberland. The village lies in the angle between the Stocksfield burn and the River Tyne.
Stocksfield itself was built by the late Victorians following the opening of the Newcastle Carlisle Railway. However the hamlets and settlements which make up the parish of Stocksfield can trace their origins back over many centuries.
The Tyne Valley is steeped in history being close to Roman fortifications and roads and bridges and numerous medieval castles. This history of Stocksfield and its surroundings has been recorded recently in two books:
- Four Valuable Farms
by Robert Matthew Browell - A Pleasant Retreat
by Robert Mathew Browell & Dennis Harding
Four Valuable Farms has been reprinted and is currently available from the Painshawfield Estate website (click here). A Pleasant Retreat is out of print but should be available in the local history sections of libraries in Prudhoe and Hexham.
For shopping and leisure, Stocksfield has excellent road and rail links to Newcastle, Hexham and Prudhoe with a good public transport system. Newcastle International Airport is also easily accessible.
The nearest hospital to Stocksfield is in Hexham. Cramlington is the location of 24 hour accident and emergency provision in Northumberland. Other hospitals are in Newcastle, Gateshead, Ashington and North Tyneside. Dental care and optical care is provided by practitioners in Corbridge, Hexham and Prudhoe.