A small market town with a population just under 12,000 inhabitants, Hexham is a town that has had to endure more than its fair share of sorrow and misery throughout its history as it suffered horrific injuries and damage at the hands of marauding Scots as they engaged in a series of raiding campaigns and pillaging. The town suffered most severely at the hands of William Wallace (immortalized in the blockbuster film Brave heart and is portrayed by Mel Gibson) who burnt the entire town to cinders at the very end of the 13th century in 1297.
Fifteen years later, King Robert the Bruce of Scotland, an enterprising soul at the best of times, realized that whereas Wallace's actions had been for no other reason than cruelty, that he could finesse his predecessor's actions and so extorted the town for the sum of £2000. Hexham caved into the kings demands and promptly paid over the money with no resistance. This rather unsavoury footnote in the long standing personal history of the Scottish king went on to shape his pathological need to dominate and control.
The troubles of the town were far from over, and the reprieve that they paid so dearly for was to be short lived indeed for there was more trouble afoot and this time it was on a much bigger scale than a greedy, conniving king. During the middle of the 15th century, the Battle of Hexham took place (the precise details of the skirmish are now lost in the annals of time) with a significant amount of casualties sustained by the town along with extensive damage to the buildings as well.
Whether good fortune or divine intervention, there is one landmark within the town of Hexham that has managed to survive the ravages of both time and men: Hexham Abbey which towers over the town itself although this is due to the extensive rebuilding and renovation work that was conducted in 1860 in a bid to preserve the character and history of the building. The town has also enjoyed a strong presence within the leather production industry.
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