• Ellington - farm of Aellea's people.

Ellington and Linton lies near the coast in south-east Northumberland, close to the southern end of Druridge Bay. The main settlements are Ellington and Linton as well as several farmsteads scattered across the parish. Historically, Ellington and Linton were part of Woodhorn parish. Today it is mainly gently rolling farmland with the River Lyne running through the centre of the parish on its way to the sea at Lynemouth. Ellington is also the site of the last deep coal mine in Northumberland.

Unusually, nothing is known of the parish in prehistoric times. There have been no discoveries of such things as Neolithic stone tools, or Bronze Age burials and most of our evidence for past human activity belongs to the medieval and later periods. A possible cropmark enclosure north of Linton may be the earliest feature in the parish. Its rectangular shape suggests it may be of Roman date.

Following the end of Roman rule in Britain in the early fifth century, there is no evidence for any settlement in the parish until after the Norman Conquest. The villages or hamlets of Ellington and Linton are known from medieval documents and date back to the 12th and 13th centuries respectively. There is also a record of a mill at Linton in the 14th century. Traces of the medieval field system survive as earthworks in the fields near South Linton Farm where the characteristic pattern of ridge and furrow cultivation can be seen. Although the borders of England Scotland were a place of warfare and unrest during medieval times, there are no defensive buildings known in the parish.

Throughout recorded history, the lands of Ellington have had many owners. The manor of Ellington was thought to belong to Adam de Periton in 1240 and later to pass by marriage to the ancient families of Vescy and Welles. The Widdrington family were known to acquire possessions in Ellington as early as the 13th century. In 1715, Lord Widdrington relinquished the manor of Ellington, along with the manors of Woodhorn, Cresswell and Newbiggin. Other lands and interests in Eliington belonging to other landowners were sold in 1750 to Adam Askew of Newcastle Upon Tyne. By the early years of the 19th century, the greater part of the village was owned by the Baker-Cresswells. This situation remained until the sale of their estate in 1924 (the family, now based at nearby Bamburgh, is still - 2006 -influential in the area).

The post-medieval period was more peaceful and was a relatively prosperous time for the border region of England. New farms were built and other industries developed alongside farming. A dovecote was built at Ellington in the 18th century to supply fresh poultry to the Cresswell family. A mill and quarry operated at Ellington, a tile works at Linton and a brickfield; the latter probably reflecting the amount of new building taking place in the region in the 19th century. However, the main industry of the parish in more recent times has been coal mining. Both deep mines and open cast mining have operated here.

Ellington is well known as being a colliery village but was a thriving community long before the opening of the Colliery, having a school, two public houses and several businesses by the mid 1800s.

The Colliery, which was originally owned by the Ashington Coal Company, began production in 1911. By the time the collieries were nationalised in 1947 there were 1,381 men employed. By 1986 the number had grown to around 2,170 men producing approximately 45,000 tonnes of coal per week. The Colliery changed the face of the one time rural village, with the building of three rows of colliery houses and more shops and businesses. In 1912 a co-operative store was built on land that had once been part of the Cresswell estate, bringing more prosperity to the village. This was eventually superseded by a larger store built in the neighbouring village of Lynemouth.

The colliery was used as the fictional 'Everington' mine in the Stephen Daldry film Billy Elliot. Linton Colliery closed in 1968 and Ellington Colliery remains open but under an ever present threat of closure.

Hagg Farm, which lies to the north of the village, was bought in 1924 for £8,500 by the Wood family who had been the tenants for over 300 years. The farm consisted of a house, four cottages and 360 acres (1.5 km2) of land