Our Parish

Corsenside is at the centre of Redesdale in Northumberland. It lies along a stretch of the River Rede where the river has cut a deep valley through the moorland of the county. The parish is made up of many isolated farms and dwellings and the communities of West, Middle, and East Woodburn and the village of Ridsdale. The Woodburns lie in the deep valley of the Rede and above the valley you will find Ridsdale, a village with a long mining and industrial heritage.

Corsenside borders the Northumberland National Park, popular with walkers for its bleak beauty of rolling heath covered moors – the final section of the Pennine Way runs just to the west of the parish. The local stone has always been a popular building material and quarrying remains an important industry. The local quarry supplied material for the famous Princes Street in Edinburgh, reinforcing the importance of its border location over the centuries. The local geography of the area also lends itself to forestry work and provides employment both in the form of harvesting and transport of the timber throughout Britain. A large part of the National Park to the north is used as a military training ground – Otterburn Camp, this is also a significant employer for the community.