Ovingham Yesterday

Ovingham is an ancient parish and village in the Tyne Valley in south Northumberland. It lies on the River Tyne 16 kilometres (10 miles) east of Hexham. The name is of Saxon origin and means "homestead of the sons of Offa". 

At some time during the Iron Age or Roman periods, farmers lived in round houses and kept their stock in a rectangular enclosure, just west of Horsley Woods. The edge of this enclosure runs along the parish boundary. and the eastern boundary of the parish follows a much more ancient land boundary. During the Roman period, one of the native people in the Ovingham area carved three faces on a large stone which can be seen today in the church, delivered with a load of stone to be used for repairs. 

Anglo-Saxon people settled in the Tyne Valley in the years after 590 AD. The present village of Ovingham probably stands on the sites of one or two small farms.