Morpeth is situated on the River Wansbeck, and it is the county town of Northumberland an d it has a population of 14,000.

Morpeth was crossing point of the River Wansbeck and it was possibly a Roman settlement. After the Norman Conquest the town was owned by the de Merlay family and they built a motte and bailey castle in 1095. Morpeth Castle was built in the fourteenth century by Ranulph de Merlay on the site of an earlier fortress: only the gatehouse (which was restored by the Landmark Trust in 1990 and parts of the ruined castle walls remain.

Newminster Abbey was founded in 1138 by Ranulf de Merlay, lord of Morpeth, as a daughter houses of the Cistercian Abbey of Fountains. King John granted a market charter to the town in 1199 and the town was burnt in 1215 during the First Barons' War. During the 1543–50 war of the Rough Wooing, Morpeth garrisoned by Italian mercenaries, who 'pestered such a little street standing in the highway' by killing deer and withholding payment for food. Morpeth received a charter of incorporation from Charles II and the corporation was controlled by seven trade guilds; the Merchant Tailors, the Tanners, the Fullers and Dyers, the Smiths, the Cordwainers, the Weavers and the Butchers. Until the nineteenth century Morpeth had one of the main markets in northern England for live cattle but, after the opening of the railways, the market declined.