{{Short description|Village in Northumberland, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}} {{Use British English|date=August 2019}} {{Infobox UK place |official_name = Thockrington |country = England |region = North East England |civil_parish=Bavington |unitary_england = Northumberland |lieutenancy_england = Northumberland |constituency_westminster = Hexham |population = |post_town = HEXHAM |postcode_area = NE |postcode_district = NE48 |dial_code = |os_grid_reference = NY955795 |coordinates = {{coord|55.110|-2.072|display=inline,title}} |static_image_name = St Aidan's Church, Thockrington - geograph.org.uk - 100331.jpg |static_image_caption = St. Aidan's Church }}
'''Thockrington''' is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Bavington, in Northumberland, England. The village lies about {{convert|10|mi}} north of Hexham. In 1951 the parish had a population of 18.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10328810/cube/TOT_POP|title=Population statistics Thockrington AP/CP through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=19 January 2022}}</ref>
== Governance == Thockrington is in the parliamentary constituency of Hexham. The parish was abolished on 1 April 1955 to form Bavington.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10328810|title=Relationships and changes Thockrington AP/CP through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=19 January 2022}}</ref>
== Religious sites == Thockrington church, which stands so prominently on a spur of the Great Whin Sill, is one of the oldest churches in the county.<ref name=Ridley>{{cite book | last = Ridley | first = Nancy | authorlink = Nancy Ridley | title = Portrait of Northumberland | publisher = Robert Hale | year = 1966|edition=reprint | oclc = 503957631 | location = London | isbn = <!-- no ISBN available--> }}</ref> The church is dedicated to St Aidan.<ref name=Purves>{{cite book |last = Purves |first = Geoffrey |authorlink = Geoffrey Purves |title = Churches of Newcastle and Northumberland |publisher = Tempus Publishing Limited |year = 2006 |location = Stroud, Gloucestershire, England |pages = 88 |url = http://www.tempus-publishing.com |isbn = 0-7524-4071-3 |url-status = dead |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20160113050749/http://tempus-publishing.com/ |archivedate = 2016-01-13 }}</ref>
Here are buried several members of the ancient family of Shafto, the earliest mention of whom is in 1240. The Shaftos lived at nearby Bavington until the eighteenth century when, as a result of their support of the Jacobite cause in 1715, their estates were confiscated by the Crown, and ultimately sold to a Delaval. The Shaftos had connections with the county of Durham and lived on their Durham estates until 1953, when Mr R. D. Shafto returned to Bavington Hall.<ref name=Ridley/>
== Landmarks == left|thumb|280px|Little Swinburne Tower A little over a mile south-west of the village are the ruins of Little Swinburne Tower, a fifteenth-century pele tower.
==Notable people== * Lord Beveridge, founder of the modern welfare state, is buried in the churchyard.<ref name=Purves /> * The author Tom Sharpe's ashes were buried in the churchyard in 2014 by his Spanish partner, witnessed by a Spanish TV crew. Sharpe's father was once vicar of Thockrington.<ref>[http://www.thejournal.co.uk/news/north-east-news/writer-tom-sharpes-ashes-buried-7210749 "Ashes of writer Tom Sharpe buried at ceremony in remote Northumberland church yard"; ''The Journal'' 3 June 2014]</ref>{{deadlink|date=January 2025}} * The aviator, Connie Leathart (1903–1993), is buried here; her remains are marked by a simple stone bearing the initials "CL".
[[Image:Thockrington Shrunken Medieval Village in Northumberland.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1.3|A lidar view of the village.]]
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category-inline|Thockrington}} *[http://www.genuki.bpears.org.uk/NBL/Thockrington/index.html GENUKI] <small>(Accessed: 19 November 2008)</small>
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Category:Villages in Northumberland Category:Former civil parishes in Northumberland