In the reign of Elizabeth glasshouses were set up at Newcastle by foreign refugees, and the industry spread rapidly along the Tyne. Tanning, both of leather and of nets, was largely practised in the 13th century, and the salmon fisheries in the Tyne were famous in the reign of Henry I. The height of the land and the composition of the soil together prevent the county from being rich agriculturally. In 1926 the total acreage under crops and grass was 656,936 of which 166,316 ac. were arable land. As would be expected in a northern county, the chief grain crops are oats and barley while the crop next in acreage is turnips and swedes. Potatoes covered nearly 5,000 ac., and the acreage of clovers and rotation grasses for hay was 40,099. The number of cattle in the county is fairly large, hut the large acreage of hill-land makes it pre-eminently a sheep country, these animals numbering over a million in 1926. Manufactories centre on the Tyne, which is a region of ironworks, blast-furnaces, shipbuilding yards, ropeworks, coke-ovens, chemical works and manufactories of glass, electrical apparatus, pottery and fire-bricks, from above Newcastle to the sea. Machines, appliances, conveyances and tools are the principal articles of manufacture in metal.
Communications are provided almost wholly by the L.N.E. rail way.
The area of the administrative county is 1,291,515 acres, with a population in the year (1931) of 756,723. The population is
especially dense in the south-east portion, where the mining dis trict and the Tyneside industrial area are situated. The county is in the north-eastern circuit, and assizes are held at Newcastle upon-Tyne.
BismoGRAPHY.—Northumberland County History Committee, A History of Northumberland (in process) (Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1893, etc.) ; John Hodgson, A History of Northumberland, in 3 parts (1827 40) ; E. Mackenzie, An Historical View of the County of Northumber land (2nd ed., 2 vols., Newcastle, '810 ; Society of Antiquaries, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, A History of Northumberland, pt. i., containing the general history of the county, state of the district under the Saxon and Danish kings, etc. (Newcastle, 1858) ; Archaeologia Aeliana, or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity, published by the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (4 vols., Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1822-55; new series, 1857, etc.) ; William Wallis, The Natural History and Antiquities of Northumberland (2 vols., London, 1769) ; W. S. Gibson, Descriptive and Historical Notices of some remarkable North umbrian Castles, Churches and Antiquities, series I (London, 1848) ; Early Assize Rolls for Northumberland, edited by William Page, Surtees Society (London, 1891).