The Hexham wolf (also called the Allendale wolf or the Wolf of Allendale) was a grey wolf that escaped from a zoo and killed livestock in Hexham and Allendale, Northumberland during the winter of 1904.[1] Conflicting reports label it as being either "black and tan" or "dun", although it was largely reported as being large and male.[2]
On 10 December 1904, the Hexham Courant ran a story with the title "Wolf at Large in Allendale", reporting that over the past two to three weeks livestock loss in Hexham and Allendale had become so severe that some farmers were now housing animals in the night.[2] Though it was suspected that the livestock killer was an escaped wolf belonging to Captain Bain of Shotley Bridge, that wolf was too young to pose a threat, and a much larger wolf was spotted by Allenheads school.[2] On 9 December 1904, a grey wolf that had just committed a "great slaughter of a flock of sheep" was tracked for miles but escaped; the next day, he returned to his kill, and a new search party went out to no avail.[2]
The public of Northumberland began, then, to get anxious;[3] sheep were kept inside at night and lights were lit all night; rewards were offered to whoever could kill the wolf. A large meeting of farmers from the area was held on 20 December, chaired by the local MP Maj. Wentworth Henry Canning Beaumont and £5 reward was offered for the wolf's skin.[4] Subsequently, the Hexham Wolf Committee was set up to help find the wolf.[2] On 29 December 1904, some platelayers found the carcass of an animal cut in two by a passing train and thrown a distance of 40 yards. They buried the animal, but later after discussing it with the Stationmaster at Cumwhinton, dug it up again and bought it back to the station where a member of the Hexham Wolf Committee identified it as a full-grown grey male wolf.[5]
Captain Bain declared the wolf too old to be his and it was proclaimed on 7 January 1905 that the wolf found was not the Hexham wolf, who was still at large.[2] By the end of January 1905, interest was waning in stories of the Hexham wolf, newspapers pushing it further back until it disappeared altogether.[2]
When the Hexham Heads were discovered in 1971, the werewolf sightings that resulted were thought to be the Hexham wolf.[6]
Allendale Wolf in Dalek's clothing
In 2014 the Allen Valleys Folk Festival was started and this features the burning of a wooden sculpture of the "Allendale Wolf".[7] One year the wolf gained Dalek features[8] after a campaign to support the Museum of Classic Sci-Fi who were being threatened by the planning authorities.[9]
^"Linnels is a house of dreams". The Hexham Courant. Hexham, Northumberland. 23 October 2009. Archived from the original on 2 November 2013. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
^ abcdefgFerol, Stuart (January 2005). "The Hexham Wolf". Fortean Times UK. Archived from the original on 4 February 2011. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
^"The Allendale Wolf". The Spectator. 93: 1004. 1905.
^"The Marauding Wolf in Northumberland". The Times. 21 December 1904. p. 7.
^"Sporting rights of a railway". The Railway Magazine. 16 (1905). IPC Business Press: 169.
^Godfrey, Linda (2006). Hunting the American Werewolf: Beast Men in Wisconsin and Beyond. Madison, WI: Trails Books. p. 123. ISBN 1-931599-66-1.
The Hexhamwolf (also called the Allendale wolf or the Wolf of Allendale) was a grey wolf that escaped from a zoo and killed livestock in Hexham and Allendale...
The Hexham Heads were a pair of small stone heads, about 6 cm high, found in 1971 in the English town of Hexham. The heads became associated with alleged...
The wolf (Canis lupus; pl.: wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty...
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and was in the army of King Henry VI, which was defeated at the Battle of Hexham on 15 May 1464. He was captured and three days later beheaded at Middleham...
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troubadour Gaucelm Faidit, French troubadour (approximate date) John of Hexham, English monk and chronicler (b. 1160) Lu You, Chinese historian, poet and...
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the 13th century. Gaelic-speakers in medieval Galloway, whom Richard of Hexham erroneously called Picts, had a fearsome reputation. They were the barbarians...
107–109. Carey 2006, pp. 431, 433. Wallace 2009, p. 9. Hogue 2010, p. 160. Hexham, Rost & Morehead 2004, p. 48; De Waal 1998, p. 52. Thomas 1981, p. 348;...
October 2020. "Animal attraction will give Kielder the lynx effect". The Hexham Courant. 27 April 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-17. "Moose return to the Highlands"...
Douglas Linder. Retrieved 10 January 2023. Viereck, p 219 Gilbert p. 247 Hexham, Irving (January 2007). "Inventing 'Paganists': a Close Reading of Richard...
Press. p. 344. ISBN 9788772894126. David Bershad; Carolina Mangone; Irving Hexham (2001). The Christian Travelers Guide to Italy. Harper Collins. pp. 220–...
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