Northumberland  is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county are Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle and Hadrian’s Wall.

It is bordered by land on three sides; by the Scottish Borders to the north, County Durham and Tyne and Wear to the south, and Cumbria to the west. The fourth side is the North Sea, with a 103 kilometres (64 mi) along its Coastline to the east. A predominately rural county with undeveloped landscape of high moorland, it largely protected made up of the  Northumberland National Park. The area has been the site of a number of historic battles with Scotland.

The name of Northumberland is recorded as norð hẏmbra land in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle meaning “the land north of the Humber”. The name of the kingdom of Northumbria derives from the Old English Norpan-hymbre meaning “the people or province north of the Humber”.

During Roman occupation of Britain, most of the present county lay north of  Hadrian’s Wall. It was controlled by Rome only for the brief period of its extension of power north to the Antonine Wall. The Roman road Dere Street crosses the county from Corbridge over high moorland west of the Cheviot Hills to Melrose in the Scottish Borders. As evidence of its border position through medieval times, Northumberland has more castles than any other county in England, including those at Lindisfarne, Bamburgh and Dunstanburgh.