The cottages are generally grouped in small hamlets called "touns."
It contains eighty-two villages and hamlets, has a revenue of about £4000, and a population of about 23,000.
The principal village is Capsali, a place of about 1500 inhabitants, at the southern extremity, with a bishop, and several convents and churches; the lesser hamlets are Modari, Potamo and San Nicolo.
He was an ardent Liberal in politics, and in 1880 he was elected to parliament for the Tower Hamlets division of London; in 1885 he was returned for South Aberdeen, where he was reelected on succeeding occasions.
Bedlington (Betlingtun) and the hamlets belonging to it were bought by Cutheard, bishop of Durham, between 900 and 915, and although locally situated in the county of Northumberland became part of the county palatine of Durham over which Bishop Walcher was granted royal rights by William the Conqueror.