Morpeth is the county town of Northumberland in north-east England, located 15 miles north of Newcastle upon Tyne. Founded as a planned medieval borough in the 12th century on the north bank of the river Wansbeck, it has remained a small market town. In the twentieth century, with its castle ruins, parks and landscaped riverside areas as well as the world's largest museum of bagpipes, it has become something of an inland resort. It also serves as a dormitory town for the nearby Tyneside conurbation. The town lies on the A1 Great North Road and the main London to Edinburgh railway.