In 1734, the village was described in George Mark's "Survey of a Portion of Northumberland" as "remarkable for its largeness, the badness of its houses and low situation, and perhaps for the greatest quantities of geese of any in its neighbourhood". At about the same time, the tune "Dorrington", also known as "Dorrington Lads", was written down in the William Dixon manuscript. Having 14 strains, it is the most complex and elaborate of the pieces in that early source for Northumbrian music. The last tune played, on his deathbed, by the celebrated piper Will Allan, who died near Rothbury in 1779, was "Dorrington Lads". A rhyme has survived, which fits the second strain of this tune: