This is a spin off to Mardee's trip report of her trip, as the current parking situation in Hexham took me by surprise when we visited.
Last time I looked parking both in Beaumont Street (near the Abbey) and at Wentworth (the main town car park) was free and with no real restrictions- you just turned up, and parked. No charge. Easy.
At some stage disc parking (a little clock you put on your dashboard) has been brought in, and the Wentworth has been divided into short stay (2 hours), medium stay (4 hours) and long stay (over 4 hours). It turns out that you do not require discs in the long stay bays at the Wentworth.
This map shows the various car parks and restrictions in the town- https://www.northumberland.gov.uk/NorthumberlandCountyCouncil/media/Parking-documents/Location%20maps/Hexham-Disc-Parking-Plan-Sept-15.pdf
At the Wentworth discs can be obtained at the adjacent Wentworth leisure centre for £1. The short stay bays have a red border, the medium stay bays a blue border and the 100 long stay bays a white border. None of this is at all obvious as you drive in.
Forewarded is forearmed!
If I had known, or even checked, I would have brought my own parking disc from home, where we have the same system.