Benwell, Northumberland
Historical Description
Benwell, a township, a parish, and a village in Northumberland. The township lies on the river Tyne, the Roman Wall, and the Newcastle and Carlisle railway, 2 miles W of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, under which it has a post, money order, and telegraph office. Area of parish, 1302 acres; population of civil parish, 10,354; ecclesiastical, 27,039. Here are the oldest collieries in England, one of wliicli at the beginning of the 18th century took fire from a candle and burned for nearly thirty years. Benwell is believed to have been the Condercum of the Romans, and urns, coins, inscriptions, and other Roman remains have been found. Benwell Tower belonged at one time to Tynemouth Priory, and afterwards to the Shaftoes, and is now the bishop's residence. Benwell High Cross, to the E, was named from a cross that formerly stood there. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Newcastle; net value, £350 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Newcastle. The church is in the Perpendicular style, with a tower, built at a cost of £1600. There are Roman Catholic and two dissenting chapels and schools.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Northumberland | |
| Poor Law union | Newcastle | |
| Ward | Castle |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Benwell from the following:
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Northumberland is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Benwell are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following newspapers related to Northumberland online: