Gateshead, Letherhose Fishery

HER Number:
12265

District:
Gateshead

Site Name:
Gateshead, Letherhose Fishery

Place:
Gateshead

Map Sheet:
NZ26SE

Class:
Agriculture and Subsistence

Site Type: Broad:
Fish Trap

Site Type: Specific:
Fish Weir

General Period:
Medieval

Specific Period:
C12

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
Letherhose in 1128. 'Leoer-hose' is Old English for a leather covering for the leg, a gaiter. This could allude to a leather worker or to a distinctive type of dress. Perhaps it refers to the clothing needed to work the weir. Leather boots were worn by fishermen on the Tweed. Owned by the bishop of Durham. The main catch would have been salmon, but in fact a wider range of fish would have been taken (eg. Eels, pike, minnow, burbot, trout and lamprey' {G.N. Garmondsway (ed), 1939, 'Aelfric's Colloquy', pp 101-2}.

Easting:
24

Northing:
63

Grid Reference:
NZ2463

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
Victor Watts, 1986, Some Northumbrian Fishery Names II in Durham Archaeological Journal, 2, 1986, pp 55-61