Newburn, Dripinttell fishery

HER Number:
12303

District:
Newcastle

Site Name:
Newburn, Dripinttell fishery

Place:
Newburn

Map Sheet:
NZ16SE

Class:
Agriculture and Subsistence

Site Type: Broad:
Fish Trap

Site Type: Specific:
Fish Weir

General Period:
Medieval

Specific Period:
C13

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
Dripinttell in 1298, Drypintille in 1479. 'Dryge' is Old English for 'dry' and apparently pintel' is Old English for 'penis'. Thus the name means the fishery called or at Dry Penis. Pintill is a rare fish name. 'Pightel' is Middle English for small enclosure. Dry pintel therefore might allude to a shallow fishery where only the lower parts of the body were submerged. It is recorded as one of a pair of fisheries (along with Foul Yare) and a place for drying nets. The fisheries belonged to Hexham Abbey and the manor of Stella.

Easting:
167

Northing:
649

Grid Reference:
NZ167649

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
V.E. Watts, 1988, Some Northumbrian Fishery Names III in Durham Archaeological Journal, 4, 1988, pp 53-59; Craster, A History of Northumberland, Vol. III, p. 141