Monkton, Bede's Well

HER Number:
178

District:
S Tyneside

Site Name:
Monkton, Bede's Well

Place:
Monkton

Map Sheet:
NZ36SW

Class:
Water Supply and Drainage

Site Type: Broad:
Water Storage Site

Site Type: Specific:
Well

General Period:
Medieval

Specific Period:

Form of Evidence:
Structure

Description:
The earliest references to the well associate it with Bede and claim it was customary as late as 1740 to dip diseased children in the well in the hope they would be restored to health. It was also the centre of celebrations on Midsummer Eve. Analternative suggestion is that it was a wishing well or "bedes-well" (bed=prayer), a type known from pre-Conquest documentary sources. In the early 19th century Cuthbert Ellison of Hebburn Hall placed a Latin inscription over (or round) the well, and this has now been renewed. From the late 19th century until recently it was in danger of burial from tipping of slag, and in the early 20th century it was surrounded by a brick wall and iron railings in an attempt to protect it.

Easting:
3198

Northing:
6415

Grid Reference:
NZ31986415

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 178 >> J. Brand, 1789, History of Newcastle, Vol.2, p.54n R. Surtees, 1820, History of...Durham, II, p. 80 1807, The Picture of Newcastle upon Tyne, p. 83 E. Mackenzie & M. Ross, 1834, History of Durham, I, p. 14 G.R. Hall, 1880, ...Ancient Well Worship in North Tynedale, Archaeologia Aeliana, 2, VIII, pp. 76-7 Shields Gazette, 1881, 4,v.1881 Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle, 1896, Bede's Well, Monkton, 2, VII, p. 140 Newcastle Library Local Studies- 1908, Bede's Well, Monkton,L942.81, M745W Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle, 1909, Bede's Well, Monkton, 3, III, p. 162 Photo, Newcastle Library Local Studies,- 1920, Bede's Well, no. 1718 Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle, 1930, Bede's Well at Monkton, 4, IV, pp. 124-5, 128, plate VI P.B.G. Binnall & M.H. Dodds,1947, Holy Wells in Northumberland and Durham,Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle, 4, X (for 1942-46), p. 82 South Shields Library Local Studies ,Chronicle, 1958, 6, vi.1958 Evening Chronicle- 1968, 6.ii.1968, p. 5, cols. 5-8 Journal- 1968, 13.ii.1968,, p. 25, cols.. 1-3 Monthly Chronicle of North Country Lore and Legend, 1888, April, p. 148; NECT, 2015, National Heritage at Risk Grade II Project