Penshaw village

HER Number:
324

District:
Sunderland

Site Name:
Penshaw village

Place:
Penshaw

Map Sheet:
NZ35SW

Class:
Domestic

Site Type: Broad:
Settlement

Site Type: Specific:
Village

General Period:
Medieval

Specific Period:
C12

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
Penshaw derives its name from the British "Pen" meaning hill, and Saxon "Shaw" meaning wood or thicket. The earliest reference is in Boldon Buke, 1183 (a survey of land belonging to the Bishop of Durham, Hugh du Puiset). There is no record of its size at this time, only references to some of the families who had held it - Escoland, Carlisle, Lambton & Roger Thornton. A mill was noted in 1426. In plan it is thought to have been an irregular cluster or agglomeration without a green. The modern plan is almost Z-shaped, and there are enough buildings of variety and 19th century date to distinguish it from the nearby mining settlements.

Easting:
329

Northing:
539

Grid Reference:
NZ329539

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 324 >> W. Greenwell, ed. 1852, Boldon Buke, Surtees Society, 25, p. 47 J. Mowbray, 1775, A plan of John Tempest Esq's Lands, part of the chapelry of Painsher, NCB/1/X/227 -Durham Records Office NCB Londonderry Papers, 1815, Penshaw Estate, 1815 D/LO/P4 -Durham Records Office Dept. Pal. & Dip. Durham, Diocesan Records, 1827, Orders in Council Dept. Pal. & Dip. Durham, Ordnance Survey maps, 1st ed. 1:2500 XIII.7 W. Hutchinson, 1787, History of...Durham, Vol. II, pp. 722-23 R. Surtees, 1816, History of...Durham, Vol. I, pp. 196-7 B.K. Roberts & D. Austin, 1975, A Preliminary Check-List of Rural Clusters in County Durham, p. 30; Whellan, W, 1856, History, Topography, and Directory of the County Palatine of Durham; The Archaeological Practice Ltd., 2015, Penshaw: not just a monument - Village Atlas; John Tempest, 1775, Plan of Penshaw Lands, DRO NCB 1/X 227