Houghton-le-Spring, Rectory Park, Gilpin Thorn

HER Number:
7850

District:
Sunderland

Site Name:
Houghton-le-Spring, Rectory Park, Gilpin Thorn

Place:
Houghton-le-Spring

Map Sheet:
NZ34NW

Class:
Monument

Site Type: Broad:
Feature

Site Type: Specific:
Natural Feature

General Period:
Medieval

Specific Period:
C16

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
Tradition says that Bernard Gilpin (rector of Houghton 1558) took a cutting from the thorn in the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey, which according to legend had been planted there by Joseph of Arimethea. Gilpin planted the thorn in the rectory grounds. Frank Rushford, in his book of c1950 described the thorn tree as "crabbed and gnarled with age, and supported here and there with timber, and yet still in a wonderful state of preservation. It is a historic object of which Houghtonians are not a little proud". Tree no longer there.

Easting:
340

Northing:
497

Grid Reference:
NZ340497

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
Frank H. Rushford, c1950, Houghton le Spring: A History, pp 29-30; Paul Lanagan, 2013, Houghton-le-Spring Rectory - A Walk Around the Grounds (www.houghtonlespring.org.uk); Paul Lanagan, 2006-2013, The Gilpin Thorn, www.houghtonlespring.org.uk; Northern Archaeological Associates Ltd. 2014, Rectory Park, Houghton-le-Spring, Archaeological Assessment and Building Recording