Whickham village

Boldon Buke (c.1183 survey of land belonging to the Bishop of Durham, Hugh du Puiset) records Whickham as a large and important village, with 35 villeins each with an oxgang of 15 acres, a manor, a mill, and 3 fisheries in the Tyne. At the time of Hatfield's Survey (c.1382) there were 4 free tenants, and about 50 tenants of bondlands, etc. The buildings included over 50 messuages, 8 cottages, a common oven, a kiln, a forge, together with the 3 fisheries in the Tyne. Whickham was the centre of a parish which lay between the Derwent and the Team, and stretched south from the Tyne. Some indication of the form of the village is indicated on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey plan, which shows a square green with 4 rows fronting it, but at either end the village presents an elongated 2-row plan. Some 18th and 19th century houses survive, but there has been a lot of redevelopment on and behind the main street.