Pandon, Stock Bridge

"There harde by dothe… Deene watar dryve a mill, and passithe thrwghe the… on this watar there by is a litle archid bridge" (John Leland, c.1539). This may be the Stock Bridge, although there must have been other bridges here. Horseley, in 1732, describes Pandon dene as a hollow and a brook, with an old house nearby (Pandon Hall HER 6621) and the Stockbridge. There is a 13th century quitclaim (1269-70) which refers to land in "Pampedene" lying near the stone bridge. Gray records that the Stock Bridge was the site of the ancient fish market, where boats came up from the River Tyne. The hill of sand left next to Stock Bridge when the tide was out was known as "Alvey's Island" (HER 6528). Bourne reports that the bridge was made of timber in ancient times, although there is an account of it being stone when Thomas de Carliol was mayor in the reign of Edward I at latest (1272-1307). Stok brygg (1493) means either wooden bridge or bridge by a stump.