Penshaw village

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
Medieval 1066 to 1540
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
432900
Northing
553900
Grid Reference
NZ432900553900
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