Benwell chapel
Benwell chapel
HER Number
138
District
Newcastle
Site Name
Benwell chapel
Place
Benwell
Map Sheet
NZ26SW
Class
Religious Ritual and Funerary
Site Type: Broad
Place of Worship
Site Type: Specific
Chapel
General Period
MEDIEVAL
Specific Period
Medieval 1066 to 1540
Form of Evidence
Documentary Evidence
Description
The evidence for a medieval chapel is a 13th century documentary reference to a vicar of Benwell. Though some associate the chapel with the priors of Tynemouth, who held the manor of Benwell from the mid 15th century to 1539, the earliest actual reference to a chapel here is c.1663. Served by the curate of St. John's, Newcastle, it survived until demolition in c.1780. There is no information at all about its appearance or precise site. The recorded gravestones date between 1684 and 1759, from the period of ownership of the Shaftoes, who looked after the chapel for the good of the people of the village. The site is now occupied by the Mitre Hotel; it appears that the last of the gravestones was removed from the site sometime after 1977.
Easting
421150
Northing
564390
Grid Reference
NZ421150564390
Sources
<< HER 138 >> H. Bourne, 1736, Newcastle, p. 113
J. Brand, 1789, Newcastle I, p. 111
E. Mackenzie, 1827, Newcastle, p. 151
Seymour Bell & John Bell, 1808, Plan of Benwell, 3/2a; 2b: show burial ground -Newcastle Library Local Studies
Seymour Bell, 1834, Plan of Benwell, 3.8: garden -Newcastle Library Local Studies
J.C. Hodgson, 1895,A Survey of the Churches of the Archdeaconry of Northumberland, Archaeologia Aeliana, Ch.II, 2, XVII, p. 247
W.H. Knowles, 1922, Benwell Tower, Newcastle, Archaeologia Aeliana, 3, XIX, pp. 97-8
J.W. Fawcett, 1925, Old Benwell Tower Chapel and its Graveyard,Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle, 4, I, pp. 53-6
M.H. Dodds,1930, Northumberland County History, XIII, pp. 211-212; Archaeological Research Services, 2010, The Mitre, Benwell, Newcastle upon Tyne - Archaeological Assessment and Building Recording
J. Brand, 1789, Newcastle I, p. 111
E. Mackenzie, 1827, Newcastle, p. 151
Seymour Bell & John Bell, 1808, Plan of Benwell, 3/2a; 2b: show burial ground -Newcastle Library Local Studies
Seymour Bell, 1834, Plan of Benwell, 3.8: garden -Newcastle Library Local Studies
J.C. Hodgson, 1895,A Survey of the Churches of the Archdeaconry of Northumberland, Archaeologia Aeliana, Ch.II, 2, XVII, p. 247
W.H. Knowles, 1922, Benwell Tower, Newcastle, Archaeologia Aeliana, 3, XIX, pp. 97-8
J.W. Fawcett, 1925, Old Benwell Tower Chapel and its Graveyard,Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle, 4, I, pp. 53-6
M.H. Dodds,1930, Northumberland County History, XIII, pp. 211-212; Archaeological Research Services, 2010, The Mitre, Benwell, Newcastle upon Tyne - Archaeological Assessment and Building Recording