Simonside village

Symondsett (with Preston), property of the prior and convent of Durham, is first mentioned in a lease of 1260. By 1464 it was on its own, Preston having disappeared, and was paying a rent larger than some of its neighbours. In 1489 the priory's tenants of Southwick Fulwell, Wearmouth, Harton, Westoe, Monkton and Hedworth divided the territory of Simonside between them so that it ceased to exist as a township. Hodgson believed Simonside was the township and Preston the village within it. A number of sites called Simonside, including the hall which Hodgson believed to be the first enclosure of part of the common fields, existed into the 20th century. The parish was formed in 1875 and the church consecrated in 1880.