Rural village
EIn his latest feature for The Chronicle, local historian CHARLIE STEEL tells the story of Earsdon over time in words and photographs
ARSDON is one of the oldest villages in North Tyneside, sitting on the boundary with Northumberland.
The slight hill upon which it stands is a sandstone outcrop that rises above the surrounding boulder clay formation laid during the Ice Age, and there is evidence of human occupation back to the early Iron Age. The first references to Earsdon can be found in a 12th-century document listing the village as being part of the possessions of Tynemouth Priory.
The oldest part of Earsdon lies to the west of the Red Lion Inn where traces of the earlier medieval village stood. A collection of stone walls and buildings is evident, one of which forms the remains of an old small Pele tower dating from the early 16th century.
The medieval village is likely to have included the area around the Cannon Inn, St Alban’s church and the area forming Church Way, which was once the edge of the old village green.
Development during the 17th and 19th centuries changed Earsdon’s medieval pattern to become the village it is today with many of the more prominent buildings such as Bleakhope
House, The Garth and Manor House dating from this time.
The most prominent landmark in the village is St Alban’s Church, a Grade-II listed building, built in 1837 with long grassy meadow areas within the churchyard. To the rear of the church, a monument stands to the memory of 204 men and boys who perished in the Hartley pit disaster of 1862.
Standing close to the present Red Lion Pub, the village has its own war memorial which depicts a granite sailor standing on guard facing the Manor House to honour those servicemen lost during the First and Second World Wars. The core of the village is quite informal, but the nearby Edwardian-built terraces of John Street, Church View and Garden Terrace, along with the more
recent development of Woodlands Close, have more conventional layouts.
Other significant buildings include the nearby Edward Eccles Community Hall, and the former 1860s primary school which is now a community centre. During the late 1800s to the mid-1900s, the village even had its own police station which was situated adjacent to the Cannon Inn. It has since been converted to a house.
Many people also have fond memories of the village grocery store and the Phoenix Inn, both of which stood on Front Street. The store has long since closed, and the Phoenix Inn ceased trading in December 1971.
Although the buildings still remain, they have since been altered to accommodate residential properties.
Earsdon Village is now a conservation area that retains a peaceful and rural feel.
■ Charlie Steel has several published books to his credit. They include Monkseaton Village (Part 1 & 2), Whitley Bay Remembered (Part 1 & 2), North Shields Public Houses, Inns & Taverns’ (Part 1 & 2), and Tynemouth Remembered – all published by Summerhill Books.