Saxon Bywell

As is the case in most of what is now Great Britain, our knowledge of human activity and settlement after the Romans left until Bede's time in C8 is sparse. At the battle of Heavenfield (which in fact took place at Deniseburn, near Steel in Hexhamshire) in 634, King Oswald defeated King Penda of Mercia and established the first Christian kingdom in what later became England. Oswald established the important royal seat at Bamburgh and also the monastery at Lindisfarne where, amongst others, Aidan and Cuthbert were abbots. Although Oswald was later killed by Penda, probably at Oswestry, his brother Oswiu defeated Penda in 655 at the battle of the River Winwaed (Went) at Thorpe Audlin between present-day Pontefract and Doncaster. In grateful thanks for this improbable victory, Oswiu transferred 12 estates from his kingdom to Lindisfarne control, for the establishment of monasteries.

 

According to Ian Wood (quoted in Adams 2013), one of these estates was Bywell. If this supposition is correct, it means that the granting of this land to the church (but not necessarily the building of any structure on it) predates the bequest in 673 of land at Hexham by Queen Etheldreda to Wilfrid, who then established Hexham Abbey.

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With the establishment of the monastery church at St Peter's in the 7th or 8th century and later the building of St Andrew's church, we may imagine that any settlement which might already have existed in the area (for which we have no direct evidence) would have been made more permanent and viable. Certainly once pilgrims began to arrive in Bywell (which we could infer from other sites of this age), they would have needed accommodation and supplies. 

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Bywell during Norman Rule

​After the Norman Conquest in AD 1066, the lands of Bywell were seized from the previous owners - the Saxon thanes - and given into the possession of two great Norman barons, Baliol and Bolbec. The churches too became properties to transfer from one authority to another. The deal included the tax of a tenth part (a tithe) payable by landowners to support the church. The right of presentation, that is the nomination of a clergyman to a vacant benefice, could also be exercised. Bywell St Peter was in the gift of the Baliols. Subsequently, Bywell successively belonged to the Priory of Tynemouth, the Abbey of St Albans (1197-?) and later to the Bishopric of Durham. Bywell St Peter was called the Black Church because it belonged to the Benedictine or Black canons. This was the Order to which the Tynemouth, Hexham and Durham canons, whose dress was black, also belonged.

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Tudor & Stuart Bywell

In the sixteenth century Bywell village consisted of a single street bordering the river, which could conveniently be closed off at each end and therefore more readily defended against thieves or reivers.  Skilled in ironwork, the inhabitants were able to fashion metal fittings for horse harness and no doubt armour.   The road between Ovingham and Corbridge ran through the village and to the south of the Hall.

By the time of the Catholic rebellion in 1569, Bywell had become and important village, possibly the most significant between Hexham and Newcastle. We know this because in the year following confiscation of the estates, Royal Commissioners arrived in 1570 to record what they now owned.

The towne of Bywell ys buylded in lengthe all in one streete upon the Ryver or Water of Tyne, on the northe and west parte of the same, and ys devyded into two severall paryshes and inhabyted with handy craftsmen whose trade is all in yron worke for the horse men and borderers of that countrey, or in making byttes, styroppes, buckles, and such othere, wher in they are very experte and conyng, and are subject to the incursions of the theaves of Tyndale and compelled, wynter and sommer, to bryng all there cattell and sheepe into the strete in the night season and watche both ends of the strete, and when the enemy approchith, to raise hue and cry, wher upon all the towne preparith for the rescue of there goods, which is very populous by reason of their trade, and stoute and hardy by contynuall practyse agayst the Enemy ....... Also in Bywell towne on the north syde of the ryver th’auncestours of th’erle of Westmorland buylded a faire towre or gate house all of stone and covered with leade, meanyng to have proceded further, as the foundations declare beyng the heyght of a man above the ground, which were never fynyshed and the said towre is a good defence for the towne and will sone decay yf yt be not mayntened.

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As described above, in the sixteenth century Bywell village consisted of a single street bordering the river, which could conveniently be closed off at each end and therefore more readily defended against thieves or reivers. Skilled in ironwork, the inhabitants were able to fashion metal fittings for horse harness and no doubt armour. The equipment of the gentry and yeomen of the Marches, who might be summoned at any time as horsemen to defend the country against the Scots, consisted of ‘a steel cap, a coat of plate, stockings and sleeves of plate, boots and spurres; a Skottish short sword and a dagger, a horseman’s staffe, and a case of pistolls.’ There is no indication of the numbers of the ‘very populous’ village but in 1538 at the time of the Reformation, the parish of Bywell St Peter had 200 ‘howseinge people’ representing a population of 300, though the bridge was in ruins. While these inhabitants and those in the surrounding Barony could have had very good farms, kept respectable numbers of cattle, and got sufficient corn and hay, they were hindered by “continual robberies and incursions of the thieves of Tynedale, which so continually assault them in the night, as they can keep no more cattle than they are able to lodge either in house or like safety in the night” This kind of situation must have caused considerable misery and frustration to the people of Bywell who must have longed for more settled times.

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A third church used to exist at Bywell, the chapel of St Helens which was located on the south bank of the river, opposite the castle, near the old salmon lock and the two stone piers which once supported an ancient bridge. John Leland (1506?-1552), one of the earliest English antiquaries made a tour through England in 1534-43 and recorded the ‘Ruines of Arches of a Stone Bridge’ about three miles below Corbridge. William Camden (1551-1623) another antiquarian in his ‘Britannia’ noted at Bywell ‘two solid piles of most firme stone, which in time past supported the bridge’. Such features were they that they were marked on an early map of Northumberland drawn by Armstrong in 1769. As the piers retained no evidence of the springs from which arches could have been supported it was thought likely that the bridge was built of timber. The picturesque piers are both visible on the painting by George Robson below but were blown up when the Beaumont family of Bywell Hall constructed the current bridge in 1836. The distant tower is that of St Andrew's church.

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The Great Flood of November, 1771

One wintery weekend in November 1771, will live on in the memories of people, in the north east of England, forever.

On Saturday 16th as the rain fell through the night, the rivers rose, the fields became lakes and roads turned into rivers.

As dawn broke on Sunday the full devastation of the storm was revealed.   On the River Tyne:

•only one bridge remained (at Corbridge).

•hundreds of animals drowned

•people’s possessions floated towards the sea.

•ruined buildings littered the river banks.

 

The village of Bywell lost at least ten houses, six people died and bodies and coffins were torn out of the graveyard.   Yet through all this horror and devastation some amazing stories emerged……

 

A young baby was swept downstream in her cradle and was found alive in Tynemouth.   We have evidence that she was a witness, at a wedding in St. Peter’s twenty years later!

Mr. Fenwick had his horses led into St. Peter’s for safety.   Mr. Elliot’s horse stood at the high altar until the waters subsided.

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Georgian Bywell

​​Considerable damage was caused by the 1771 and 1815 Tyne floods.  There have been other  significant floods since, most notably in 1815 and 1953.  The water level of some is marked on the front of Bywell House.Combined with general agrarian and social changes, the village declined through the 18th century then in the mid 19th century, the landowners cleared what remained, moved the market cross to its present position and re-routed the road so that Bywell was bypassed.​​​​​​​​

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​​Victorian Bywell

​The geography of the village was heavily altered when the grounds of Bywell Hall were altered in the mid nineteenth century.  For instance, the main road, which had separated St Peter's from St Andrew's was diverted (and is now a private driveway for the Hall).

 

Today’s bridge was built in 1836 by T.W. Beaumont of Bywell Hall. It consists of 5 moulded arches and 2 plainer flood arches and cost £16,000 (£1.86m in 2021). Prior to this bridge being built the only crossing was by a ferry above the dam or by the ford which ran directly between the south and north shores ending somewhere between St Andrew’s and St Peter’s churches.

Before this new bridge was built two stone piers from an ancient bridge stood in the river just below the dam. It is recorded as ruined in 1534 and is thought to date from a much earlier time, some have speculated it may even have been Roman. The piers were blown up in 1836 when foundations for the current bridge were laid.

and the the market cross relocated shortly after this print below was made.

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​The ancient market cross was moved to its present position east of the road leading to St Peter’s church in 1852. It stands 2.8m tall with a stepped base about 3m square. The shaft dates from the 13th century and has an 18th century ball finial on top. The cross was originally located between the churches and near the estate entrance gates on the south side of the drive. The village stocks were located a few yards to the south of it.  The access lane we now use to reach St Peter's was added some time after this and the gateposts were moved from their original position to be at the end of this lane.

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The former vicarage (now a private house) is one of the oldest buildings in Bywell having been restored in 1688?  The Beaumonts offered to build a new vicarage on a two-acre site close to the southern end of Bywell Bridge on the site of St Helen’s church that had been cleared in 1836.   But the vicar of the day, Brereton Edward Dwarris, refused to co-operate and so an extremely tall wall was built to conceal the vicarage (now a private residence) from Bywell Hall.   This can be seen at the end of the cul-de-sac past St Andrew’s Church.

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