[NZ 05006120] Bywell. 'In 1608 there were 25 houses here but the present state is:- the two churches situated originally amongst the houses of the village, but now almost alone, with only the Hall, the Vicarage of St Peter, the old house of the miller, and the Keep Gateway of the Castle.' This seems like emparking. The destruction of the two churches in a fire of 1285 - together with the village - does not seem to have been fatal. In 1414 there were at least 25 houses. (1)

As in the 13th century, so in the 16th, the village of Bywell seems to have comprised one long street of two rows of houses, one of which possessed yards or gardens sloping to the river. The houses extended from the Castle on the east to a point considerably west of the two churches. The village was largely inhabited by smiths and workers in iron. (2)

In 1570 there were 15 shops in Bywell and the people numbered some 500. In the 1771 flood ten houses were destroyed. (3)

'The village was partly depopulated by the flood of 1771, but was finally pulled down and cleared away in 1857 when the grounds of Bywell Hall were refashioned. In 1868 the village street was diverted round the north side of Bywell, but its original course can still be traced by the low walls either side of the graveyard of St Andrew's Church. Until the destruction of the weir in 1862 the waters of the Tyne spread much further westwards, nearly to the road, and the sheet of water was called Bywell Bay. So that the line of houses along the village street were originally along the banks of the river.' (4)

Area NZ 04856155. There are no visible surface remains of the early village of Bywell other than the structures mentioned by Beresford. (5)

The size of Bywell's population seems to have remained fairly constant from the mid-13th to the early 19th century. No earthworks remain, nor has any plan survived to show Bywell before its depopulation (6).

NZ 050612(?) Bywell deserted medieval village. (7)

NZ 048615. Bywell deserted medieval village. (8)

Documentary research, geophysical survey, contour survey and graveyard recording carried out at Bywell by Department of Archaeology and Department of Geography and History of Durham University. Resistivity survey to south of St Andrew's Church (NZ 06 SW 10) revealed a rectangular building. (9)

This record includes National Record of the Historic Environment Information provided by Historic England on 4 January 2021 licensed under the Open Government Licence [www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/]